Why Video Storytelling Matters

In his essay The Science of Storytelling: What Listening to a Story Does to Our Brains, entrepreneur and storyteller Leo Widrich touched on research which suggested that when humans hear a story, “not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain that we would use when experiencing the events of the story are, too.” When we use sensory details to relay a story (like the client was as excited about the project as if he’d just won a million dollars), it helps engage a listener’s sensory cortex. Or, if you said to your co-worker Jim: “Don’t eat the fish in the office fridge, it’s gone bad”, he might still give it a crack anyway. But if you said to Jim: “Tim was hungry, so he ate the leftover fish in the office fridge. An hour later, he was shooting liquid from both ends”. You get it, right? Odds are Jim will now not eat the fish in the fridge. Basically, when we convey information via a story, the better a listener’s experience and understanding of the message will be.

Although neuroscientists are still debating these findings, just imagine your own past experiences. When someone tells a great story, full of visual details, metaphors and expression, you’re much more likely and easily able to imagine yourself in the same situation. Stories help us understand an experience, without having to live through it. It allows us to empathise, understand and connect on a deeper level. It helps us experience the world, before we’ve even actually experienced it.

But wait, there’s more – especially when it comes to video storytelling.

A neuromarketing study which analysed participants’ brain responses to video ads might also help us understand the science behind the importance of video storytelling. The study found that the presence of a narrative in video ads was strongly linked to the audiences’ preference scores of the portrayed products and the ad itself. Ads where content was structured as narrative significantly stimulated alpha brainwaves, which basically means viewers experienced physical and mental relaxation when watching the ad. What does this mean? It means video storytelling to sell a product is an excellent strategy to trigger the consumers’ brain towards a good experience, leading them to like both the product and the ad.