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Brand Storytelling: How to Create Stories People Share

Sports fans do more than watch.

They debate decisions, remember defining moments, retell stories and pass traditions from one generation to the next. They wear team colors, repeat statistics and build personal identities around events they did not directly participate in.

That makes sports a useful environment for understanding brand storytelling.

In this episode of What’s Your Story?, Sally Williamson speaks with Barry Blyn about audience insights, fan behavior and the qualities that make stories memorable enough to be repeated.

Their conversation explores sports, but the lessons apply well beyond it. Every organization wants messages that audiences understand, remember and carry into another conversation.

How to Tell Stories People Remember and Share

Learning how to tell shareable stories begins with understanding the audience. A story becomes valuable when listeners remember it, repeat it accurately and connect it to a larger idea. In this episode, ESPN audience-insights leader Barry Blyn joins Sally Williamson to discuss what sports fans can teach communicators about emotion, loyalty, audience behavior and memorable storytelling.

Barry Blyn is Vice President, Audience and Content Insights at ESPN, a post he has held since late 2018. In this position, Blyn’s team provides best-in-class, fan-centric content evaluation for key clients across ESPN and even The Walt Disney Company.

A graduate of the NYU Stern School of Business, Barry has worked with insights, data, and people throughout a variety of industries including politics, comedy, and sports. Currently in sports, Barry offers insight into the mind of the fan from ancient history until now and the nuances that lie therein. Do sports have meaning? And, if they don’t, why do fans engage in such deep loyalty practices, wearing their team’s colors and painting their faces? Can you convert a sports fan to a new favorite team?

He tells us of ESPN’s consumer image, sponsorship opportunities and how fans react to them, the virality of sports stories, and the ever-accelerating sports news cycles. Because of his time in other industries, Barry is able to home in on what really sets the sports industry apart, and what changes content creators and storytellers should make to target this audience.

Most importantly, Barry talks to us about stories themselves, often while using stories himself that demonstrate the concepts he discusses. How do you know when a story works? What if you hear your story repeated back—and what if you hear it repeated wrong? Find out in today’s episode!

Show Highlights

• 1:00 Sports stories fit almost all types of business situations. But what about if you’re in sports? What type story do you use then to explain the business situations?
• 2:00 What does Barry Blyn’s team do at ESPN? What tools do they use?
• 4:00 How has the business of giving insights changed? What impact has Big Data had, and what’s important now when so much information is available?
• 6:00 What insights does Barry try to collect in regards to sports? How does history and brain wiring play a role in sports insights? Are all sports fans the same?
• 8:00 How have things changed over the years as it pertains to sports and events? Is that a particularly interesting or complex area of sports insights? How has the sports news cycle changed?
• 12:00 Stories are how information gets remembered and repeated. Are sports fans one of the audiences who repeat content the most? Are sports stories the original viral content?
• 14:00 How is sponsorship in sports different from advertising in other niches?
• 20:00 What were the early risks of Game Day?
• 25:00 Are the sports fans Barry profiles constantly changing or easy to profile? What changes can occur?
• 34:00 Are there times Barry’s stories get repeated back to him? Barry describes some important moments in his career that assure him his storytelling works.

Guest Information

Barry Blyn is a strategic researcher who obtains data in innovative ways and transforms key points into actionable consumer insights across all media platforms. Uniquely able to understand and compellingly communicate consumer behavior to shape a company’s agenda. Regarded in industry as expert in storytelling and in pushing ideas beyond expected and conventional.

You can find more information about Barry on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryblyn/

What Is Brand Storytelling?

Brand storytelling is the use of relevant stories to help audiences understand what an organization represents, whom it serves and why its work matters.

A brand story may feature:

• A customer
• An employee
• A founder
• A turning point
• A meaningful decision
• A problem the organization solved
• A value demonstrated through action
• A moment that changed how people viewed the company

The story should not exist only to entertain. It should support a clear message about the brand or business.

Effective brand storytelling helps an audience connect information with human experience. It makes an idea easier to understand and gives listeners language they can use when describing it to others.

A story creates value for a brand when the audience remembers the meaning, not only the moment.

