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The Drive behind Storytelling

What are the storytelling practices of German premium automotive

Brands?

Master Thesis within: Business Administration

Number of Credits: 15

Authors: Elvir Osman

Tutor: AFM Jalal Ahamed

University: Jönköping University, International Business School

Study Program: International Marketing

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Acknowledgments

Sami and Dzuljnaza Osman

I would like to express a special thanks to my parents who encouraged me to follow my dreams.

Jalal Ahamed

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, who contributed valuable feedback and insights and supported me over the difficult moments, which came up to

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Master Thesis in Business Administration

Title: The Drive behind Storytelling

Author: Elvir Osman Tutor: Jalal Ahamed Date: 2021-05-24

Key terms: Storytelling, Brand, Brand Storytelling, Narrative Theory, Qualitative research, Content analysis, Premium automotive brands

Abstract

Since the industrial era, the buyer sider gained higher importance compared to seller side (Baker & Saren, 2016) - consumer can choose between different options in the same category, thus product differentiation is to companies an important mean to gain sustainable competitive advantage (Cooper et al., 2010). An important mean to differentiation is the Brand, moreover, the stories that a Brand is using are crucial to create a valuable and iconic Brand (Holt, 2004. According to Escalas (2004) Brands become meaningful to consumers through storytelling. The guiding question of this research project was what the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands are. German premium automotive brands are highly-priced products compared to mass market Brands. The purpose is to explore and outline the recurring themes and practices applied in video commercials of german premium automotive brands. Through this, other companies can learn from this high-priced category how storytelling are used on premium products, moreover, the lack of frameworks in research on brand storytelling has been addressed by combining different theories, which can be also used in other areas. It’s essential for this research project to consider the research of narrative theory and its diverse literature, because its application helps to explore the storytelling practices among premium German automotive Brands. Narrative theory studies the structures, elements, uses and effects of narratives. Regarding the elements of storytelling, it couldn’t be said that there is a universal agreement or framework for what constitutes a story (Escalas, 1998). However, according to (Hwang, 2017) the elements of storytelling are plot, character, message, conflict. Based on the theoretical framework, it has been used an explorative content analysis which follows an interpretive philosophy in order to analyze TV commercials from over 10 years, which have been labeled as german productions. It can be said that among all premium automotive Brands there are recurring themes and observations made, like the transformational theme used in tv commercials. Over all Brands the transformational aspect was observed, which means that the development of characters and plots follows an transformational logic, in which the main character goes through a series of events and changes dues to external or internal reasons, like an external threat or an internal “enlightening”. But this the transformational aspect is only one of several recurring themes. However, in each element the researcher has identified several different recurring characters, conflicts, messages and plots.

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Table of Content

1. Introduction 6 1.1 Problem Discussion 6 1.2. Purpose 7 1.3. Research Question 7 1.4. Literature Review 7 1.3.1 Brand 7 1.3.2 Storytelling 9 1.3.3 Brand Storytelling 11

1.3.4. Research on premium automotive Brands and storytelling 12

1.5 Frame of Reference 14 1.4.1 Elements of Storytelling 15 1.4.1.1 Conflict 16 1.4.1.2 Character 16 1.4.1.3 Plot 16 1.4.1.4 Message 16

1.4.1.5 What qualifies as a story ad? 17

2. Methodology of research 17

2.1 Philosophy 17

2.2. Approach 19

2.3. Strategy 19

2.4. Time Horizon 20

2.5. Data Collection – Primary Data 20

2.6. Data Analysis 21

2.7. Quality 22

3. Results 22

3.1. Message 23

3.1.1 Presenting the benefits 23

3.1.2 Values of today 23

3.1.3 Identity of the Brand 24

3.1.4 Vision of the Future 24

3.2. Plot 24

3.2.1 A strange journey 24

3.2.2 A thrilling mission 25

3.2.3 A lifechanging experience 25

3.2.4 Against the odds 25

3.2.5 Funny Adventure 25

3.3. Characters 25

3.3.1 The mysterious one 25

3.3.2 The friendly one 26

3.3.3 The progressive one 26

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3.4. Conflict 26

3.4.1 The environmental conflict. 26

3.4.2 The inner conflict. 26

3.4.3 The conflict with other human beings. 27 3.4.4 The conflict of social norms. 27

3.4.5 No visible conflict 27 4. Conclusion 27 5. Discussion 28 5.1. Limitations 28 5.2. Theoretical Contributions 28 5.3. Managerial Contributions 29 5.4. Future Directions 29 References 30 Appendices 34

1. List of all analyzed Ads 34

List of Tables

Table 1 - Number of videos ads on ad forum 2011-2021 Production country: Germany ... 21 Table 2: Number of Story Ads ... 23

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1. Introduction

1.1 Problem Discussion

In the following part, the researcher will discuss the background of this research project and evaluate why it’s worth to take a look on storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands. This research aims to review the concept of storytelling and the implied influences that arise with it among German Brands.

First, the researcher will outline why it’s worth to research the relationship between Brands and storytelling. Since the industrial era, the buyer sider gained higher importance compared to seller side (Baker & Saren, 2016), which means that consumer can choose between different options in the same category, due to this factor, product differentiation is to companies an important mean to gain sustainable competitive advantage (Cooper et al., 2010). Based on the economic and historical development, researchers argue that companies´ Brands took over the role of an useful measure in the context of differentiation strategy and how companies differentiate themselves from other companies (Leslie De Chernatony & Mcenally, 1999; Cooper et al., 2010). However, since Branding is important for companies, one can observe that strategies in Brand Management have become more complex in ever-changing competitive environments, where the question of how Brand messages are delivered and received remains and is researched by many scholars (Hatch & Rubin, 2006).

If one considers the previously mentioned factor and the fact that from an interdisciplinary view, the relation between Brands and consumers is becoming incrementally complex (Hatch & Rubin, 2006), then one has also to question the role of storytelling because the researcher regard this as an important differentiation factor and by applying storytelling Brands become salient to customers (Escalas, 2004b). Storytelling takes an important role in this problem discussion for several reasons: The stories that a Brand is using are crucial to create a valuable and iconic Brand (Holt, 2004), moreover, according to Escalas (2004) Brands become meaningful to consumers through storytelling. Storytelling has for Brands many important benefits, but in general it can be stated that humanizing objects and Brands through storytelling enables Brands to develop a distinct character, which can potentially enable easier Brand choice and create preferences among Brands from a customer perspective(Fog et al., 2005). Due to the qualities which are implied into storytelling, especially their emotional and relational function, the activities and interest in scientific research within the area of marketing has increased in the last decade, since this time storytelling has transformed from an single measure in advertisement to an general element and factor in Brand strategy management (Delgado-Ballester & Fernández-Sabiote, 2016; Wachtman & Johnson, 2009).

