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 the solution—and the hero of the story. Those who want to apply storytelling successfully, however, must come to terms with a different understanding of roles: among the protagonists of a story, the role of the “enabler” or “mentor” is far better than that of the leading actor. In successful stories, companies and brands step back behind the hero—or stand at the hero’s side. Like Robin next to Batman or Samwise Gamgee next to Frodo Baggins, they become the friend and supporter of the protagonist without placing themselves at the center.

Ultimately, however, this modest step into the background is not the greatest difficulty. The rule that every good story begins with a conflict requires perhaps the biggest adjustment from companies and brands. Every corporate spokesperson and product manager wants one thing above all else: to talk extensively about solutions—not about conflicts or problems. Yet solutions alone do not make stories.

“Stories come from the dark side.” —Robert McKee

On the Art of Visual Storytelling

Stories are movies in the mind. They provide images that stimulate our imagination and creativity. This is another challenge for corporate communications, which still relies far too heavily on standardized symbolic imagery instead of telling stories visually.

In 2015, a harmless comedy film titled Unfinished Business was announced. In it, Vince Vaughn plays the American business consultant Dan Trunkman, who quits his job after being disappointed by an insufficient bonus and starts his own company. To do so, he recruits the inexperienced Mike Pancake, played by Dave Franco, and retiree Tim, portrayed by Tom Wilkinson. Good fortune soon seems within reach for the young team when they get a chance to secure a major contract in Germany. Dan and his colleagues only need to fly to Berlin and outperform the last remaining competitor in a presentation: Dan’s former employer.

The comedy showcases German-American clichés, office humor, and the typical power struggles of the consulting industry. Based on its plot, the film would hardly be worth mentioning if it were not for the unconventional way it was promoted before its premiere.

The creators of Unfinished Business did not market the film with the usual set photos showing actors at work on location or in selected action scenes. Instead, they invited their leading actors to a special photo shoot.

Immaculate suits and perfectly groomed hairstyles. Affected gestures and frozen poses. Carefully chosen image crops and a very familiar blue color tint (images here).

You have probably guessed it already: Vaughn and his colleagues are not only parodying the consulting industry in their film, but also the stereotypical stock photos associated with it.

Try it yourself and enter the word “colleagues” into Google Image Search. You will almost certainly find images that look exactly like the promotional photos for Unfinished Business.

Narrative Images versus Stereotypes

The majority of images still used in PR and marketing today are precisely these stereotypical shots: generic product photographs (“product shots”), “stills” (derived from the artistic concept of a still life or the term “still-life photography”), or neutral portraits. Stock photos are useful for illustrating brochures, product information, corporate profiles, or websites and for breaking up blocks of text. They serve as accompaniment and pure decoration.

What these images generally fail to do, however, is visual storytelling. They do not tell stories. Getty Images has summarized the difference between images—and videos—used for visual storytelling and the highly popular stock material in the following simple formula:

Powerful Visuals + Evoke Emotions = Deeper Engagement

“Powerful visuals evoke emotions, driving a deeper engagement and more profound change in behavior.” Getty Images

With this formula, Getty Images describes images that are so powerful that they trigger genuine emotions in viewers, create emotional connections, and can inspire profound changes in behavior.

Tips for visual storytelling can be found in my book Between the Lines – How Smart Brands Use Story to Win Markets and Build Trust. Order the ebook or hardcover edition on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/024RzTi2

This text was written by a human; AI tools were used for translation, spelling, and grammar review. Photo by TopSphere Media - Unsplash