Storytelling in Business Communications

The Hoffman Agency recently produced a cool infographic describing how storytelling is different than corporate speak. Five days later Lou Hoffman blogged about the (well done) video they made (above) which says, “To connect with your audience tell a story.” The irony is that their video doesn’t tell a story and instead makes use of the corporate “blah blah blah” that they preach against. In fact, their video falls completely down the corporate side of the “storytelling vs. corporate speak” dichotomy depicted in their infographic.

Lessons:

1. Teach within reach and practice what you preach.
2. Companies can’t help but put out “blah” corporate speak.
3. Nobody’s perfect and it doesn’t matter. The Hoffman Agency is a successful world-wide PR business and it will continue as such. Are you striving for perfection? If so, stop.

Coca Cola’s Storytelling and Content Strategy

The following videos were animated by Cognitive Media, an animation studio based in Folkestone, Kent in the UK. Their mission is to help people to discover and learn new stuff with the help of storytelling, drawing and animation.

The information is about Coca Cola’s approach to content strategy. It’s particularly fascinating. Watch…

Coca Cola Content 2020 Part One

Great drawings and animations! The information makes you think: swap out the sugar water for your product or service.

Coca Cola Content 2020 Part Two

Are you prepared for the iterative evolution of content?

iDream Apple and AT&T

This past summer, AT&T double charged me. It took phone calls, faxes, and several visits to the AT&T store to prove to them that they took my money. In the end they refunded the fee but I still lost my rollover minutes, my dignity, and five hours of my life.

When I asked to be compensated for my time, AT&T customer service offered me ten dollars—their maximum possible credit. I argued with the representative. She said AT&T values me as a customer, apologized, and promised I wouldn’t be double charged again. I asked for that in writing but she couldn’t furnish such a letter. She did “talk with her supervisor” (ten minutes on hold) and offered me a new maximum possible credit—fifteen dollars.

What happens when an individual goes up against a huge company like AT&T? They lose. Every single time. I can’t put this on AT&T’s credit report. All I can do is complain about it online. But that doesn’t matter because there are thousands of complaints floating around out here. People need a phone and one of the monster phone service companies is inevitably gonna get us as their servant/customer.

Which brings me to Apple. After much hype, Apple announced its new product line today. I was really hoping they’d add 3G to the iPod touch. A pipe dream, yes, but one worth imagining. Steve Jobs was radical when he refused to enable Flash on Apple devices. But alas, Apple is in bed with its phone carriers. Why would they put out an iPod Touch that competes with the iPhone? What if Apple did just that?

Yes, Apple sells unlocked iPhones but the trick would be giving the masses an easy alternative to monthly carrier bills. If everyone could ditch their phone number but still communicate using an online phone application it would change everything. EVERYTHING. I’m envisioning teens writing their iPhone or Facetime user ID where it says “phone number” on job application forms. It’s not crazy.

With iTunes, Apple created a market that didn’t exist beforehand. Now iTunes is huge. So why didn’t they make iPhone into its own service that Apple could own? It could have been free or really affordable with all kinds of apps and whatnot. It would “democratize” the telephone. Instead we’re still being nickel and dimed (or dollared and hundred dollared) for every bit of information we send across one of these monster company’s networks.

Why do we pay huge monthly usage fees to these behmoths when they could give a crap less about us as customers? Because we’re not being given the tools to do otherwise. If we had the tools, service providing companies would have to step up and innovate rather than sit back and regulate.

Creeper in My Apartment

I found this video to be creepy, fun, and surreal.

Who was that girl? How did she get into his apartment?

Then I saw this video…

My whole thinking changed. It’s a meme! “Creeper in My Apartment” is a meme. I’m not sure who was the first to tell this story and nothing came up when I searched the Know Your Meme website (which you must visit, BTW).

I love stuff like this! This video is an urban folktale told and retold through new media. “Creeper in My Apartment” is modern day electronic folklore that brings to mind tales such as “The Vanishing Hitchhiker.” I’m going to look for more of these. If you know of any, please share in the comments!

International Conference on Narrative: Call for Papers

2012 International Conference on Narrative

March 15-17, Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino Las Vegas, Nevada

Plenary Speakers
Steven Mailloux, Loyola Marymount University
Ramón Saldívar, Stanford University
Vanessa Schwartz, University of Southern California

Contemporary Narrative Theory Session Speakers
Heather Dubrow, Fordham University
Margaret Homans, Yale University
Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois Chicago
Mark McGurl, UCLA
Alan Nadel, University of Kentucky
Peggy Phelan, Stanford University

Conference Coordinators
Eddie Maloney, Alan Nadel, James Phelan, Robyn Warhol

Call for Papers

We welcome proposals for papers and panels on all aspects of narrative in any genre, period, discipline, language, and medium.

Deadline for Receipt of Proposals
Monday, October 17, 2011

Proposals for Individual Papers
Please provide the title and a 300-word abstract of the paper you are proposing; your name, institutional affiliation, and email address; and a brief statement (no more than 100 words) about your work and your publications.

Proposals for Panels
Please provide a 700-word (maximum) description of the topic of the panel and of each panelist’s contribution; the title of the panel and the titles of the individual papers; and for each participant the name, institutional affiliation, email address, and a brief statement (no more than 100 words) about the person’s work and publications.

Please send proposals by email in PDF, Word, or WordPerfect to: narrative [at] georgetown [dot] edu

All participants must join the International Society for the Study of Narrative.

For more information on the ISSN, please visit: http://narrative.georgetown.edu

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