STORYTELLING
I’m slightly obsessive about pillows. And sleep. And because I’ve endured too many poor nights’ sleep away from home, I’ve just bought myself a travel pillow from a company I found online called Snooze.uk. In the package was a printed note from the owner, Yev. Here’s some of what she wrote about the origin of her small business…
“This little pillow means more to me than you might think. A few years ago, my daughter chose to take her pillow with her when we had to leave home in Kherson (Ukraine). