The Periodic Table for Business StoryTelling
Some of the best narratives come from an unfiltered look behind the curtain.
Journalists Accept Apple's "Storytelling Candy" The "NASCAR Story" Always Attracts Attention
Incongruent
To see or read something that appears out of place grabs attention. The mind strives to reconcile, "what the hell?"
Irish Fans Bring Contrarian Storytelling to the Euro Cup Genius Storytelling Techniques from the American Chemical Society
No failure, no drama. Virtually all movies and novels depict something going awry.
The "F Word" in Storytelling and Business The "NASCAR Story" Always Attracts Attention
Talk and write like a real human being. You can do it!
Conversational Language as a Differentiator? Bad News Should Not Come Packaged as a 1,111‐word Letter to Employees
Atomized Content
Packaging bite-­size chunks of a story often resonate with journalists.
Extraordinary Communications During a Corporate Cat Fight A Not-so-obvious Part to "Every Company is a Media Company"
The opposite of "Me, me, me … and here's a little more on me."
A Surprising Lesson from GE on B2B Branding Business Storytelling Lessons from the Budweiser "Puppy Love" Ad
Sausage Making
Sometimes, a backstory on how something happens is more interesting than the core narrative.
"Drama" Before The New York Times Launched its Website Again Proves Life is Better Than Fiction Omnicom and Publicis Finding It Tough to Stay on Message
Everyone likes to keep score. Numbers can bring shape to the intangible.
How Does a B2B Customer Story Crack The Wall Street Journal? How Did the City of Chattanooga Land a New York Times Feature?
Nothing bores like the middle of the road, often viewed by execs as a safe harbor. Have a take.
Five Lessons in Counterpunching with Words from Warren Buffett The Op-Ed as a Platform for Storytelling
Words matter. A single word amidst a vanilla page can jar the senses.
How Does a B2B Customer Story Crack The Wall Street Journal? Revisiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream" Speech
People gravitate toward the strange and freaky and, yes, weird.
Media Squeeze and Watermelon Explosion – Described by the NY Times Presents an Opportunity for PR A Story that Once Again Proves Life is Better than Fiction
You want the audience to connect the dots on their own. Provide context.
Here's What Your High School English Teacher Meant by "Show, Don't Tell" in Storytelling One + Magazine on Storytelling for a Business Audience
Comparisons – like the difference between "what was" and "what is" – can help the audience ascertain significance.
Contrast, a Poor Man's Failure in PR Storytelling PR's Answer to the Classic Storytelling Arc
Even if a picture isn't worth 1,000 words, visuals accentuate storytelling.
Words Can Underpin Visual Storytelling. Let Me Explain. Why the PR Profession Must Embrace Visual Storytelling
Faces dominate the covers of business magazines for a reason. Cultivate human touch points in your storytelling.
Execs Struggle with One of the Most Effective Storytelling Techniques Creating a Company Video that Actually Tells a Story
Underutilized in business communications, the anecdote brings realness and entertainment value to the story.
Connecting Anecdotes to Storytelling in Business Communications Anecdote Takes Center Stage in a National News Story
Considered the killer app in business storytelling, the mere cracking of a smile is a win.
Five Business Storytelling Lessons in a 75-second Video from Canal + Levity is the Killer App for Business Storytelling
Business storytelling with an entertainment dimension stands out. Enter drama, stage left.
Is This the Future of Newspaper Video? Fortune Journalist Cuts to the Core of Storytelling in Business
Transform an executive into a hero, and you've got the makings of a happy ending (and a brand-­building moment).
Applying Storytelling Techniques to Owned Media The David-Against-Goliath Story Never Goes Out of a Style
Here's one surefire way to cultivate drama: Communicate a barrier and tease out the journey of overcoming that barrier.
Reverse-engineering UPS Story on Training Storytelling Techniques Tie Tractors to Uniting a Country
A distinctive voice can elevate a business story, whether that comes from the company or an individual.
You Don't Need New Hampshire to Find Your Voice Who Moved My Story?
The Backstory on This Microsite
The word "storytelling" has been trending in the communications industry for several years. Virtually every communications consultancy touts its storytelling expertise short of saying: "Hey mister, step into our tent and see how storytelling can change your life."
There's just one not-so-little detail that no one talks about. When it comes to business communications, storytelling by its classic definition — a narrative with a start, an end, and something going horribly astray in between — often can't be applied.
Whether it's content on a corporate website, a presentation or talking with a journalist, telling story after story doesn't make for persuasive communications. Plus, inserting failure into narratives isn't exactly a natural act for companies.
With that said, given a choice between dull or interesting, people will gravitate toward interesting every time (our informal research showed 37 out of 37 people preferred Breaking Bad over CSPAN).
That's the genesis of this Periodic Table of Business Storytelling and this microsite.
By borrowing the same techniques found in storytelling, fiction and nonfiction alike, business communications become more interesting and thus more persuasive.