The guiding question for the researcher of this thesis is, if Brands inhabit a high importance since its used by companies to differentiate themselves in competitive environment and storytelling is an important mean to build Brand identity, how do then practices among German Brands look like.

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1.2. Purpose

As previously outlined, the guiding question of this research project is what the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands are. The background of this questions justifies the value of the research: Thus, the purpose of this research is of an explorative nature, which aims to explore what practices are used, which can be answered by content analysis to identify among companies that use or do not use storytelling and the characteristics and elements used derived from content analysis of TV commercials (Cooper et al., 2010; Delgado-Ballester & Fernández-Sabiote, 2016; Kassarijan, 1977). This will be extended to a cluster analysis, where different groups of stories will be identified. The desired result will reflect each element of storytelling used.

1.3. Research Question

What are storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands? This research question aims to learn how German premium automotive Brands use storytelling to communicate their Brand and how it influences the different elements of storytelling.

1.4. Literature Review

In the following text, I will evaluate and reflect on the research field and literature with differing subjects. This research project is focusing on several aspects, which also will be discussed in the following part. The researcher will describe and discuss subject as Brands and storytelling, but also the relation between Brands and storytelling. Moreover, the researcher will reflect on existing literature about the storytelling of specific Brands and how and what researchers found out while analyzing them. Furthermore, it is important to establish a comparison and review of the role of Brand storytelling in marketing communication and what this instrument implies for companies, consumers and Brands.

1.3.1 Brand

H.D. Wolfe is regarded as the first scholar to publish an article on the subject of Brands in the Journal of Marketing, which was an article on Brand Preference and Brand consciousness, however, research on Brands increased and appeared in renowned consumer behaviour journals, moreover, Branding became a major marketing discipline in 19070s, where it was studied from various perspectives – crucial angles were Brand choice, Brand switching, Brand loyalty and Brand extension (Moore & Reid, 2008). According to Moore & Reid (2008), Brand research has in majority on consumer side, which the aim to explore effective Branding from the perspective of consumers, while very few articles explored what actually a Brand is (Moore & Reid, 2008).

Gabay (2015) reflects and describes the historical development of the meaning of Brands, and moreover, serves a description of how the function and purpose of Brands changed over time. According to Gabay (2015), the idea of an Brand can be found already in ancient times, which not explicitly but in notions make use of Brands. For instance, Gabay (2015) argues that the notion of a Brand could originate from the symbols which were used by Julius Caesar, who instrumentalized an eagles as the symbol of the pursuit of power and pleasure. In the times of Julius Caesar, the eagle was used to symbolize the pursuit of power and pleasure. This can be regarded as an Brand, because it is proactively used as symbol with an underlining meaning that people associate with (Gabay, 2015).

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Though Brand research entails an array Brand definition, still the prime theoretical underpinning of these definitions is remained close (Moin, 2020). In research the term and definition of Brands are varying, but the ideas behind it are very close. According to Moin (2020), the American Marketing Association defined in 1960 a Brand as “name, term, symbol, design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”. But the definition of Brands developed over time, as the function or purpose of Brands (L. Chernatony & Riley, 1998; Gabay, 2015; Moin, 2020). According to Chernatony & Riley (1998), Brands can be regarded as “complex multidimensional constructs whereby managers augment products and services with values and this facilitates the process by which consumer confidently recognise and appreciate theses values.”. Its interesting to consider both definitions in terms of meaning and function implied on Brands. The changes that Brands went over time, starting from the eagle in ancient Rome to technology Brands are relevant and dependent on the historical context and the economic developments (Gabay 2015, Moin 2020).

A helpful explanatory framework for understanding can be found in the research of Gabay (2015). Gabay (2015) breaks the development and focus of Brands in seven different stages. The stages that Gabay (2015) is using the break down the development and changes in focus of Brands are: Ownership, Identification, Features, Benefits, Experience, Identity, Inclusion. Each of these stages has its own underlying meaning in which the focus and concepts of Brand vary, depending on the historical, economical and trend development. According to Gabay (2015), ownership was popular in 18th century where Brands were solely proof of ownership, however, after the introduction of rail in 1890s, the stage of identification begun, where Brands became symbols of identifying the manufactures. Afterwards in 1900s, Brands begun to signify the functional differentiating features. Followed by the 4th stage, benefits, where the focus of Branding shifted from tangible features to intangible benefits. Then, in 1960s, the 5th stage begun: experience – the focus of Brands included experience which was extended to service Branding. This stage was followed by identity in 2000s, in which people started to find meaning in Brands and started to utilize Brands to present themselves to others. The last or current stage is inclusion: people share what they like, consume and identify with. Over time the meaning of Brands changed, as well as the stories attached to the Brand, but in general stories created meaning for Brands (Gabay 2015). It’s interesting to reflect on the literature on the previous mentioned researchers, which showed us the development of definition, meaning and function of Brands. This reflects how the focus and perception of Brands changed over time. This is due to the fact that the context, in which Brands were used have been used also changed.

The meaning and focus of Brands changed over time. The research field about Brands appears to be multidimensional and to cover varying aspect, (Bettman & Escalas, 2005; Cooper et al., 2010; Elliott & Wattanasuwan, 1998; Holt, 2002; Padgett & Allen, 1997; Sirgy, 2014). It’s important to reflect also properly on this literature since some of these researchers found underlying or complementary insights, where as some of these researchers also found evidence which may oppose what Gabay (2015) stated. According to Holt (2002), Brands used to be or acted as a simple identifier and as identification device, however, Holt (2002) and Cooper (2010) are extending the function of a Brand as an simple

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identifier by saying that, Brands are potentially able to developed an differentiating personality, and some Brands can even develop an iconic status with a multivariate identity that implies social and political issues (Cooper 2010).

