15 of Our Favorite Examples of Storytelling in Marketing for Associations

When was the last time you saw a commercial or ad spot that evoked your emotions? Whether it was a tear, a laugh, or a sense of being moved, your feelings were sparked by something. Most likely, that something was a powerful story.

A story can take a message from emotionally flat to profound. For association or nonprofit communicators, marketers, or public relations specialists, knowing how to tell a great story is an important skill to master, especially when you have a mission to convey. In this article, you’ll see 15 examples of storytelling in marketing to both show and tell you how it’s done.

In the words of Rachel Gillet:

“What grabs your attention more: a list full of ingredients like acacia gum, oligiosaccharide, and glutemate or a story about one company’s mission to bring the tangy sweetness of a blueberry and the warming power of a bowl of oatmeal to kitchen tables around the world?”

Before diving in, review the basic five elements of a story, plus an extra that’s less commonly used:

• A main character or protagonist
• A narrative arc, or the plot
• The setting(s)
• A conflict
• A theme, which is the central message the storyteller is trying to convey
• Bonus: Point of view

We used these elements to evaluate the storytelling examples below, and in some cases, we pointed out where the ads could have been improved. Likewise, these elements can serve as a framework for you to evaluate whether the stories you’re telling are going to be a success.

1. Rotary Youth Exchange; Rotary

The scene: This one might get you a little sniffly, especially if you studied abroad or traveled without family during your school years. Rotary’s ad spot promotes their youth exchange program. It begins by showing a high school aged-girl leaving her family and home to begin an exchange program. We see her put her family’s picture on her nightstand, and then her expression as she looks around her new empty room. We wonder, “Will she overcome this loneliness?” But quickly, we see her new host family befriending her and drawing her out of her shell and into new experiences. Soon, she’s home again, and we see her place a second family photo on her bedside table: her with her host family.

What we liked: Instead of listing out the benefits of their Youth Exchange program and giving us stats about its successes, Rotary uses storytelling in a powerful way to help us see the power of human connection across borders. They show us how the bravery of a young girl and the welcoming attitude of a host family can take what was just an educational trip and make it a life-enriching experience, complete with a new family across the world.

We won’t call this out for every example below, but for illustration purposes, see how the story can be broken down into these elements:

• A main character: The student
• A narrative arc: She goes to her program with feelings of homesickness, but thanks to her host family she gets to learn about their culture and share hers with them, leaving with a feeling of having a second home.
• The setting: Her home and her exchange home.
• A conflict: Will she find connection in a strange place? This conflict is ultimately resolved, so we’re not left hanging.
• A theme: Rotary’s Youth Exchange program can be a rewarding experience for both students and host families.

2. Three Letters That Change the World  – .ORG; Public Interest Registry

The scene: The Public Interest Registry is a non-profit that was created to manage the top level internet domain for .orgs. Rather than focusing on one set of characters and settings like Rotary does, PIR uses a combination of many settings to tell their story. They show clips of people around the world connecting or being helped in some way, all stitched together with a script to ultimately show you that what brings these scenes together is the letters “O, R, and G.”

What we liked: If you watched this ad on television, you wouldn’t see the title of the video to know the punchline was “.org” until you got to the end. They use this tension to create a sense of mystery that makes you want to keep watching until it’s resolved. Additionally, the use of many settings allows you to see yourself as the character, whether you’re the receiver, the giver, or any of the charities.

3. Mateo; Volkswagen

The scene: Mateo is the youngest child, and he gets blamed for everything. He doesn’t get anything new, just his brother’s (and his sister’s) hand-me-downs. He tells us that even the dog gets more room than he does. But one day, his parents get the Volkswagen Atlas, and suddenly he has the whole back seat with all its controls to himself. He realizes that being the last isn’t always bad.

What we liked: This ad is in Spanish, but you can watch this without knowing Spanish and still get the message, which is a sign of a well-done story. Volkswagen also has Mateo tell us his story in first person, a point of view which shows us that Volkswagen is looking out for the little guy without telling us that explicitly.

4. The Best; Amazon

The scene: Twin girl soccer players have a rivalry with each other to be the best. Amazon shows them trying to overcome each other as they purchase new cleats, protein powder, etc. from Amazon. It ends with them playfully chasing each other down the school hallway to show that achievers never give up on trying to come in first.

What we liked: We loved that this ad tells the story without even needing words. The characters’ conflict with each other keeps heightening throughout the video and ultimately is never resolved, but rather than grating on us, it inspires us to keep working.

