There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories. —Ursula K. LeGuin

Stories are the single most powerful weapon in a leader’s arsenal. —Howard Gardner, Harvard University

The idea of storytelling is more popular in marketing than ever. But as with a lot of great ideas that become hot concepts, then buzzwords, then clichés, there’s more than a little fuzz around what a story actually is.

I took a quick look around the internet to find things labeled as “stories.” Overall, they usually fit into four main categories. I won’t call out specific examples, but you can see these on websites and brochures for everything from big companies to local nonprofits. And don’t worry—I’ll share a great example shortly.

• A collection of facts: Often called things like, “Our story,” but not actually a story. (More on why that’s the case below.)
• Timelines: Ditto, arranged chronologically.
• Some observations about the state of the world: Paragraphs or lists that could be subtitled, “What we get that no one else does.”
• The founder’s biography: These sometimes come closest to being an actual story, but more often they read like resumes, as if potential customers were considering hiring the founder for some freelance work.

So why aren’t these stories? What are they missing?

In short, structure. All great stories follow a similar pattern: a hero has a clear goal, faces obstacles while trying to reach that goal, and—since no successful brand ends sadly—succeeds in the end. A well-structured story about a real challenge makes even the simplest information interesting. The challenge doesn’t need to be massive. It could be as easy as needing to talk to someone nearby or impress a potential client. Story structure lets people get involved. It builds an emotional bond that helps them relate to the hero’s struggles and celebrate their successes.

This 2009 short film for Johnnie Walker is a great example:

What’s remarkable is that it combines the information from all of the above categories:

• It’s loaded with facts
• It runs chronologically
• It articulates why Johnnie Walker is distinct
• It’s an entertaining biography of not only the founder, but the founder’s extended family

This particular story is an adventure tale, filled with challenges (competitors, desire to expand) and ingenious inventions (the square bottle, the diagonal label) that are entertaining and impressive. And the film cannily links Johnnie Walker to the larger stories of history. It hasn’t just won awards, it’s helped people get through wars. It’s been anointed a prize by movie stars. By the end of the film, the slogan Keep Walking has become a clarion call of progress itself.

It’d be easy to dismiss this as a nice-to-have, just an extra-fun way to convey information. But to do that is to miss the real power of stories, because the most important piece of information conveyed by a story is implicit: by letting viewers in on the experience, Johnnie Walker is telling the customer, “We want you to be a part of this. We don’t just want to sell whiskey to you. We want you to become a member of our extended family. And look how awesome our family is.”

I’d drink to that.