Reflecting deeper on literature and the discourse about Brands leads also to the different perspectives on Brand characteristics and impacts. According to Levy (1985) and Sirgy (1982), there are several aspects on Brands to consider, however, Cooper (2010) and Levy(1985) argue that personalizing in animate objects and humanizing Brands injects Brands with an distinctive personality, which from the consumers perspective, can facilitate Brand choice and improve or increase a preference for one Brand or several Brands (Sirgy 1982). This is an important aspect, which next to the historical development should be considered since researchers argue that Brands can form preferences and choice on consumer side. Furthermore, other researchers argue also that the choice and the consumption of certain Brands is an establishment of an individual symbolic function, which enables consumers to identify with an Brand (S. J. Levy, 1985; Si. J. Levy, 1959). This researcher view by Levy is also reflected in the previous mentioned paper from Gabay (2015), which named and described the different stages of focus and concepts of Brands. It is possible to observe parallels between those insights. This can be extended to more literature by reflecting on Elliot (1998) and Escalas (2005). These researchers argue that consumers build their self by applying the symbolic meaning of Brand as resource, which means the consumptions of certain Brands has a symbolic meaning for their identity. However, Brands serve also as characteristic description of quality, according to Cooper (2010), who argues that Brands communicate specific qualities to customers in terms of pop cultures, which are applied to identify to certain identities, lifestyles and consumer ideals. Furthermore, Levy and Glick (1973) state that contended Brand image can also be regarded as a summary concept that follows the idea that customers buy Brands for their physical attributes and functions and the meanings connected with Brands. Researchers showed how Brands are applied and what attributes consumers refer to if their consume Brands and how they identify themselves through Brands. This was highly reflected by Gabay and is also observable in papers from other researchers.

1.3.2 Storytelling

Literature on storytelling has varying focus, and can describe how storytelling developed, what mechanisms are used in storytelling and what the impact of storytelling is. I will review literature, which were focusing on storytelling in the context of business and marketing, which will help to gain a better understanding of what the relationship between storytelling and Brands is. Furthermore, it is important to gain understanding for how storytelling is constructed and what impact storytelling implies for businesses and marketing.

In the scientific research field on storytelling can be found varying fields and aspects of influential literature. In general, researchers emphasize the historic relevance and the impact of storytelling (Henning-Thurau et al., 2013; Krevolin, 2016; McKee & Gerace, 2018; Moin, 2020; Wachtman & Johnson, 2009). There are some aspects, which are important to consider. According to Moin (2020), storytelling has developed over time from an ancient art to an contemporary marketing science. This fact is underlining the aspect that

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storytelling receives varying perspectives on its application, but Moin (2020) argues that it is a contemporary marketing science. Also, Moin (2020) argues that storytelling bears an great power in communication and connection wrapped in emotions, since storytelling is a an important factor in the evolution of the social animal which has the need to talk and to bond. These insights are also reflected in other research. According to several researchers (McKee & Gerace 2018, Wachtman & Johnson 2009), storytelling has the power to gain attention and to foster engagement with human beings in a emotional but also in a intellectual way. Based on current research (Krevolin, 2106, Henning-Thural et al. 2013), the way storytelling is applied and also the relevance of storytelling has gained a tremendous level of attention and importance, since in the digital world, the power of connectivity due to the technological advancements in mobile computing together with the increase of social media has impacted the way how Brands and individuals use and see storytelling. Based on this and current literature, it can be observed that storytelling is not only an important part of marketing, but also an highly relevant part in the lives of human beings (Van Laer et al., 2014).

Stories and storytelling are highly relevant and important subjects in marketing science. According to several researchers, storytelling is very important origin point to start to gain a broad understanding of consumer psychology (Escalas, 2004a; Holt, 2004; G. Woodside et al., 2008). Before reflecting on literature, which was focused on consumer relevance of storytelling, I would like take a an view on literature which researcher the generic structure of storytelling. In this area, the literature of Twitchell, Fog and Delgado is highly interesting. According to (Twitchell, 2004), a general view on what stories are can be outlined as fictions which are filled with character, plot, points of view and a purpose or meaning. In ancient times, stories were attached to moral, e.g. Aesop´s Fables or biblical parables (Twitchell, 2004). Comparing to this view on the generic structure of an story, one should also consider the view of Fog (2005). It is interesting to compare the view of Fog and Twitchell, because Fog argues that the a story is based on common fundamental elements, which are message, conflict, division of roles and action (Fog et al., 2005; L. Mossberg, 2008). From a much more generic perspective, stories can be also structured in only two elements: chronology and causality (Delgadillo & Escalas, 2004).

After reflecting on the research field, itself, and the generic view on the structure of stories from the perspective of researchers, I would like to review literature on one important aspect of research in storytelling: the purpose of stories and storytelling. Reflecting on literature about the purpose of storytelling, researchers argue that individuals create stories to organize their experiences, explain events, extend perspectives and evaluate subjects (Escalas, 2004a; Turner et al., 1986). An important reflection of researcher is the argument that individuals apply stories to understand their surroundings , what happens in their live and who they are as individuals and members of society (Escalas, 2004b). According to McKee, stories imply that humans show their profound need to understand the patterns of lives, which is not an intellectual exercise but rather a an emotional and individual experience (Fryer, 2003; McKee & Gerace, 2018). In the context of psychologic research, there are to be found more relevant aspect about the purpose of storytelling, as researchers describe how the human mind builds bits and components of experience into a story, which can be based on a individual desire, objective and the definition of the forces which are holding them back (Fryer, 2003). In a generic sense, some researchers also argue

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that the purpose of storytelling is to create an emotional response in the audience(Twitchell, 2004). According to researchers, the purpose of stories could be also broken down, depending on the effect or emotion the listerner is looking for, which is called “genre” (Twitchell, 2004). In terms of storytelling and their purpose, there also arguments about the historic relevance of storytelling and the anthropologic needs of human being: a generic view from researcher is that storytelling is based on human needs and their implication of giving live meaning, however, since values are transferred from generation to generation through stories, it can be argued that stories bear a function of continuity of human live, which includes history and backgrounds, moreover, stories fulfil their purpose if they stimulate imagination, involvement or amusement (L. Mossberg, 2008; Twitchell, 2004). In literature about storytelling, it is also argued that storytelling enables human beings to experience archetypal myths, which are “unconscious primary form” or an original pattern in the individuals mind (G. Woodside et al., 2008).

1.3.3 Brand Storytelling

In the following paragraph, I would like to reflect on existing literature about the relationship between Brands and storytelling. The part will focus on research and literature which focus on how Brands use storytelling, how Brands and storytelling are intertwined and what the application of storytelling by Brands implies.

Regarding the meaning of Brand storytelling, there are different approaches to answer the question. According to Moin (2020), Brand storytelling consists of stories that attach meaning to Brands, so that customer are able to relate to the Brand. This view can be extended by the contextual argument from an researcher, who argues that in order to bond with customers and potential customers, marketeers apply storytelling as an effective tool to overcome noise and gain attention through attaching meaning to Brands (Moin, 2020; Rose, 2011). The requirement for Brand storytelling to reach its maximum is when stories are authentic, transparent, and emerge in a way that consumers don´t realize the marketing activity itself, as researcher argue (Walter & Gioglio, 2019). According to Donald, who deepens the narrative story attach meaning to Brands, argues that proper told Brand stories use personas through whose eyes customers can observe the world and relate for the persona, however, consumers can relate to the characters, which implies that Brands demonstrate the day-to-day challenges of their customers and Brands become mentors (Donald, 2017). Researchers also argue that in contemporary marketing storytelling is regarded as the effective and humanistic approach not only to create Brand communications, but also to manage strategy as whole (Delgado-Ballester & Fernández-Sabiote, 2016; Gottschall, 2012; Moin, 2020). It is interesting for the purpose of gaining an understanding for the relationship of Brands and storytelling that marketeers regard Brand storytelling also as a way to approach Brand strategy. This is important to reflect on, especially if one considers that researchers stated that the existing myth that storytelling is a way of communicating through story, where commercials are designed in a story format in order to succeed, but following a checklist or set of rules is less what storytelling comprises since its not a mechanistic process (Moin, 2020).