5. Even Champions Need Champions; Athletes for Feel Out Loud supporting Kids Help Phone

The scene: The Canadian mental health services organization Kids Help Phone worked with

Canadian Olympic athletes to promote their helpline. Stitching together youth and Olympic clips of performances and practices, they create a storyline that shows highs and lows that dedicated athletes can feel from sports. The Olympic athletes build the numbers six and eight into their workout routines to promote the organization’s text helpline, 686868.

What we liked: Kids Help Phone used “We are the Champions” by Queen at different volumes throughout to show the intensity of success and failure moments that all athletes feel.

What could be improved: For those who aren’t already familiar with the Kids Help Phone organization, the repetition of six and eight wouldn’t communicate the desired meaning unless the viewer reads an explanation. This is where a script can add clarity. Additionally, the intensity of the conflict ebbs and flows. Instead, they could have built the conflict to a crescendo that resolves with reaching out to the helpline.

6.   Donut; National Association of Realtors

The scene: This commercial is part of a National Association of Realtors (NAR) campaign called That’s Who We R. It shows a realtor working proactively to help a donut food truck owner find a building where she can expand her business. They originally meet when the realtor is buying donuts, then we see the agent attending what might be a zoning meeting, and then driving past an available building that she explains is just right for the business owner, and finally, their happy meeting when the donut shop is busy and thriving in the new location.

What we liked: Thanks to a strong narrative arc, this ad didn’t need the script to convey its message: a realtor from NAR is here for you and will work for you tirelessly. We liked how it effectively used two main characters to show how the realtor can be a hero for the customer (who the realtor ultimately wants to make the hero).

7.   Snapper: The Perfect Tree; John Lewis & Partners

The scene: A little boy grows a seed for “the perfect Christmas tree” that ultimately turns into a venus fly trap, which ends up causing havoc in their home. The adults in the house drag the plant out into the cold and replace it with a traditional Christmas tree, which makes the plant depressed. On Christmas morning, the boy takes a stand and brings his present out to put it beneath the plant. His family joins him, and it turns out the plant is actually the perfect Christmas tree: each of its mouths can unwrap the gifts, shoot it out to the owner, and make confetti out of all the wrapping paper (and sing).

What we liked: John Lewis always knows how to tell a heartwarming holiday tale. Their ads typically have a theme of kindness toward those who don’t have much, and this one develops that theme by showing a child including a disappointed venus fly trap in Christmas, even if it’s not traditional. Their narrative places the boy at center stage as he leads the way for the older members of his family to see that they can grow too.

8.   The Full Effect; Feeding America

The scene: We see from the inside of many fridges or pantries as kids and their families open the door. Instead of pulling out food, they pull out something else (a volcano science project, a graduation hat, a card for their mom) that food has made possible. The ad ends by showing us what’s behind all of this: a food pantry where a volunteer opens another door and this time hands out a bag of food.

What we liked: Feeding America uses the unexpected point of view from inside of the fridge to show us that when basic needs like food are met, people can thrive at everything else. Their story doesn’t follow a traditional narrative arc, but it does use setting, character, and theme to show how food makes a difference. Their call to action encourages viewers to get involved in this mission.

What could be improved: The story works fairly well as it is, but it could be improved by narrowing in on just one of the stories, and showing how the fridge is empty, then is filled with food, then has both food and one of the achievements. Instead, the story feels like patched-together scenes rather than a connected story.

9.   More Than Just Cute; Carters

The scene: We see a baby and the faces of adults looking down at him telling him how cute he is. Then we see him doing regular baby activities, like playing with blocks, looking at the dog, going in the mud, and eating applesauce. The voiceover explains throughout that this baby’s being patronized—he’s more than just cute, he has a lot of important things to do, and he needs the clothes to match.

What we liked: This video is a good example of a story where the script is essential. Without it, the video wouldn’t have gotten its message across. Notice that the script is specifically addressed to the child, which doesn’t necessarily make sense, since parents or friends buy clothes for babies. But that’s why it works, because we get to step into the baby’s shoes and see how it makes them feel to be patronized (according to Carter’s).

10. The Dream Starts Here; The Y MCA of Rock River Valley

The scene: Three young athletes, a basketball player, swimmer, and runner, each in a YMCA facility, visualize out loud as they imagine they’re on the ground at the Olympics. The video follows them launching into the competition they pretend will decide it all. We see the basketball player watching as his ball flies toward the net, then he makes the basket. He runs around imagining how the crowd is going wild for Team USA.

