Purpose
Storytelling is a natural way for humans to express ourselves — we have always told stories to each other (e.g. Shankar et al. 2001; Green 2006; Kent 2015). It is part of our cultures as an entertainment but also as means to pass e.g. knowledge and values (Spear & Roper 2016). Well-told stories and great myths (Holt 2004, 28) can raise emotions (Burke 1969, 55–59; Green 2004; Green 2006) and engage listeners to use their senses (Hiltunen 2002, XVI). Among organization researchers, storytelling has been studied as a part of organizational identity formation already for long (Boje 1991; Coupland & Brown 2004; Johansen 2014) but the subject is still relatively new for marketing researchers. There are modest signs that stories can be used to build the corporate brand identity (Janssen et al. 2012) and the identity formation is constant different stories acting as the fuel for the process (Coupland & Brown 2004; Johansen 2014). Even though companies are recommended to arise and lead conversations between stakeholders and the brand (Golant 2012) storytelling is not fully understood or investigated yet in corporate brand identity context. In this paper, we aim to explore how stories told by different stakeholders can support the co-creation of corporate brand identity