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1.3.4. Research on premium automotive Brands and storytelling

In the following part, the researcher will reflect on research about premium automotive Brands, the term premium in marketing context, and if there have been literature evaluating the relation between Brand storytelling and premium automotive Brands with special consideration of the German market.

According to Seidel (2011), the majority of the German car-market consists of mass Brands. Car Brands that focus on the mass market, that generate profit from high sales volumes. The premium Brands are on the other end of the range regarded from an overall market perspective. Compared to mass Brands, they have a smaller market share but offer cars in in higher price segments (Seidel, 2011). Regarding the difference of Premium Brands and Mass Brands, it can be said that Premium Brands are those that demand a higher retail price for a similar product than the market's average price (Kapferer, 2000). According to Karmasin (2007), customers are ready to pay for premium Brands higher prices than to mass Brands because they regard the products as more valuable. Karmasin (2007) stated that there are three elements constituting product value: Prime Value, Labor Value and Symbolic Value. Prime Value and Labour Value are concerned with materials and production process of an product, while the Symbolic Value is the crucial element for the perception of a product. According to Diez (2001), the symbolic value of an product can be also regarded as the semiotic value, which relies on the meaning the product or Brand inhabits. The symbolic value of a Brand corresponds to the value of the Brand that is most important to the customer and is specifically associated with it. For a strong symbolic meaning, the following six factors are critical: inventiveness, individuality, attractivity, credibility, consistent Branding, and continuity (Diez, 2005).

In observation of car markets and differentiation to mass Brands and premium Brands, researcher suggested dimension of segmentation to consider when looking at premium Brands, which is premium affinity that per definition describes how strong the premium characteristic of an market is based on level of technology, quality and sales volume within the market - the higher the degree of quality and technology and the lower the sales volume, the higher premium affinity is reflected by this market (Diez, 2005; Seidel, 2011). With regards to the degree of technology and quality, the premium segments within the car market are selling lower sales volumes and but are strongly regarded as premium products by consumers (Seidel, 2011).

Compared to luxury Brands and drawn upon the Brand pyramid by Esch (2009), Premium Brands and products are regarded below luxury Brands but above mass products, although, some model overlap into both categories in luxury and premium market segments (Adam, 2015). With special focus on the automotive industry, quality appears as important characteristic of high-Brands, but is not the crucial differentiator between luxury and premium (Iuliana, 2020). Drawn upon Iuliana (2020) reflection, it can be said that terms luxury and premium are different concepts and researcher argue that luxury is more an internal, personal concept which relies on the feeling it affects, while premium reflects more external components, such as product quality, associated Branding and the perception of others on the individual ownership, however, there are many common characteristics between luxury and premium Brands (Law & Evans, 2007). The perception of premium automobiles as status symbols is entering a transformative phase (Adam, 2015)

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and tends to be viewed differently. Seidel (2011) is arguing that consumer priorities changed a bit within the premium market from a prestige-driven symbolic meaning to experience-driven products, thus consumers are not only focused on the symbolic meaning of an product or Brand, but also the experience which it reflects or promises.

In scientific literature, there are numerous researchers views on automotive Brands from Germany which can be considered as premium automotive Brands for all or one of the following: Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW (Adam, 2015; Ageljic, 2019; Brunello, 2015; Horvath, 2014; Iuliana, 2020; Seidel, 2011; Ulrich et al., 2019) In order to gain a better understanding and acknowledge the Brand differentiation, the researcher would like to reflect on literature´s view on each premium automotive Brand claims and what it stands for. According to Seidel (2011), the claim of BMW is “Sheer Driving Pleasure”, if literally translated from German language. This claim can be also regarded as the Brand goal of BMW, which also describes the crucial benefits of BMW compared to other premium automotive Brands: BMW claim shows that its main focus is to offer the best possible driving experience (Seidel, 2011).

Based on Horvath (2014) informed by Rosengarten & Stürmer (2011), one can tell that the Brand´s DNA of Mercedes-Benz is based upon its long tradition and elegance. Based on a Matrix from Rosengarten & Stürmer (2011), the key characteristic of Mercedes are classic elegance, safety and exclusivity. According to Seidel (2011), the Brand claim of Mercedes-Benz is “the best or noting”, if literally translated from German language. It´s claim describes how Mercedes-Benz strives for the perfection of automobiles and that it what to offer the most reliable, safe and elegant cars. Its claim also implies the goal to continiously improve its products and the Brand (Seidel, 2011).

Based on Horvath (2014) informed by Rosengarten & Stürmer (2011), one can tell that the Brand´s DNA of Audi is defined by progressivity and technology-driven orientation. Based on a Matrix from Rosengarten & Stürmer (2011), the key characteristic of Audi are functional elegance, efficiency and technologic innovation. The Brand claim of Audi is “Progress through Technology”, if literally translated from German. Audi´s claim show how Audi is placing technology and innovation in the foreground, which accompanied by the taste and connoisseurship of their customers (Seidel, 2011).

With regards to scientific literature about storytelling practices, the researcher of this paper found two articles, which were completely in Croatian and Spanish language. In the following part, the researcher will reflect on the articles and their insights.

According to Ageljic (2019), storytelling is often and regularly applied in automotive commercials, therefore it is a key marketing instrument in the automotive industry. Her findings also suggest that there is a range of basic structures that can be found in almost every story or commercial, however, Ageljic (2019) suggests that there 5 -7 basic structures that came up during the analysis of Mercedes-Benz Commercials. For her research purpose, Ageljic (2019) analyzed 7 representative storytelling examples of the Mercedes-Benz Brand, consisting of commercials which focused on person, feelings and stories. Among those stories, some were true and some were fictious, but Ageljic (2019) points out that each story carried an emotional value and memorable experience (Ageljic, 2019).

