The June 14 SheSaysDC "Creative Storytelling" panel featured Allyson Hummel, Creative Director at Ogilvy and Karen Goodman, Group Creative Director at HAVAS.
Storytelling. That's my craft, and as I continue to perfect my writing and editing skills, I love to hear other storytellers share what they've learned.
This month, I attended two storytelling events - one focused on brands and the other on journalism. While these are seemingly separate industries, often, the stories told in each are meant to prompt individuals to connect with a brand or idea, feel certain emotions and perform specific actions.
SheSaysDC hosted "Creative Storytelling" with creative directors from two major advertising/media companies. With experiences ranging from health care to burgers, Allyson Hummel of Ogilvy and Karen Goodman of HAVAS highlighted the importance of keeping the audience at the center of the campaign during creative concepting and execution. There's a range of emotions here that may achieve this particular goal, but no matter the method, the story needs to be told in a way the audience wants to hear it.
Sometimes, audiences (and client budgets) are open to celebrity connections as was the case with the National Institute on Aging's "What Is Brain Health?" campaign. The Ogilvy team understood this was about a range of diseases that can affect you as you age (e.g. Alzheimer's disease), but these diseases are scary to talk about. Framing it as "brain health" offered a less anxiety-inducing entry to the topic. Actor Hector Elizondo, whose family has been affected by a number of brain diseases, was a natural fit, and he continues to be an ambassador.
In other instances, it can be time to step away from celebrity endorsement. HAVAS recently re-branded burger chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. For years, the brands' advertising had been the same (and edgy) despite being in different parts of the country with vastly different audiences. Using FourSquare data that showed consumer habits before and after visiting the restaurant, the team realized that Hardee's provided comfort food while Carl's Jr. was about cravings. Hardee's eaters, who are largely in the Southeast and Midwest, are folks who aren't as prominent in mainstream channels of communication. HAVAS created Tastes Like America, an anthem to reflect them and their experiences.
Invisibilia's Abby Wendle and Hanna Rosin describe their craft and interchangeable roles as writer and editor in the June 29 Creative Mornings lecture.
Like with brand storytelling, audience should also be at the forefront of journalism. The theme for this month's Creative Mornings lecture was craft, so the DC team invited Hanna Rosin and Abby Wendle of the podcast Invisibilia to breakdown their process. The duo labeled their presentation "Escaping the Parrot Trap or How to Use Your Mind Controlling Powers for Good (and Not Evil)." You see interviews often prompt their subjects for a soundbite, a soundbite based on the journalist's research or prevailing themes already in the news (see these 60 Minutes interviews).
To avoid this prompting Hanna and Abby offered five tips:
- Do your research, but don't expect your final story to align with your preferred angle. Hanna relayed an anecdote in which she went into an interview expecting to craft a story around how a wearing a shirt that originally belonged to a Nazi saved a man's life in World War II. When the interviewer told Hanna point blank that the shirt was just a shirt, the angle had to change.
- Pay attention to the way you bring your "character" (AKA interview subject) on stage. This is important across communication channels, but especially with radio and podcasts where they use theme music to help set the tone of the conversation. Abby relayed how a story about a Syrian orphanage started with dance music because the major voice in the story had wanted to be a DJ.
- Stay on top of time. With both the advertising stories above as well as with podcasts, time is limited, and all content must be edited into a short story. Abby and Hanna described doing up to 15 hours of interviews for a 12-minute story. In this case, the editor of the piece plays a crucial role in providing clear images and themes for the audience to easily connect.
- Hit the nail on the head with a bit of fiction. This is another point that applies to journalism and brand storytelling. The Invisibilia team didn't recommend making up details. They recommended that storytellers share elements of a tale, not a full play-by-play. Hone in on what resonates with the audience.
- Provide a happy ending? Ending stories with a "happily ever after" is something that's wired into us from the time we are toddlers. We as humans want resolution and want to know that each scenario turns out okay. However, that's not reality. Hanna is okay with loose ends, especially if the audience needs to take action to improve a situation. Abby, on the other hand, believes the ending depends on what needs to be done. Stories that end on a higher beat can give hope, but she understands the need to also leave the audience in an unresolved space to enable a call to action.