Once upon a time, there was a story

There’s nothing like a good story. Stories are memorable and help us to understand and make sense of things. So, it is little wonder brands use storytelling, too.

In the B2B world, we’re probably more comfortable with the term ‘narrative’, but all business brand communicators are plying the same trade as Hans Christian and Grimm Bros. in reality, no matter whether our stories are written, visual or virtual.

The fourth rule of storytelling is… you do talk about storytelling

Oral storytelling is one of the most ancient artforms and continues to this day as a vibrant part of culture throughout the world.

Without giving away too much about our interactive proposition (IP) sessions, we get clients to talk through their own brand story and resolve their communication challenges using storytelling techniques.

Reams have been written on storytelling, of course, but most aficionados agree that stories follow a similar structure.

Emma Coats, the story artist who came up with the ’22 Storytelling Rules’ while working at Pixar, identified that their stories follow a common narrative:

Once upon a time ____________________.

Every day, ____________________.

One day, ____________________.

Because of that, ____________________.

Until finally ____________________.

We’ve hijacked this framework to help client teams think creatively about their own proposition and brand protagonist’s viewpoint, albeit we’ve extended it to enable them to reflect on their story to ensure it makes sense.

The exercise

So, here’s the exercise. Let’s call it the ‘Story Rule Challenge’. It’s just a case of following the guidance to fill the gaps.

Once upon a time there was a ____________________.

All classic fairytales start with the word ‘Once’, the stock narrative opening of most fairytales and the literary equivalent of an open question. This is our starting point and how we introduce the protagonist or hero (i.e., your brand or product). This is where you answer questions such as who are you and what do you stand for?

Every day, ____________________.

Next, we establish the context, i.e., what is normal for you. What do you do and who are you doing it for? What do you think your current value proposition is?

One day, ____________________.

Now you have clearly defined your protagonist and situation (current value proposition), you next need to identify your antagonist. What is the current market challenge? How and why have things changed?

Because of that, ____________________.

Thinking in story terms, how does the hero solve the problem? What actions will you take?

Until finally ____________________.

What do you want the result of those actions to be? Can you envisage a happy ending where your challenges have been resolved?

Now, here’s our extension to this framework. At this point, we probe a little deeper by asking you to reflect on the other possible outcomes of your story. Here’s where we get you to consider the other possibilities.

And ____________________.

What other possible implications could result from those actions? Will you then need to take secondary or further steps? What do you envisage being the new normal or ‘every day’?

So ____________________.

What’s next? Do you need to prepare to take further actions or to promote your original actions to others? Or do you need to prepare for a new challenge?

The end

We regularly have fun as a team coming up with different stories and mapping them to recognised narrative frameworks.

Why not have a go using one of your favourite films or fairytales?