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Teixido (2013) analyzed and evaluated the effectiveness of storytelling in spanish TV commercials from, among several Brands, BMW in Spanish Television. BMW changed during nineties its marketing efforts from a print-driven to a tv-driven approach, in order to tackle the lack of emotional connection to the BMW Brand among Spanish audience (Teixido, 2013). The researcher suggests that according to data no one doubted the technological superiority of BMW product, but rather did lack the emotional desire of purchasing a BMW, therefore, BMW changed to the more emotional medium of TV commercials and attempted to determine its Brand personality and claim “Sheer driving pleasure” (Teixido, 2013). The storytelling was determined by not underlining the exclusivity or superior technology of BMW, but rather to tell the story of the positive experience of driving an BMW (Teixido, 2013).

1.5 Frame of Reference

In the following part, I will present and outline the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework will guide and cover the scientific aspects of this research on storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands and their commercials.

In general, its essential for this research project to consider the research of narrative theory and its diverse literature, because its application helps to explore the storytelling practices among premium German automotive Brands. Narrative theory studies the structures, elements, uses and effects of narratives, however, narrative theory explains how humans makes sense of their experiences based on stories or narratives (What Is Narrative Theory?

| Project Narrative, n.d.). Narrative theory is about narrative as explanation for how

individuals cope with experiences based on its elements such as time, process and change (What Is Narrative Theory? | Project Narrative, n.d.). The idea behind narrative theory is that human beings are storytellers, also called Homo Narrans (Fisher, 1984) Human beings view their social environment in narratives, and act and function within this narrative framework, moreover, storytelling is one of the oldest and most common modes of communication (Fisher, 1984). The narrative theory is regarded as the theory of storytelling (Peterson et al., 2019). However, it also says that storytelling is sequential, which means it consists of an begining, middle and end and that there different components to an story (Peterson et al., 2019)

A majority of literature in Brand storytelling lack theoretical framework (Nyagadza et al., 2019). Compared to other theories, the narrative theory is most suitable to evaluate storytelling because Narrative Theory explores the development of storytelling by understanding and describing the enactments and content of Brand stories. While other theories which have been used in the research field such as consumer storytelling theory or impression management theory focus more on the receiver-side of an story and how they make sense of it (Nyagadza et al., 2019).

According to Moin (2020), there are different school of thoughts regarding the differentiation of story and narrative. One school of thought perceives that the terms story and narrative are very different from each other, while the other school of thought is convinced that those terms are similar applicable, moreover, some scholars argue that narrative is a more academic terminology, while story is more a casual expression. Escalas (1998) argues that story is a synonymous for narrative. Nevertheless, the majority of the

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research field of storytelling is occupied by the narrative theory (Moin, 2020). Moreover, the research field of narrative theory is interdisciplinary and divergent (Moin, 2020). According to Escalas (1998), Research which studied story-driven advertising was examined from various perspectives, from the perspectives of drama (Stern, 1994) transformation (Puto & Wells, 1984) and story grammar (Puto & Wells, 1984). The reason is, according to Escalas (1998), that many ads are told in the narrative structure, since story ads are able to engage, captivate and entertain customers (Escalas, 1998). Stories created by organizations are not fictions, but narratives of real-life experience which are organized in an appearing story form (Kent, 2015). Roots for narrative theory also can be found in cognitive psychology, where scholars researched how humans process information, encode and retrieve information (Escalas, 1998). There are basically two modes of thought: the first is logical deduction, also called paradigmatic thought and the second is the narrative thought (Bruner, 1986). Narrative thoughts process information in story-forms, which consists of specific life experiences, which means that the narrative processing treats incoming information in a way that creates temporally structured stories, due to the necessity for humans to better understand their environment and experience (Escalas, 1998).

Based on the narrative transportation theory, scholars have outlined storytelling as one of the most qualifying approaches to pursue consumers emotional and in cognitive terms (Moin, 2020). Scholars argue that if individuals are transported into a story, then narrative processing dominates over analytical processing (Delgado-Ballester & Fernández-Sabiote, 2016; Green & Brock, 2002). According to Green & Brock (2002), compared to analytical processing, narrative processing of Brand message is likely to be less critically evaluated, which results in more affective responses and enhanced messaging. Understanding storytelling practices requires understanding stories and what it constitutes, but Its highly important to consider that one view at narrative theory in the context of marketing that it is highly divergent and different papers from scholars have to be considered.

1.4.1 Elements of Storytelling

According to Bruner (1986) drawing on narrative theory, there are two dimensions which determine a narrative: the landscape of action and the landscape of consciousness. The landscape of events includes events that are perceived by the casual observer, which is based on the initiating event, resulting action and outcomes. While the landscape of consciousness frames the audience to enter the core of the story´s character by learning what the character is thinking and feeling (Escalas, 1998). Next to the elements of storytelling, which will be discussed in the following parts, another factor which is determining stories is time. According to Escalas (1998), there are two crucial factors to the structure of narratives and build the constitution of narratives: chronology and causality. Every story has a temporal dimension, which usually constitutes of beginning, middle and end, which Escalas (1998) frames as experienced time. Causality or the organized framework of narratives structures stories and are the results of story elements and their relationship, which creates causality (Escalas, 1998).

Regarding the elements of storytelling, it couldn’t be said that there is a universal agreement or framework for what constitutes a story (Escalas, 1998). However, according to (Hwang, 2017)the elements of storytelling are plot, character, message, conflict. The

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researcher of this paper decided to rely on the taxonomy of Hwang which is informed by Stern (1994) and will discuss the elements in the following parts.

1.4.1.1 Conflict

According to Hwang (2017), one element of storytelling is conflict. Interesting stories tend to consist of unexpected twists (Peracchio & Escalas, 2008)). Conflicts that can be observed in stories among characters and scenes are leading to entertaining plots, in which the character tends to solve the conflict found (Hwang, 2017). According to Mossberg & Johansen (2006), conflicts in commercials can enhance a story and the solution how conflict are solved are often part or relate to the message of the story. However, conflicts are not necessarily solved or left with an open ende, which gives the view the chance to use his own imagination and interprate an conclusion for himself (Hwang, 2017).

1.4.1.2 Character

Characters are important parts of narratives, since they inherit the attention of the audience (Moin,2020) and the application of universal familiar characters can help Brands to create connections with consumers and present Brands in meaningful ways, moreover, archetypes can represent and define the personality of a Brand (Delgado-Ballester & Fernández-Sabiote, 2016). Characters are usually addressed by conflict along the plot of the story and usually the main character is facing the conflict (Hwang, 2017). According to (Fog et al., 2005) stories beginn with the protagonist, and they are shown in their own setting and also often described. The interplay between character and conflict is often leading to the audience to engage emotionally with the character and feel empathy for what the character is trying to solve (Hwang, 2017).

