I just watched a Facebook post come across my news feed from a hospital employee. They were sharing a story from the local news paper’s website praising a hospital’s initiative. We see this everyday, employees and brand ambassadors sharing stories online, specifically recognizing their workplace.
Meet the two Sarah’s that attended SC Mission 2014.
It is one of the hardest things to do…to just turn around, listen, and trust our instincts. Major events allow communicators to tell rich stories. Many times we focus more time on the event and less time on the people attending the events.
Planning is key!
For the last few years, I have been capturing and telling stories of the un-insured in South Carolina. Each year I help document SC Mission…but this year was different…it was time to really find a good story.
Look at the image above. I love this image! Meet Miles Thomas Haren…son to Tom and Jennifer Haren. This is their third child and the first boy our family has seen in a few generations.
Miles is my little nephew and I spent the afternoon helping Tom and Jennifer take his newborn pictures. Tom used to be a baseball player, catcher for Erskine College. You can see in the picture above his bat and glove from his college days.
I was sitting and meeting with a dear friend…and a great client. We were chatting about an upcoming group of projects, talking about the creative approach, budgets, logistics, etc. The more we talked, the more we began critically thinking about the visual message, the scripting, and the overall impact.
So I found this on a pr/marketing firm’s website…and I think they raise an interesting question. Let’s look at this statement:
“Successful companies tell their stories well. Multiple channels today allow for storytelling on many levels. Our team helps clients tell those stories in the traditional way as well as through the digital and social media channels. It’s one thing to get good publicity and another to leverage it. We also help clients navigate the choppy waters of storytelling in less than ideal situations. Our advice to clients is simple: Tell your own story (good, bad or ugly) and tell it fast or someone else will.”
Yes…so who is telling your story? You? Your organization? The people in the organization? What is a good story?
So my good friend Olivier Blanchard shared a post I wrote on Facebook (seen above) and this generated a pretty interesting discussion. So I thought I would share a few of the comments and my responses.
Cémanthe – you know…I 100% agree…I am tired of the industry using this buzzword –> “Storytelling”…it actually pisses me off…thus the point of this article.
A friend sent me this video the other day and I was completely intrigued. His note to me…
Reed Smith says:
“I love cars… this is a great example of a really cool car. But they chose to talk about the car though the owners not just simple telling you about the car.”
The link he sent me included the video above and comeback ground information about this story and the Porsche 911 B59.
Many wonder if storytelling is alive and well during primetime television especially with news organizations. I have been a huge fan of 60 minutes for years. One of the main reasons…their ability to tell a wonderful story combining so many story-lines into one final piece.
So my friend Dr. V has tackled a question I think many of us are trying to figure out: What is content?
He shares his thoughts (original blog post):
“Content is retrievable information that can be consumed. It’s stuff that can be heard, seen, shared, curated and commented upon.
Content is a human creation, something translated from the realm of the mind into some tangible form. This could be an idea shaped into a piece of writing or a scene uniquely captured as an image or video. The subjective process of translation is how the view of the mind’s eye becomes content.
It has surrounded me…from the very beginning, I have always had a camera in my hand. The picture above is the first picture I ever captured…how ironic it is my first selfie.