Narrative visualizations: using interactive data stories in strategic brand communication

Abstract: Storytelling have long been used by media and communication professionals to hit an emotional chord with the audience. Nowadays, the development of digital technologies opens new possibilities for conveying messages, and visual storytelling becomes a 'lingua franca'. Narrative visualizations are an emerging class of visual stories, primarily used by data journalists to share complex information. They significantly differ from traditional forms of storytelling, as users can create their own paths of information consumption and by that, make sense of data. Although this type of storytelling is widely used by media outlets, it is not yet recognized by communication professionals. In this way, the purpose of the study is to provide a framework for the use of narrative visualizations in brand communications. To address this purpose, I conducted a comprehensive review of relevant theories from visual and communication studies and examined the current state of narrative visualization usage. Based on the analysis, I presented advantages and disadvantages of narrative visualizations and identified the most promising areas of use in brand communications.