• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 8, 2014

AUSTIN -- Stories become classics because people across generations relate to the story. Through stories marketers try to change perception and drive behavior, but too often storytelling is about story yelling, Gaston Legorburu, worldwide chief creative officer of SapientNitro, said during the keynote on Day Two of at OMMA SXSWi here.

Legorburu said marketers try to get consumers to make a choice to use one product over another by creating value, and he tries to connect technology and storytelling or content to explain his vision on the future of agencies and commercial creativity.

Consumers ground their experience with a brand based on the story, he asserted, adding that stories are how consumers connect with a series of events and make sense of the world.

Given that the world is growing increasingly cluttered and complex with the increasing volume of content, it becomes more important to become a better storyteller by creating meaningful stories -- and experience-based differentiation.

"You need to have a differentiated story and experience," Legorburu said. 

He called for the advertising industry to move away from story lines and toward "story systems." People don't read the bible in a linear way, but all the stories serve a bigger idea, he said as one of the most classic examples of human storytelling.