What Is Really Difficult—For Storytellers in Corporate Communication
One of the biggest hurdles for storytellers in companies is telling stories through examples . While traditional PR and product advertising generally communicate in broad and universal terms to promote the benefits of a product or service, storytelling focuses on a single example only. This selection, this reduction to one exemplary story, presents companies and brands with little storytelling experience with a difficult decision. Yet this reduction is a crucial element for the success of a story. Only a clearly defined protagonist can guarantee the audience’s attention. After all, viewers find it difficult to identify with amorphous “target groups” or abstract constructs such as “companies” or “brands.” Who Is the Hero? And this brings us directly to the next challenge: corporate communications and marketing are tasked with generating attention. To do so, they usually place themselves at the center of their stories . Press releases and product information present their own product as...
