Storytellers on a Mission: Walt Disney’s Living World Program
Walt Disney, leaders in themed entertainment and master storytellers, have embraced the art of Transmedia storytelling — the telling of a story across multiple platforms and formats. In a nutshell,...
View ArticleStanley Hainsworth: Brand Storytelling Through Product Design
In my new role as CSO of Sandstorm Digital I’m fortunate enough to meet and work with lots of brilliant and inspiring start-up tech entrepreneurs. I help them tell their story. For a tech start-up...
View ArticleTaking the Dive [Rite] Into Content Marketing
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know how much I like to harp on about brands needing to “own their conversation”. Till this day, it still baffles me to see how many brands completely...
View ArticleStakeholder Passion – Brand Story Alignment
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Sampson, a brilliant brand strategist and corporate storyteller. We spent a few hours over a couple of pints (4 each to be precise!) discussing new...
View ArticleThe VW Beetle Story: A Lesson in Brand Persona Development
The VW “Lemon” and “Think Small” ads are icons of the late 50s. Created by Bill Bernbach‘s BBD ad agency, they revolutionized advertising copy and laid out the early foundations for brand storytelling...
View ArticleThe Tide Story: Storytelling to Reinforce Market Leadership
Procter and Gamble recently shared a video on Linkedin entitled Tide: The birth of an icon. The story-styled video reinforces Tide’s position as market leader… From mysterious “Product X” in the 1930s,...
View ArticleCoca-Cola Becomes A Full-Fledged Storyteller
A while back I wrote about Coca Cola’s content strategy and my disappointment in its execution. I did qualify it by saying: There is no doubt that Coke have the right mentality and resources to tackle...
View ArticleTOMS: The Story Of A Business With A Conscience
One of my all time favorite brand stories belongs to TOMS. It’s the story of a man who had an altruistic vision born out of the need to contribute practical solutions to the severe poverty situations...
View ArticleBear 71: Wildlife [Transmedia] Storytelling From NFB Canada
Here’s a question for you… If a picture is worth a thousand words and a video worth a million, how many words is an interactive transmedia storytelling experience worth? The answer…. In an effort to...
View ArticleCharity Water: The Brand Story That Launched A Global Movement
Some brands are destined for greatness. Charity water is one of them. According to Scott Harrison (founder): “The dictionary defines charity as simply the act of giving voluntarily to those in need....
View ArticlePurina ONE: Because Pet Stories Also Need to Be Told…
Last week, CMI sent around this deck with 58 examples of social media brilliance. Once example that caught my eye… how PurinaOne uses Facebook. Pet brand PurinaOne tells pet stories to stand out on...
View ArticleCanon’s Project Imagination: Brands as Creative Storytelling Platforms
Last year, Canon called upon screen director Ron Howard to create a short film based on eight photos submitted by Canon owners. The idea was to tell a story from eight photos each chosen to fulfill one...
View ArticleA Bitter Sweet Christmas
This is a bitter sweet Christmas for me. On the one hand, I can’t be with my two kids during this very special time of year. They’re in London with their mom and I’m out here in sunny Dubai building...
View ArticleIntroducing Hemlock – The Busy Unicorn
Brand Stories will be 9 months old this January. What better way to celebrate this than by breathing life into the unicorn in our logo. Like any well defined character in all good stories, we’ll give...
View ArticlePaper Passion: When the Product Tells The Story
Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2013! Let’s kick it off with an interesting piece of brand storytelling that came out of the fragrance industry in 2012. This particular brand story is one of an...
View ArticleCoca Cola Polar Bears Get A New Age Makeover
Remember this ad? and this one from 1993? In line with their new age storytelling strategy Content 2020, Coke have revamped their iconic polar bears and gave them a starring role in a new short movie....
View ArticleArt Of Persuasion – Lessons from A Master Brand Storyteller
I’m thankful to be part of an industry that boasts the likes of Bill Bernbach, George Lois, Leo Burnett and David Ogilvy. They all shared one talent that made them shine above the rest and brilliant at...
View ArticleYour Transmedia Brand Story Arc Begins With The ‘Why’
I help brands tell their story. I encourage my clients to shout to the world about why they do what they do rather than just what they do and how they do it. Why do I do this? Well, besides the fact...
View ArticleThe Role Of Customer Service In Your Brand Story
Yesterday, while enjoying an espresso at my local coffee shop, I overheard a conversation between a very frustrated businessman and his bank’s customer service advisor (CSA). By the end of the call,...
View ArticleStorytelling For SMEs: The Elevator Pitch Re-Invented
Storytelling is playing an increasingly important role in SME marketing. Recently, Forbes contributor and CEO of Advertising and Marketing agency PJA , Phil Johnson, named storytelling as “the hottest...
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