1.4.1.3 Plot

Stories are typically temporarily structured and consist of a beginning, middle and end, moreover, stories move in a chronological sequence, which is named plot (Stern, 1994). The plot can be defined as a series of events that the characters go through as they progress through the story (Moin, 2020; Sari, 2017). According to Pickerin & Hoeper (1981), there are five sequences which are essential in designing proper plots like exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Another important plot in narrative theory, which is also often used in movies and Brand commercials is the Hero´s journey plot (Campbell, 1949; Moin, 2020). The reason for the relevance of the Hero´s journey plot is described by (Allison et al., 2019), which he describes as the transformation that protagonists going through (Moin, 2020). Plots in Brand stories are important, because they structure the story into beginning, middle and end, moreover, they help to order to organize the experience and create meaningful logical sequence (Stern, 1994).

1.4.1.4 Message

Stories are the vehicle, which transport the message (Berger, 2014). Messages placed in Brand stories are important because they promote the purpose and values of the Brand (Moin,2020). Also, the message or themes are suggested as important for narrative theory, but also for the practical work of Brands, where a wide range of theme, like love, death, quest, adventure, revenge, rivalry, temptation and good versus evil can be regarded as repeating themes (Moin, 2020). In the context of Brands, messages cover the role of

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promoting the Brands’ purpose, values and meaning (Moin, 2020). Stories have different kind of messages, and therefore want to achieve different objectives by telling a story. (Denning, 2006).

1.4.1.5 What qualifies as story ad?

Escalas (1998)contributed an narrative framework, which allows to understand many different types of advertising, which contributes to the understanding of narrative ads, while there might be nuances in the degree to which narrative thinking is elicited. Escalas (1998) applied an content analysis, coded ads and applied a 6-item 5-point scale to measure the quality of a story told (A. Woodside et al., 2008). The scores derived from these two scales were averaged to form one narrative structure score.

• Is this a well-developed story in terms of its elements (scene, actor, purpose/ intention/goal, action, response, outcome)?

• Does this ad have a temporal dimension (beginning, middle, end, occurs over time)?

Those two questions helped Escalas (1998) to differentiate between story ads and none-story-ads, in order to analyze story containing ads.

2. Methodology of research

The methodology will be outlined in this chapter, allowing the reader to follow the outline of how the analysis was carried out. It will provide insight into the decisions made by the researcher in order to thoroughly investigate this issue. Philosophical perspectives, research strategy, research method, as well data collection, are all in the following explored. Research in business can be visualized in onion-like graphic, that consists of several layers, in which each layer represents an aspect of research (Saunders, 2019).

2.1 Philosophy

According to Saunders (2019), research philosophy is defined as the term which describes a setting of beliefs and assumption on the creation of knowledge. According to Saunders (2019), a set of assumption is the base for a credible philosophical approach in research, and the research philosophy constitutes the basis for the methodological choice, research strategy and data collection, as well as data analysis. Since the layer of the research philosophical approach is also influencing all following layers, its importance and influence for the whole research project is crucial (Saunders, 2019).

When the researcher of this project defined and designed based on assumptions an research idea and philosophy, he considered the following insights from Saunders (209), that philosophical disagreements are inherently part of business and management research, since its emerging in academic area is informed from different disciplines social sciences, natural sciences, applied sciences, humanities and organizational practice, which led to the development that business and research management consumed different philosophies of multiples research philosophies and methodologies (Saunders, 2019). In business and management research, there can be mainly found five streams of philosophical approaches to research, which will be presented in the follow part, including the axiology, which describes the role of values and the typical methods used in named

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research philosophy (Saunders, 2019). The five mainly followed research philosophies are positivism, critical realism, interpretivism, postmodernism, pragmatism.

Positivism is a natural scientist's philosophical position that involves dealing with observable social reality to create law-like generalizations. The positivist approach focuses on using a purely empirical method to generate pure evidence and facts that are untouched by human perception or bias (Saunders, 2019).

Critical realism is focused on what researchers observe and experience in relation to the underpinning structures of reality, which shape observable events. According to Saunders (2019) critical realism states that there are two stages comprehend the universe. First, the feelings and events one has. Second, there is the logical processing that happens during the experience, as one ‘reason backwards' from our perceptions to the actual fact that could have triggered them(Saunders, 2019).

Interpretivism, similar to critical realism, emerged as criticism of positivism but within a subjectivist perspective. Interpretivism underlines that individuals create meanings, and that differs them from physical phenomena (Saunders, 2019). Within this approach, researchers explore meanings. In terms of axiology and the role of values, Saunders states that interpretivism is values-bound, and that the subjective researchers contributes key interpretations (Saunders, 2019). From the methodological perspective, interpretivists apply inductive approaches with small samples and qualitative analysis, moreover, in-dept investigations are also typically used (Saunders, 2019).

Postmodernism is another research-related philosophical approach, which underlines the role of language and relations between powers, in order to critically think about established ways of thinking and give opportunity to alternative views (Saunders, 2019). Pragmatism is the research philosophy, which says that concepts are only relevant when they support action (Saunders, 2019; Kelemen and Rumens, 2008). Pragmatism aims to bring objectivism and subjectivism, facts and values, reliable and rigorous knowledge, and various contextualized experiences together (Saunders, 2019).

Interpretivism, similar to critical realism, emerged as criticism of positivism but within a subjectivist perspective. Interpretivism underlines that individuals create meanings, and that differs them from physical phenomena (Saunders, 2019). Within this approach, researchers explore meanings. In terms of axiology and the role of values, Saunders states that interpretivism is values-bound, and that the subjective researchers contributes key interpretations (Saunders, 2019). From the methodological perspective, interpretivists apply inductive approaches with small samples and qualitative analysis, moreover, in-dept investigations are also typically used (Saunders, 2019).

In the context of this research, it can be said that the research approach followed is interpretivism, since the goal of this thesis is to explore the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands, which requires the interpretations and reflection to existing material from a subjective point of view, which biases can be reduced by adapting to existing theoretical frameworks and frame of references. In the context of this research,

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the development of rules and processes to ensure the research quality is important and will be outlined later on.

2.2. Approach

With regards to the approach, it can be outlined that there are several different approaches to conduct business research (Saunders, 2019). According to Saunders (2019), there are basically three different research approaches, which will be outlined here: Deductive, inductive and abductive approach. The deductive approach is based on a theory or framework, which is then followed by data collection, analysis and final conclusion. Whereas the inductive approach follows an opposite logic, in which first data is collection and based on the results of data collection analysis a theory gets developed. The third and last research approach is called the abductive approach, where based on data certain phenomena or patterns get explored, in order to establish or adjust a theory (Saunders, 2019).

