StoryBrand framework taught through a board game rescue audio drama

Executive overview

Families are losing connection to screens, and most brands fail because they talk about themselves instead of their customers. The StoryBrand framework fixes this by repositioning your brand as the guide and your customer as the hero.

This radio drama follows Pete and Joe, two brothers who inherit their mother's struggling board game company and use the StoryBrand framework to save it. Every principle is demonstrated through story: identifying the customer's problem, expressing empathy, demonstrating competency, building a brand script, and pitching to the right audience.

The customer is the hero. You are the guide. Speak to their problem, not yours.

The StoryBrand framework in brief

• Every story has a hero (the customer) with a problem they can't solve alone
• The hero meets a guide who expresses empathy and demonstrates competency
• The guide gives a plan, issues a call to action, and stakes out success vs. failure
• Brands that position themselves as the hero lose the sale — customers don't care about your story
• Customers are looking for someone to help them win, not someone to admire

The customer's three-layer problem

• External problem: families are distracted by screens
• Internal problem: parents feel disconnected from their kids and each other
• Philosophical problem: families should know each other and spend real time together
• Addressing all three layers makes the message resonate at a deeper level than features alone

Expressing empathy and demonstrating competency

• Empathy: name the customer's problem and show you understand the pain ("you're losing your family to screens")
• Competency: prove you know how to help — cite track record, customer results, or legacy
• Dorothy Manley Games: decades of helping families connect through play is the competency proof
• Combine both before presenting any product or plan

The three-step plan and call to action

• Keep the plan simple enough to visualize immediately
• For end buyers: get the game → play the game → reconnect as a family
• Call to action must be clear and direct: "buy the game"
• Negative stakes: families that don't act will keep losing connection to screens
• Positive stakes: families that play will reconnect and know each other

Pitching to the right audience

• The StoryBrand framework requires a separate brand script for each distinct buyer
• Pete and Joe initially pitch the end-user script (family connection) to a wholesale buyer — it fails
• The wholesale buyer's hero story is different: he needs to hit sales quotas and protect his shelf space
• Winning pitch to SmartMart: "We'll give you the exclusive, stock it with signage, and buy back unsold units after Christmas"
• Making the wholesale buyer the hero — offering him a win at his job — closes the deal

Find the Gold and the product-market fit

• Dorothy Manley's unreleased game "Find the Gold" is simple, addictive, and family-focused
• Positioned as the direct antidote to screens: "If you're tired of screens, play Find the Gold"
• Packaging and in-store signage carry the message so the product sells itself on shelf
• Offering SmartMart a fourth-quarter exclusive on 70,000 units creates urgency and commitment
• The game sold 5 million units in a quarter, restoring the company's stock price

What went wrong before the framework

• Joe's original pitch focused entirely on the company's need for money — the customer's problem was absent
• The Favatar digital strategy (AI family avatars for solo play) solved no real customer problem
• Joe opened shareholder meetings with nostalgia and sports metaphors, not customer empathy
• Stock dropped 93% before the pivot; 50% of sales reps walked out of the digital keynote
• The lesson: talking about your objectives without addressing the customer's problem loses the sale every time

The StoryBrand brand script elements (full checklist)

1. Hero: the customer (the parent seeking family connection)
2. What the hero wants: to reconnect with their family
3. External problem: screens dominate family time
4. Internal problem: feeling of disconnection and lost opportunity
5. Philosophical problem: families should genuinely know each other
6. The guide: Dorothy Manley Games (empathy + competency)
7. The plan: get the game, play the game, create connection
8. Call to action: buy the game
9. Success: family reconnects, screens lose their grip
10. Failure: the window to connect closes, families drift apart permanently