Need for Narrative

Journal of Marketing Management, 34(5/6), 484-496, 2018

25 Pages Posted: 22 Jan 2020

See all articles by Tom van Laer

Tom van Laer

The University of Sydney

Luca M. Visconti

ESCP Europe; USI Università della Svizzera italiana

Stephanie Feiereisen

City University London - The Business School

Date Written: 2018

Abstract

What do consumers need from a narrative? How can videographers satisfy those needs? Through semi-structured interviews with 55 Eurostar passengers from 14 countries, this film documents how people define narratives, why they need them, and how they experience the effects of need for narrative. The adjoining commentary contributes to the development of videography as an attractive method by introducing the videographer’s perspective and elucidating key story elements that can help satisfy viewers’ needs for narrative. The suggested approach maintains the vivid quality of videography and respects its methodological rigour, while increasing its effectiveness in close alignment with a consumer society that visual communication increasingly permeates. As such, the commentary and the film jointly unveil videographers’ etic and viewers’ emic use and evaluation of the videographic method.

Keywords: identifiable characters, imaginable plot, narrative transportation, storytelling, suspension of disbelief, videography

JEL Classification: M31

Suggested Citation

van Laer, Tom and Visconti, Luca M. and Visconti, Luca M. and Feiereisen, Stephanie, Need for Narrative (2018). Journal of Marketing Management, 34(5/6), 484-496, 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2831991 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2831991

Tom Van Laer (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney ( email )

University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

Luca M. Visconti

ESCP Europe ( email )

79 Avenue de la Republique
Paris, 75011
France

USI Università della Svizzera italiana ( email )

Via Buffi, 13
Lugano, TN 6900
Switzerland

Stephanie Feiereisen

City University London - The Business School ( email )

106 Bunhill Row
London, EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom

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