With regards to this research project, it can be said that the researcher is applying or following the deductive approach. The is due to the fact, that the goal of this thesis is to explore the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands. In order to explore the storytelling practices, it is necessary to have a theory, in this case the narrative theory, which explain what stories are. The narrative theory outlines that stories consist of different elements. This insight led to the necessity to outline the different elements of stories or narratives. Since there is no universal agreement or framework, the researcher of this project evaluated literature in order to find the right taxonomy. Moreover, in order to qualify commercials as story ads. The researcher uses a set of questions to make sure, the right ads are researched. The theory, the framework and questions will lead to insights about what story telling practices are used among certain Brands, which is based on a content analysis of TV commercials.

2.3. Strategy

Qualitative research differentiates from quantitative research by relying more and mainly on non-numeric data, such as words, images, audio or video, moreover, qualitative research is often related to an interpretive philosophy, because in its core the applicant of this strategy is attempting to make sense of the subjective and socially constructed meanings, which are studied (Saunders, 2019). A variety of methods are applied to fullfill the qualitative strategy. The qualitative strategy is relying often but not always on conceptual framework or some other kind of theoretical framework for exploring the subject. The data obtained in a qualitative study is often non-standardized and can vary from time to time (Saunders et al., 2019).

The goal of this thesis is to explore the storytelling practices of German premium automotive Brands, therefore the researcher will use secondary sources to collect primary data. As a research method, content analysis and data interpretation through categorization and coding will be used to define and explore storytelling practices.

Content analysis can be described as a systematic research approach for analysing the content and handling of messages. This methodology can be applied to explore, code and categorize the communication behaviour and messaging (Budd et al., 1967). The

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differentiating characteristics of this method, according to Kassarijan (1977) on the topic, are objectivity, which gives a content analysis scientific standing and systemization. This means that the content being analysed should be impartial and relevant to a scientific issue, so that the findings can be compared when analysed by others. Furthermore, analytic categories are essential for content analysis. Within the content, which is gathered, one shall observe and explore themes, terms, and concepts in order to be categorised to analyse the content (Kassarijan, 1977).

To maintain an objective view of the content that will be analysed by the researcher, it is necessary to establish rules, both in terms of categorization and coding, prior to sampling the data. In this context, the theoretical framework explained will play an helpful and important rule. A content review should be structured in the sense of clearly specifying the standards of practise to keep it concise and consistent. All of this is necessary to make the data collection and analysis process repeatable and simple to follow (Saunders, 2019). A content analysis is a viable approach for this research, since the storytelling practices can be examined through a content analysis of TV Commercials from three premium automotive Brands from Germany (Saunders, 2019).

According to Saunders (2019), a qualitative research design can derive its data from one single data collection, which is called a mono method qualitative study. The research project uses a single data collection consisting of tv commercials of German premum automotive Brands, found on the website adforum.

2.4. Time Horizon

With regards to the time horizon, there are basically two approaches, which can be followed: the sectional or longitudinal approach (Saunders, 2019). The cross-sectional is more focused on specific time and can be compared to a temporarily snapshot of a certain research subject, while longitudinal studies serve a broader reflection of an research subject where the time horizon is longer compared to cross-sectional studies (Saunders, 2019). Since the goal of this research is to capture the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands in general, rather from one campaign, the chosen time frame will be 10 years (2011-2021), in order to gain a broad picture. According to experienced practioners, marketing campaign have a time span of 1-2 years (Mahoney, 2019), which means that aiming at data collection of years will ensure that the data will come from more than 1 campaign, which will also ensure a broad overview of storytelling practices.

2.5. Data Collection – Primary Data

The aim of this study is to explore the storytelling practices among German premium automotive Brands. This will be done by executing an content analysis of TV commercials of all German premium automotive Brands.

The data, in this case video ads, will be gathered from a source which offers a broad data base of video ads of these companies. The source discussed is called Adforum and offers a big range of TV Commercials from these Brands.

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The number of existing video ads are as follows:

Table 1 - Number of videos ads on ad forum 2011-2021 Productioncountry:Germany

German premium automotive Brands Number of tv commercials

Mercedes-Benz 50

BMW 19

Audi 34

The criteria for researching an video ad are a) they are from one of the German premium automotive Brands, which has been defined and explained in previous parts: In scientific literature, there are numerous researchers views on automotive Brands from Germany which can be considered as premium automotive Brands for all or one of the following: Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW (Adam, 2015; Ageljic, 2019; Brunello, 2015; Horvath, 2014; Iuliana, 2020; Seidel, 2011; Ulrich et al., 2019), b) they fulfill the criteria of the set of questions suggested by Escalas (1998) : 1) Is this a well-developed story in terms of its elements (scene, actor, purpose/ intention/goal, action, response, outcome)? 2) Does this ad have a temporal dimension (beginning, middle, end, occurs over time)? Those two questions helped Escalas (1998) to differentiate between story ads and none-story-ads, in order to analyze story containing ads and the last criteria c) the video ad has been published in the above-discussed time horizon and was produced in Germany, according to Adforum (2020), but not exclusively for the German Market, since all TV commercial founded were in English, it can be assumed that the origin of the TV commercial Is not necessarily an indicator for how or where the TV commercial is distributed. There was no data found on that, except the production country on Adforum, however, for the purpose of this paper it is not relevant to determine the media distribution plan, but to explore broadly the storytelling practices, which is assured by defining a time horizon of 10 years. In regards to the number of commercials which should be analyzed, the researcher Stern (1994) used 40 tv commercials, in order to gain a broad overview of storytelling or drama in tv commercial. The researcher regard 40 commercials as a minimum for content analysis in order to gain a broad overview, which is also assured by the time horizon of 10 years. If the video ad is fulfilling all three criteria, it will be analyzed within the content analysis.

2.6. Data Analysis

According to Saunders (2019), the nature of qualitative analysis is interactive, therefore it is important to plan the analysis as interconnected process where collection, analyzing and interpretation of data is regarded as iterative process (Saunders, 2019).

The data in this analysis was collected in three ways: 1. The video was watched and then the controlling questions were applied, if the video did not fulfill the criteria of the questions, it was not considered in the further analysis, 2. According to the predefined categories, such as plot, character, message and conflict, the observation were written down, which consisted of focused viewing of the videos and objective description of what happens, what was said, how the person were looking and what were the subtle actions the characters did or did not and what emotions were observed. 3. The spoken word in the videos was transcribed and added to the message category next to textual narratives that were presented in the video. After the analysis took place, the next step was to code the

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transcription and to find common patterns as suggested in literature (Belk et al., 2013). And these patterns were consolidated to meaningful themes which led to the results of this research. The process is iterative, which means that codes were dragged around for and back until the groups were consistently fitting under certain theme.

