I’m in 
with a Penguin…
It all started very innocently. I was simply flipping through my Twitter feed and suddenly my heart stopped. (It was actually my thumb, but heart sounds more romantic.) One look at those beady, little eyes (and his adorable YouTube video) and I was hooked. His name is Monty and he is the star of a new Christmas advertisement by UK retailer John Lewis. The upscale department store launched its Monty the Penguin commercial on November 6 and one day later the YouTube video had tallied over 5,000,000 views.
Being a social media animal, Monty also has a Twitter account with over 18,000 followers and already has reached over 2,000 ‘Likes’ on this Facebook page. Not bad for a bird without any thumbs.
A quick visit to the John Lewis website and I discovered that my newly beloved also has a full merchandise line, an online game, his own storybook, an app, an in-store penguin den for photo ops, virtual reality goggles, and a corporate social responsibility program to support the World Wildlife Fund. The cost to produce the ad was ₤1m and the entire campaign will come in at a cool (pardon the pun) ₤7m (Butler, 2014). The campaign brilliantly uses social media to promote both online and in-store shopping for a complete shopping experience (Butler, 2014).
Despite the fact this campaign was extremely well planned, executed, and integrated across various communication channels, that is not why I — or the world — fell hopelessly, instantly in love with Monty the Penguin. We fell in love because of the story. We fell in love with a heartwarming Christmas story about a little boy and the love he had for his little penguin friend. (I won’t share anymore in case you haven’t seen the video.) It was the story that stole our hearts.
From the glow of campfires to the glow of iPads, we humans have shared our stories with friends and family since the beginning of time. No communication device is more powerful (Storytelling, 2003). In fact, brand storytelling through social media can increase consumer advocacy by 90% and increase revenue by 257% (Waggener Edstrom, 2014). Simply put, storytelling should be the number one focus of companies today because as Gary Vaynerchuk stated in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook “there is no sale without the story” (Vaynerchuk, 2013, p. 7). Plus, storytelling guru Robert McKee stated, “If you can harness imagination and the principles of a well-told story, then you get people rising to their feet amid thunderous applause” (Storytelling, 2003). Better yet, you might even get them to fall in love.
References:
Butler, S. (2014). John Lewis unveils Christmas ad starring Monty the penguin. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/06/john-lewis-unveils-christmas-ad-starring-monty-the-penguin
John Lewis: http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas-advert-2014-montys-christmas?intcmp=hp_tl_b_monty_X061114
Storytelling that moves people: A conversation with screenwriting coach Robert McKee. (2003, June). Harvard Business Review, 5-8. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people/ar
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MontyThePenguin
Vaynerchuk, G. (2013). Jab, jab, jab, right hook: How to tell your story in a noisy social world. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Waggener Edstrom Studio D Asia-Pacific. (2014). Content matters. The impact of brand storytelling online: Understanding the role of digital content on Asian consumer decision-making and ROI. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/APAC-WaggenerEdstrom/waggener-edstrom-studio-d-asiapacific-content-matters-impact-of-content-marketing-on-business-roi-2014-report
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