Connecting Stories: Telecommunication Brands, their Narratives and the Paradigm in Mobile Phone Advertising

Abstract

This paper considers the narratives in mobile phone commercials during a period of unprecedented market expansion. How was the fastest growing global sector in 2012 sold to consumers in different countries and cultures, and how have mobile brands, that differentiate themselves on service personality, conveyed their uniqueness within different global markets? The following research identifies regional characteristics in genres of mobile telecommunications advertising, including motivations and modes of address deployed for different geographic territories. By tracking narrative patterns through a significant sample of mobile commercials we have chartered the variety of message types, identified how brands have used localised customer insights and adjusted to regional variations. Conclusions highlight storytelling techniques used within glocal creative strategies of multinational campaigns, plus the nuances and patterns of targeted and generic campaigns.

Keywords

• : storytelling
• digital
• glocal
• consumers
• strategy.