Equally important, these storytelling techniques offer a repeatable process to improving content development. You don't have to be Ernest Hemingway to tease out an anecdote in the copy.
We'd like this microsite to serve as an industry resource. Consider this Rev 1.0. We know there's room for improvement and welcome your input. Feel free to email us at storytelling@hoffman.com.
Creating a Company Video that Actually Tells a Story
On a charitable day, I would characterize most company videos as dreadful.
Consider what happens when you go to an event, meet a new person and that person launches into a soliloquy of "me, me and in case you missed it, here's more about me." Right. You walk away. Why would a company video be any different?
Of course, the moniker "company video" by definition means the video spotlights the company. It's just that shaping a company video that tells an actual story from the outside looking in — as opposed to the typical inside looking out — has a fighting chance to grab the audience's attention for 180 seconds or so.
This video on Philz Coffee created by Northbound Films does exactly that.
It feels real.
Humor and fun language lift the storytelling.
The narrative even shares a slice of Philz's past that some would perceive as negative,
"He sells the country's cheapest milk, beer and cigarettes."
For a look behind the camera, I spoke with Jordan Ching, co-founder of Northbound and the director of the Philz video. It turns out that Jordan is a self-taught film maker, having studied business in college before landing in cube land as a procurement specialist. How one goes from procurement and filled spreadsheets — I'm sure there's a less creative function; I just can't think of one at the moment — to the blank canvas of video-making is a story for another time.
LH: So many corporate videos fall flat because they emphasize chest-beating. How did you move Philz away from this pitfall?
JC: We got extremely lucky with Philz because they let us have total creative freedom. We approached them with a concept in mind and they were open enough to run with it.
LH: Did you establish a certain vibe you wanted from the video before the shooting commenced?
JC: Yes, we wanted to bring a quirky and fun feel to the Philz story. We saw there was a lot of video on Philz out there, but nothing that really captured what Philz is about.
LH: I love the opening of the video with San Francisco circa 1970s. Even though it's only a few seconds, it establishes a bigger narrative than just a coffee company. How did this come about?
JC: We were inspired by another piece that did something similar. San Francisco itself has a lot of character, so we wanted to establish the "foundation" of where Philz was born. I don't think Philz could've been born anywhere but here.
LH: Where'd you find those pictures?
JC: At the Mission Cultural Center. They were great in letting us scan images in their archives. Those images have since been moved to Stanford, so we got lucky in being able to find exactly what we needed. LH: I also thought it was clever to weave in the vignette, "He sells the country's cheapest milk, beer and cigarettes" early in the video. Any initial resistance from Philz in introducing what some might perceive as a bit negative or not relevant to business today?
JC: Nope
LH: Really?
JC: No resistance. Phil himself bought into the concept of showing his journey and how he got his start. It's all part of his story.
Lou: It's only a few seconds of the video, but it brings texture to the storytelling.
JC: Absolutely.
LH: Along a similar line, it's not easy to bring touches of levity — like the running count of hours/time spent studying coffee or sitting at the table like a plant — to a company video. Was this something you set out to achieve, or did it occur on more of an improv basis?
JC: I wish we could say that we have everything planned out to a T, but the creative process doesn't necessarily work like that. We knew once we had shot that particular VO, we had to create a scene to bring it to life, and thus the plant scene was born. LH: All in all, the video really brings out the humanity in Philz. Was this the overarching goal of the video?
JC: Yes. The story of why Philz is so special gets lost in verbal communication, so we wanted to create a piece that took care of that problem.
LH: It would be great to hear your guidance on how companies can avoid the typical traps that produce bad company videos.
JC: Let the creatives be the creatives, and take chances!
LH: Be Brave.
JC: Right. Be brave. I don't know how many times the Dollar Shave Club video has been referenced to us, but when it comes down to it, the client does not want to go there. If your company is truly that quirky or out there, go with it. Safe is so boring.
LH: The Dollar Shave Club serves as the poster child for great company videos. The exaggeration makes it work. But it takes guts to sign up for exaggeration.
JC: I agree. As you put it, it takes guts to create a video based on exaggeration because you can never have 100 percent certainty that it will work. The Dollar Shave Club video ended up going viral with millions of views, but at the conceptual stage, you don't know.
LH: Any closing thoughts?
JC: Good things happen when people push the envelope. Try something new, don't settle for ordinary, and hire a production company/agency who can take you there.
Lest you think that Northbound Films works only with consumer companies, check out this fresh video for a supply chain software company.
When it comes to buying services under the communications umbrella — whether it's video creation or public relations or whatever — there's something to be said for hiring consultancies that care.
I've always thought that's part of our own secret sauce, and I see the same quality in Northbound Films.
While Northbound's website is under construction, you can access their Facebook page or find their reel here.
Author hoffman_agencyPosted on January 3, 2017 July 31, 2018 Categories Hu humanity
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