How “Story-Driven” Became AKJOHNSTON’s Wheelhouse—and Why It Works
Too often, it’s hard for you to really understand how one It List agency is different from the other and who is really good at what. We get it. In a sea of agencies vying for your business, agency leaders are often tasked with standing apart from their competition. And amid the experiential marketing industry’s dynamic and challenging marketplace, that’s a tall order.
For our own agency’s growth and future focus, early on we turned to our own teams to discuss openly what we really do best, and how we do it differently from the other 99 agencies on the Top 100. The common thread across all the events we create, across all the verticals we create them in? Narrative-first, “story-driven” experiences.
An Agency at the Crossroads of Story and Experience
Our tagline is more of a mantra: “We are where story meets experience.” Our main ethos of existing at the crossroads of brands and their intersection with real-world consumer experiences guides our efforts from initial client introductions through creative design and development—until the program wraps. That mantra, and our obsession with quality, is the bedrock of our client experience and our long-standing success.
A story-first approach leans into characters (your brand and products)—their origin, their identity, and their general being. Given that the clear presence of a true and honest personality has become the new standard for consumers globally, it speaks directly to today’s audiences.
This focus has facilitated our growth and achievements as one of the fastest-growing agencies on the It List. It’s also helped create dynamic experiences for clients such as Warner Bros., Disney, and Bloom.
Data is Knowledge
Archival recently shared, “74% of Gen Z think IRL experiences are more important than digital (compared to 66% of millennials),” and 54% of Gen Z say that their favorite brands are the ones that make them feel like they’re part of a community. In other words, “cool” brands are the ones engaging this generation with far more than just product. And with 84% saying they’re more likely to purchase from brands that they see as “cool,” compared to ones they don’t, this universe-building is key to winning their loyalty.
“Creating a brand isn’t just the product for us, it’s about the story, the lifestyle, and the way we show up with everything we do,” says the co-founder of Represent, a brand keen on an under-25 consumer base that is tracking record growth over its 12 years in business. Represent holds a mixture of physical community activities that extend their consumer interactions beyond product drops. These touchpoints make its community feel part of the brand journey—something that resonates deeply with over a third of Gen Z and Millennials who report that unique events (e.g., live music, influencer meet-and-greets, pop-up shops) are a key driver of their engagement and spend.
A Process that Drives Connections
AKJOHNSTON leans heavily into this knowledge throughout our design process. We lead with the creation of “physical playgrounds for digital engagement,” where our strategy remains to design physical places for guests to explore, generate, and share content, and invite consumers to remain a part of the brand’s post-purchase story. We let the knowledge that user-generated content is especially important in community building for fashion and beauty players—and a measurable KPI and engagement point for marketers—be a guiding light.
