Picture this. You are relaxing at your home one evening when there’s a knock on the door. Opening it, you see a well-dressed man seeking shelter for the night. You allow him inside and make him comfortable. You don’t ask him who he is, what he’s up to and why he needs shelter. The next morning, when you wake up, the stranger is gone. But by evening again, you hear a knock on your door again. And this time, the man has brought more people, seeking shelter. Will you let them in?
This story was written by my 14-year-old daughter for a school contest. And just look at the power of it – for a moment it transported you to another world, engaged you like nothing else, and made you exercise your imagination, visualisation, and got you asking what’s next.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of stories.
And that’s why, all of February, we told the story of my visit to Bandhavgarh in December and January, in a YouTube series we called ‘Quest for the Big Ten’.
Centred around my goal to see ten tigers in Bandhavgarh, a favourite place of mine that I visited after five long years, it tells the story of the trip, including the voices of the locals who are integral to the whole fabric of the small tourism industry there.
I am delighted to say that the series has been received exceptionally well, and has been running to much acclaim all over the digitosphere. And from that we learn one thing: if you ever have to create interest in a particular subject, and eventually love and trust, invest in stories. Marketing speak falls away in seconds, but stories – they stay and grow. And it is only by leveraging the power of storytelling that we shall make our brand one to remember.
