Beyond storytelling lies innovation you can see and measure

Innovation, whether technological, strategic, or product, must focus on creating new value models for the customer and on designing memorable experiences across the entire commercial funnel. Today, too many opportunities fade when brands try to solve everything with storytelling and “content marketing.” Useful as tactics, but insufficient unless they’re connected to the product, the service, and business outcomes.

My bet is on business transformation, inside and out:

• Inside: multidisciplinary teams, work by funnel stages, consented first-party data, continuous experimentation (A/B tests, pilots), clear metrics (retention, NPS, LTV, CAC):
  • NPS (Net Promoter Score): a loyalty indicator. Measured with the question “How likely are you to recommend… (0–10)?”; NPS = % promoters (9–10) − % detractors (0–6).
  • LTV (Lifetime Value): the value a customer contributes over the relationship. A common approach: LTV = average revenue per customer × gross margin × average relationship length (or ARPU ÷ churn rate, margin-adjusted).
  • CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): the cost to acquire a new customer. CAC = (marketing + sales spend in a period) ÷ number of new customers.
• Outside: active market listening, real-time research, co-creation with customers, ecosystems, and omnichannel distribution.

Those who manage brand communications sit at the internal-external hinge: out on the street with the consumer and, at the same time, inside the organization aligning products, operations, and the executive team. That role must translate understanding (insights) into concrete changes: service improvements, new features (functionality), simpler processes, promises kept.

Almost every company says it “creates value” and “relevant content”; the challenge is to make it operational beyond the storytelling stage:

• that the value proposition is visible in the app, in the store, and in the checkout flow;
• that the campaign promise is confirmed in support, logistics, and on the invoice.

Customer-oriented innovation and experiences that deliver on the promise beat narrative for narrative’s sake (telling stories just to tell them). Specifically:

• Storytelling doesn’t die; it integrates. It works when it’s tied to product, distribution, community, and measurement (not as a substitute for value).
• “Inside–out” transformation. Teams across the commercial funnel, consented first-party data, and operational changes that back up what’s being communicated.
• Current realities: generative AI in product and marketing, third-party cookie deprecation and the rise of retail media, messaging/short-form video, privacy, tough attribution (MMM + experiments), and pressure for profitability and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) management.
  • MMM: Marketing Mix Modeling. An econometric technique that estimates the incremental impact of channels (TV, digital, OOH, retail media, price, promotion, etc.) on sales/brand—useful with fewer cookies and more privacy.

If you want to put this into practice or make it operational now, focus on the following six steps:

1. Define the value proposition and test its fit (problem → solution → price).
2. Design the commercial funnel and assign cross-functional owners.
3. Instrument first-party/declared data and metrics (retention, LTV, CAC, NPS).
4. Run continuous pulses (product, pricing, messages, channels).
5. Align incentives (not just reach; also repeat and margin).
6. Close the loop: what’s promised in the campaign is delivered in the app, store, support, and logistics.

Ultimately and as they say, less narrative for its own sake and more verifiable impact. Tell stories when they add value, but let the experience, the product, and the execution take center stage. In short, time will tell… and we’ll measure it.