In previous blogs about storytelling as part of a social commerce strategy, we’ve outlined the various types of effective stories campaigns. Today we’ll look at some specific examples of each type of story campaign – brand association, brand, and product – by highlighting manufacturers’ success with stories.

New Balance associated its brand with inspiring tales from runners’ experiences. A Runner’s Tale: Stories from the Road gives runners the chance to tell about their best runs, centering on the New Balance-sponsored Rock ‘n Roll Marathon series that runs throughout 2009. Their invitation to share reads, “Every pair of shoes tells a story. Each one unique and beautiful – with its own set of struggles, pitfalls and ultimate triumphs. That’s what we love about them. We’re dying to hear yours.”

People don’t generally write about their shoes – not all marathoners at these events wear New Balance – but passionate runners want to share their stories and New Balance capitalizes on this, reaching out to runners using other brands to expose them to the New Balance brand. They also allow submission via a link on their Facebook page.

Under Armour is positioned as an innovative sports gear company that helps customers – especially serious athletes – perform at optimum levels by providing performance and comfort not found in other garments. To get firsthand input on their brand, they encouraged users to share their experiences, using this prompt: “Under Armour is on a mission to make all athletes better. Did we make you better?”

Each story gives insights into customers’ interactions, experiences, and long-time reliance on the brand, giving Under Armour great insights into why their customers choose them. The relevant, sports- and performance-focused content drives increased organic search results.

These manufacturers draw new varieties of searchers their sites, using highly relevant, specific content to differentiate them from other brands. At the same time, customer-contributed stories create fresh, highly relevant content to drive natural search, help build brand loyalty, build a sense of community, and help inform brands about their key consumers.

In previous blogs about storytelling as part of a social commerce strategy, we’ve outlined the various types of effective stories campaigns. Today we’ll look at some specific examples of retailer success with stories.

CVS Caremark provides more prescriptions than any other pharmacy, and their campaigns revolve around unsung heroes – the caregivers that visit their stores and are everyday, unsung heroes. Early this year, they kicked off their “For All the Ways You Care” campaign, encouraging stories about these caregivers and the incredible challenges and triumphs they face each day. While the stories don’t specifically mention or tie to CVS Caremark pharmacies, they build a brand association with CVS and caregivers. The remarkable stories found on this site are divided into segments including everything from adoption to disaster relief. While winners were chosen in May 2009, heralded with a national media blitz, the site still attracts new stories, even allowing writers to create their own scrapbook around each story. This brand association campaign helps turn a faceless pharmacy into a hub for caregivers, who often go unnoticed.

Bazaarvoice clients who have implemented successful brand association campaigns include beauty brand philosophy’s “Your Mom’s Philosophy” and Chefs Catalog tie-in with the latest wave of Julia Child popularity.

La-Z-Boy created a compelling brand-centered campaign with their “How has La-Z-Boy brought comfort your life?” campaign. This reward-based campaign brought in more than 2,700 stories and 38,500 registered visitors over a three-month period. La-Z-Boy shared these and other brand-related stories with its in-store salespeople, to help them understand why people choose La-Z-Boy.

Online swimsuit retailer Cyberswim created its “Miracle Moments” stories campaign about the Miraclesuit product, designed to enhance voluptuous figures. Cyberswim claims the world’s largest selection, and let its customers do the talking on behalf of the suit. Cyberswim added Stories to its already successful Ratings & Reviews and Ask & Answer solutions, giving women a ton of real-world information from other women like them, including one story that begins, “I am 47 years old. I bought my first Miraclesuit when I was 39, and it is the only suit I will ever buy.”

In every case, these retailers draw new searchers and a variety of types of shoppers to their sites, differentiating them from other brands. At the same time, customer-contributed stories create fresh, highly relevant content to drive natural search, help build brand loyalty, build a sense of community, and help inform brands about their customers – all of which ultimately leads to higher sales.