---
id: "action-use-storytelling-cues"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Keep Your Enemies Close"]
tags: ["copywriting", "tactics"]
related: ["concept-storytelling-signals"]
action: "Include verbal cues like 'The saga continues' or 'Remember when' in your rivalry messaging."
outcome: "Primes consumers to view the message within the broader rivalry context, maximizing engagement."
speakers: ["Abhishek Borah", "Johannes Berendt", "Sebastian Uhrich", "Gavin Kilduff"]
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-124-good-rivalry-brand"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/08/a-good-rivalry-can-elevate-your-brand"
sourceTitle: "A Good Rivalry Can Elevate Your Brand"
---
# Incorporate Storytelling Signals

**Action:** Include verbal cues like *'The saga continues'* or *'Remember when'* in your rivalry messaging.

**Outcome:** Primes consumers to view the message within the broader rivalry context, maximizing engagement.

Do not assume the audience will automatically connect your current message to past rivalry events. Explicitly signal the continuation of the narrative with specific copywriting cues — phrases like *'Ready for the next chapter'* act as cognitive triggers that help consumers instantly contextualize the message as part of the entertaining, ongoing plot. This operationalizes [[concept-storytelling-signals]] (Step 3 of [[framework-rivalry-leverage]]). Note the effect *mechanism* (story embeddedness) is validated, while this specific signal tactic is a theory-consistent extrapolation.