Sports Stories Are Naturally Shareable

Sports provide many of the elements that make stories compelling:

• Recognizable characters
• Clear goals
• Uncertain outcomes
• Conflict and competition
• Setbacks
• Comebacks
• Loyalty
• Identity
• Shared history
• Emotional stakes

Fans already understand the larger context. They know what winning means. They recognize the significance of a rivalry, record or unexpected performance.

That shared knowledge allows a sports story to move quickly.

A single moment can become a story that is replayed, discussed and adapted across television, social media, podcasts and personal conversations.

Brands outside of sports can learn from this.

Shareable stories usually have a clear point, recognizable tension and enough relevance for people to connect the story with something they already value.

Understand the Audience Before Building the Story

The first step in brand storytelling is not choosing a story.

It is understanding the audience.

Barry’s work with audience and content insights reflects an important principle: storytellers need to know how people think, what they care about and what they are likely to do with the information.

Useful audience questions include:

• What does this audience already know?
• What does it value?
• What experiences does it share?
• What creates emotional connection?
• Which assumptions might affect how the story is heard?
• What information will feel new?
• What will the audience find credible?
• What might listeners repeat afterward?

Audiences cannot be understood only through broad categories.

Not every sports fan behaves the same way. Not every customer values the same benefit. Not every employee interprets a leadership message through the same experience.

The more specific the audience understanding, the more focused the story can become.

Data Can Reveal What Audiences Value

Organizations have access to more audience data than ever.

They can measure viewing behavior, engagement, preferences, purchasing patterns and responses across multiple channels. This information can reveal what attracts attention and what audiences choose to share.

But more data does not automatically create greater insight.

The challenge is deciding:

• Which information matters
• What pattern the data reveals
• Why the pattern matters
• What action should follow
• How the insight should be communicated

An audience-insights team creates value when it moves beyond reporting numbers and explains what those numbers mean.

For example:

Data point: A piece of content performed better than similar content.

Insight: The audience responded because the story connected a current event with a shared memory.

Action: Look for other moments where history and current relevance can be brought together.

The insight becomes useful when it changes a decision.

Turn Data Into a Storyline

A data story needs structure.

Leaders and communicators can use four questions:

1. What did we expect?
2. What did the data reveal?
3. Why does the difference matter?
4. What should we do with the insight?

This creates movement.

Instead of presenting a collection of audience metrics, the communicator helps listeners understand what changed and why the organization should care.

The storyline should make the insight easier to carry into other conversations.

Data tells you what happened. Storyline helps people understand what it means.

Shareable Stories Have a Clear Point

A story may be entertaining without being useful.

People can remember a dramatic moment while forgetting why the communicator included it. This often happens when the connection between the story and the business message is left unstated.

A shareable business story should have a clear takeaway.

Ask:

• What does this story demonstrate?
• Why does it matter to this audience?
• What should listeners understand differently?
• How does it support the larger message?
• What language should the audience remember?

The communicator should not force a lesson onto every detail. But the audience should understand why the story belongs in the conversation.

Emotion Gives the Story Meaning

Sports fans respond emotionally because the outcome represents more than a score.

A team may be connected with a city, family tradition, personal memory or sense of belonging. The emotional meaning encourages people to talk about the experience and share it with others.

Business stories also need meaning.

That does not require making every story dramatic. It requires showing what mattered to the people involved.

The emotional center may be:

• Frustration with a problem
• Pride in an accomplishment
• Relief after uncertainty
• Confidence gained through change
• Concern for a customer
• Commitment to a shared purpose
• Determination after a setback

Emotion should emerge from the experience. It should not be exaggerated merely to attract attention.

Tension Makes a Story Worth Following

Without tension, a story becomes a report.

Tension is the gap between what someone wanted and what stood in the way.

In sports, the tension is visible. An athlete wants to win, but an opponent, injury or unexpected circumstance creates uncertainty.

In business, tension may involve:

• A customer struggling with an established process
• A team trying to meet an ambitious deadline
• A leader making a difficult decision
• An organization responding to disruption
• An employee challenging an assumption
• A product that initially failed to gain adoption
• A strategy that required significant change

The tension gives the audience a reason to keep listening.

The outcome explains what changed. The meaning explains why the story matters.

Shareable Stories Are Specific

Generic stories are difficult to remember.

Statements such as “our team worked hard” or “we always put customers first” may be true, but they do not give the audience much to picture or repeat.

