The Brand Storytelling Playbook: From Buy-In to Business Impact

Makers Senior Producer Sophia Clark sits down with brand leaders from Acushnet, Wolverine Worldwide, and Delta Air Lines to unpack how bold storytelling ideas get approved, produced, and proven.

In a world dominated by six-second clips and endless product messaging, brand storytelling offers something short-form content often can't: emotional connection, a distinctive identity, and lasting business impact.

But great branded stories don't happen by accident. They require internal champions, executive buy-in, cross-functional alignment, and the conviction to stay the course when priorities shift.

Join Sean McCoole (Acushnet), Abigail Scott (Wolverine Worldwide), and Drake Springer (Delta Air Lines) for an honest conversation about the full journey of brand storytelling—from pitching ambitious ideas to leadership and navigating production challenges to measuring whether a great story actually moves the business.

What You'll Learn:

• Winning executive buy-in: Practical strategies for selling narrative-driven ideas to stakeholders and leadership.
• Protecting the vision: How to maintain strategic focus when budgets, priorities, or leadership change.
• Why story still wins: How cinematic storytelling creates deeper emotional engagement and long-term brand value beyond quick-hit advertising.
• Building internal momentum: Ways to rally cross-functional teams and champions around ambitious creative work.
• Measuring impact: How leading brands evaluate the business performance of brand storytelling.