Abstract
As times have changed, a brand's approach to engaging with their customers has changed as well. Brand storytelling has become a new trend of brand building as Ian Rowden, the CMO of Virgin Group, once said, “The best brands are built on great stories.” But how can a company tell a great story that their customers can resonate and identify themselves with? Prior studies have shown that a captivating story is composed of a beginning, a climax usually in the form of a conflict and a resolution of the conflict at the end, and of these components, “reversal” plays an essential part of storytelling. This study divides the conflict of a reversal story into 2 categories, internal conflict and external, which can be further categorized into 4 subcategories with internal conflict being divided into “Man against self” and external conflict being divided into “Man against man,” “Man against society,” and “Man against nature.” Via the design of different conflict levels in reversal brand stories with product types (Search product: Suits; Experience product: Gym membership) as moderators, this study seeks to examine how different kinds of conflicts affect consumers’ brand attitude. The results show that stories with reversal would ultimately enhance consumers’ brand attitude. In addition, “Man against self,” "Man against man” and “Man against society” reversal brand stories are more related to brand attitude for experience products than for search products, whereas the relationship between search and experience products observed in “Man against nature” is limited. These findings can provide managerial implications and directions for practitioners in building a successful brand.