2.7. Quality

The philosophy of this research follows interpretive assumption, where reality is understood as multifaceted and socially constructed (Saunders, 2019). This is an important premise for the methodological approach of this research project, since the criteria for quality must follow other principle than for instance in quantitative positivistic approaches, where criteria such as different types of measurement validity (Saunders, 2019). The use of such criteria is inappropriate to qualitative and interpretivist research, because qualitative research is not necessarily intended to be replicated due to the fact that socially constructed interpretations of researchers are reflecting a certain setting at the time it was conducted (Saunders, 2019). In this context, the use of another data analyst would increase the quality by increasing the internal reliability (Saunders, 2019), however, due to the capacity of research project this was not possible. There have approaches, despite the nature of interpretive research, to create quality criteria which help increase the quality of the research, which will be presented in the following part.

Dependability is a criterion which means that everything which was done in the research process regarding the data analysis was documented (Saunders, 2019. In this research, the researcher documented every commercial, every description, and every theme, which can be analyzed also by other entities.

Credibility is another criterion, which can be used for qualitative research, and it means that the representation of the research participants´ constructed reality actually match what the participants intended (Saunders, 2019). There are some techniques to fulfil this criterion, in this context, the researcher made sure that the preconceived expectation about what the analysis will reveal is not privileged over the social construction, by regularly challenging them during the analysis of the data (Saunders, 2019).

Transferability is the criterion which means that the researcher provides the reader with the opportunity to evaluate the transferability of the study into another setting (Saunders, 2019). In this research, the transferability was ensured by describing the whole data collection and data analysis process in detail.

The last criterion is called authenticity criteria, which is ensured through representation of all views in the research, which raise awareness and generate learning (Saunders, 2019). This was ensured by covering several Brands, over a longer period and naming which commercials were not qualified as story ad.

3. Results

As explained in the previous chapter, the researcher of this paper followed certain criteria for choosing commercial for the content analysis. From the 104 videos found (Appendice 1), which are fulfilling the criteria of data collection, 55 were fulfilling the criteria of an story ad and were considered in the content analysis. In the content analysis, everything which

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has been discussed in the previous chapter, such as applying control questions, transcribing character, plot and message, was successfully done. After categorizing codes, the codes were grouped according to common denominators in order to explore the themes which are specific for the premium automotive Brands. This led to an overview of recurring themes, which help to understand the storytelling practice of German premium automotive Brands in tv commercials. The researcher has successfully coded the commercials into messages, plots, conflict and characters.

Table 2 - Number of Story Ads

German premium automotive Brands Story Ad Non-story Ad Mercedes-Benz 31 19 BMW 10 9 Audi 13 21 3.1. Message

In the following, the researcher will present the themes from the message as explained in the previous chapter. The themes found in the commercials were presenting the benefits, the values of today, the identity of Brand and visions of the future.

3.1.1 Presenting the benefits

The first themes founded is presenting the benefits, which covered commercials from all three Brands. This theme consists of messages that are describing how a product can benefits the life through a product feature. These messages are communicating benefits, so the viewer gains the desire to adapt it for themself. The commercials and their styles are different but related in the goal to show something that attempts to inspire viewers to use it for them self. A good example for this is the commercial “unplug and play” (BMW, 2019) from BMW, which shows a boy that unplugs devices, but this leads mostly to disastrous consequences, except at the end, when the boy unplugs an electric Bmw, which leads to him driving around with it and having apparently fun.

3.1.2 Values of today

The second theme is the values of today. This theme consists of messages which are presenting modern values, which are familiar to the customer. Often found in such commercial are scenarios which present issues or incidents and then the Brand presents in story manner what its value is, so people can relate to it or discuss it. The range of issues or values covered in this commercial are varying and include subjects as a competitive mindset or family values or the electric-driven mobility. A good example for this is a Mercedes commercial called “Justify nothing” (Mercedes-Benz, 2019). This commercial starts with an university professor which holds an lecture in front of his students, but in the same moment he is also holding a baby in a baby bag stripped on his body. In the course of events, the professor is shown how he does different things over the day while taking care of this baby, meanwhile, the man is talking to the baby about life in general and says: “Life

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for making someone feel special, for being in love. When it all gets, for every fight, this is the 21st century. You don't need to justify yourself for anything. Life lessons from your Granddaddy.” (Mercedes-Benz, 2019). At the end of the commercial, it becomes clear that

this man is the grandfather of this baby, and that his daughter was exhausted and needed a break from being a mother, who led the professor to take care of his grandchild despite all the duties he has to fulfill, which also led to irritated reaction of his environment. At the end, the mother has rested and leaves with her baby in a Mercedes Car, which also was used by the professor during the commercial. The commercial ends with the message “justify nothing.”.

3.1.3 Identity of the Brand

The third theme is the identity of the Brand. This theme is related to commercials that attempt to communicate more about the Brand. This theme often relies on the general Brand claim such as “progress through technology”, “sheer driving pleasure” or “the best or

nothing”, but can also follow specific claims such as “stronger than time”. The commercial

“stronger than time” (Mercedes-Benz, 2018b) is a good example for this theme, because it uses the product – a Mercedes g-class, and shows it how it endures through different areas it drives through, then a mosquito is shown that is conserved in amber, which at the end happens also to the g-class. Showing the g-class in different activities, then conserved in amber with the ending claim “stronger than time” shows how Mercedes attempted to communicate more about itself, which is the idea that its products are very enduring.

3.1.4 Vision of the Future

The last theme is vision of the future which is about commercials that tell stories about desired future scenarios. A good example is the Audi commercial “Zu effizient für Ihren

Tankwart” (Audi, 2015), which is about a man owning and working at a gas stations in a

little village. The man is telling the stories of how his gas station used to be a spot for frequent visits of car owners, but when the new Audi was introduced, the visits decreased because there was no need for it. The man at the gas station is basically complaining desperately how this specific Audi is not coming anymore to his gas station and that he is not earning money anymore. The message shown at the end says that the Audi is too efficient for the gas station, which means the demand for gas and the quality of engineering is so high that there is no necessity for visit the gas station.

3.2. Plot

In the following part, I will present the recurring themes with regard to the plot. This part will show which plots are used in the analyzed content.

3.2.1 A strange journey

The first recurring theme among the plots is called a strange journey. Plots of a strange journey are stories that go through a mysterious and subtle development, where many things are not said or really described, but still these plots can communicate some things. A good example is the Mercedes commercial called “Escaped to the mountains”( Mercedes-Benz, 2011). The protagonist of this commercial is living alone in the woods, until he sees a Mercedes Benz, then he shaves his beard and wears suit. The subtle plot is telling that he left the world to life in the woods but after seeing the Mercedes he decides to go

References

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