In 1926, John Caples sat down at his typewriter and wrote the iconic ad: “They laughed when I sat down to play the piano, but when I started to play!”

That was the world’s first brand story.

The ad, which was selling piano lessons, told the tale of Jack who played Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano at a concert, shocking his friends and family who had no idea he could play.

That brand story brought in a record number of inquiries and coupons, and continued to do so for many years.

Nowadays, Caple’s ad wouldn’t fly with our busy and easily distracted customers. It has too many words and not enough multimedia to retain their interest.

But the concept of telling a story to sell products or services remains just as successful.

To write “The Art of Brand Storytelling for Modern-Day Marketers” ebook, we enlisted four brand storytelling experts—Kyle Porter, Park Howell, Tamsen Webster, and Miri Rodriguez—to help us explore:

• Why brand storytelling is so powerful
• How to create compelling brand stories
• Which brands are telling the right stories
• What the future of brand storytelling looks like