What we liked: The Y launched this ad the summer of an Olympic games, using the setting as a prime opportunity to show how their facilities are just the place for young athletes to begin their journey. It’s also an example of how to use what you have to save costs on a video setting—they came up with a concept they could film in their own space.

11. Conquer the Weekend; Hyundai

The scene: We see a viking (and perhaps part werewolf) family heading out into the mountains in their Hyundai Santa Fe. While subtly showcasing built-in navigation, the car’s ability to drive through rough terrain, and powerful acceleration features, the video’s main focus is the family letting their wild side out as they travel together. We’re surprised when the dad gets a call from work and he suddenly turns back into a regular guy with his regular family—but he quickly settles it and they all turn back into vikings and continue their excursion.

What we liked: The focus of the ad is so much on the family’s adventures and the surprising plot twist that we barely notice it’s a car commercial. But thanks to the power of story, we still end the commercial feeling like the Hyundai vehicle has the ability to transform us from our regular-week selves into our weekend selves.

12. Open Always Wins; Samsung

The scene: The video starts off the size of a phone screen. But gradually, a series of athletes push on the sides of the video to make it fit the screen completely, as each of them overcomes a setback or a failure.

What we like: Samsung’s video team focused on creativity with setting to make this story work. They bring together particular features of video and phone screens to show how they and these athletes are pushing boundaries, Samsung with their expandable phone and the athletes by overcoming every challenge. They also combined it with the 2024 Olympics to make it hyper-relevant to those watching at the time.

13. Don’t Let Me Go; Apple

The scene: We see a man sitting on his couch deleting some of his old photos. But then, the people in his photos start singing together “don’t let me go” to guilt him into keeping them. We see him contemplating, then he decides that he has an iPhone 15, so he has enough storage after all, which he demonstrates by taking a few more photos of his dog on the couch.

What we liked: Although short and scriptless, this story quickly conveys its theme and makes us laugh: our photos want to stay and we actually want them to, too. Apple’s just making what we all want possible by giving us extra storage.

14. The Wait; Heinz

The scene: In this 15-second spot, all we see is a woman waiting for the waitstaff to bring her some ketchup during her dinner date, as elevator music plays. We find out from the words on the screen that she’s waiting to dive into her food because she wants Heinz ketchup.

What we liked: Because of the long history of Heinz in the city, Pittsburghers resonate with this ad because they know that if you have ketchup on the table, it’d better be Heinz. But even the average customer gets the idea through this quick clip that the character is willing to make it awkward because she expects the best from the restaurant. (Also, if this ad tickled your funny bone, they have plenty more commercials in “The Wait” series, as well as this runner up.)

15. Anatomy of a Champion: Celebrating the USA; FIGS

The scene: If you don’t know FIGS, they sell trendy scrubs for healthcare providers. Their video spot for the Olympics shows athletes getting injured and the providers who are there ready to help them get back on the field. If you’re a little squeamish, this ad might make you feel a little off—but they know their audience of healthcare providers is totally used to it.

What we liked: FIGS uses character to showcase the people they see as behind-the-scenes heroes making the Olympics happen. The narrative follows athletes breaking down at the beginning, the healthcare providers getting them back on the field, from X-ray technicians to mental health providers, to the athletes back on the court ready to break records.

Get ready to tell your next story

When you’re ready to launch your next campaign, consider how you can tell a story – whether in a video or in writing. You’ll get the best results by putting in story prepwork at the beginning. Plot out how you’ll use each story element before you put pen to paper or before anyone gets behind the camera.

If you’re creating something like a membership onboarding email campaign, we get it: chances are you won’t be crafting as elaborate and fantastical a story as some of the video ads above. But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate elements of storytelling to play on your recipient’s emotions. Ask yourself who your audience is, how you can create a narrative that will resonate with them, what theme or central message you’re trying to convey, and how you can put your “main character” in the mindset you want them to be in.

And when you’re ready to send out your marketing, Higher Logic Thrive Marketing can help!

• Easy-to-use pre-built email and automated campaign templates designed based on years of experience, research, and feedback to help you get started.
• An industry-leading 99% deliverability rate that helps ensure your messages actually GET to the inbox.
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• A built-in AI assistant to help you draft emails quickly and easily, all based on your prompts. Say goodbye to manual work and hello to efficiency! 

Learn more here or schedule a demo.

This post was originally published March 12,2021. It has since been updated to highlight newer examples of storytelling in marketing.