At Sonder & Tell we use a story structure to build a brand’s strategy. We start with the hero. Who are they? What’s the problem they need solving (the practical one and the deep emotional one)? And what’s the journey they need to go on? We believe starting here helps brands think of their customer first, and the positive role they can play in their lives.

For us, your hero is your aspirational target or the ideal customer persona. It’s not about capturing your whole addressable audience but about finding a unifying mindset that goes beyond demographics. Nike builds its brand for the aspiring athlete, Oatly for the post-milk generation, KatKin for the hardcore cat parent.

Last year, we worked with Manors to reposition them from a golf-inspired fashion brand to a brand with clothes you could wear on the course. Through surveys and conversations with modern-day golfers, we identified the hero and mindset as the “frontier golfer”.  They’re the people looking ahead to the next game, the next adventure. Who want a brand that frees up the way they can look or feel on the course. And we used the “fairway golfer” to define what we were not.

Our story structure means that if you identify your hero, you know who you need to be in order to be their guide. Think Dory for Merlin, the inspiring coach shouting Just Do It for aspiring athletes, or in Manors case, the explorer brand pioneering a new frontier for the game and the culture; that progresses with the people who play it.