Specific details make a story tangible.

Consider the difference:

Generic:
“Our employees are committed to helping customers.”

Specific:
“When a customer’s system failed shortly before a major launch, three employees stayed on the call through the night, coordinated two additional teams and helped restore the system before the first customer arrived.”

The second version provides a situation, action and outcome. It gives the audience something to follow.

Specificity also creates credibility. The story feels observed rather than manufactured.

Stories Need Characters

Audiences connect with people more easily than organizations.

A brand story becomes more accessible when the audience can follow a customer, employee, leader or team through the experience.

The character should have:

• A goal
• A challenge
• A meaningful decision
• A role in the outcome

The organization does not always need to be the hero.

In many strong customer stories, the customer is the central character. The company provides support, expertise or a tool that helps the customer succeed.

This framing keeps the story focused on the audience’s world rather than turning every story into self-promotion.

Protect Authenticity

Audiences are quick to notice when a story feels overly polished.

Brand storytellers sometimes remove every difficulty, simplify the customer’s experience or make the organization appear solely responsible for success.

That weakens credibility.

Authentic stories can include:

• What was uncertain
• What did not work initially
• What the team learned
• What the customer contributed
• Which challenges remain
• How the outcome differed from the original expectation

Authenticity does not mean sharing every detail. It means preserving enough of the real experience for the story to remain believable.

Virality Is Not the Same as Value

A story can reach a large audience without supporting the brand.

It may attract attention because it is controversial, surprising or entertaining. But if people do not connect the content with the organization’s purpose or message, the attention may create little lasting value.

Organizations should define success more carefully.

Measures might include:

• Audience understanding
• Message recall
• Accurate repetition
• Relevant engagement
• Brand association
• Customer action
• Employee alignment
• Conversation quality
• Long-term use of the story

Reach can be useful. But reach without relevance is not a complete storytelling strategy.

Sponsorships Need a Story Audiences Believe

Sports sponsorships give brands access to engaged audiences. But visibility alone does not create connection.

A sponsorship becomes more meaningful when audiences understand why the partnership makes sense.

A credible sponsorship story connects:

• The brand’s values
• The audience’s interests
• The event or organization
• A relevant experience
• A meaningful action

If the relationship feels unrelated or purely transactional, the audience may remember the logo without developing a stronger connection with the brand.

The story should answer:

• Why is this brand here?
• What does the partnership make possible?
• How does it improve the audience experience?
• What shared value connects the organizations?

Context Determines Whether a Story Works

The same story may be effective in one setting and unsuccessful in another.

A story developed for a live event may need to be shorter for social media. A leadership story used with employees may require different context for customers. A story that works for knowledgeable fans may confuse a broader audience.

Before using a story, consider:

• Who is listening?
• What do they already know?
• How much time is available?
• What is happening around the communication?
• What tone is appropriate?
• What action should follow?
• Which details are essential?

A strong story is not simply well written. It is well matched to the situation.

When the Story Is Repeated Incorrectly

Hearing a story repeated is a sign that something was memorable.

But repetition alone is not enough. The meaning must remain accurate.

A story may be repeated incorrectly when:

• The central message was unclear
• Too many details competed for attention
• The audience remembered the dramatic moment but missed the point
• The story contained several possible takeaways
• The communicator did not connect it with the larger message
• Listeners adapted the story without enough context

Communicators should decide what must remain intact when the story travels.

Ask:

• What is the one takeaway that cannot change?
• Which details establish credibility?
• What part of the story is most likely to be repeated?
• Could that part be misunderstood?
• Does the conclusion make the meaning clear?

Build the Repeatability Factor

At SW&A, we describe successful communication through the Repeatability Factor.

A story has repeatability when listeners can remember it, explain its meaning and use it in another conversation.

Test a story by asking:

• Can listeners summarize it in a few sentences?
• Can they identify the central character?
• Can they explain the challenge?
• Can they recall the outcome?
• Can they connect it with the intended message?
• Can they repeat it accurately after time has passed?

If the story depends on the full presentation for meaning, it may not be ready to travel.

A shareable story is not only easy to repeat. It is difficult to repeat incorrectly.

Like what you hear? Hear more episodes like this on the What’s Your Story podcast page!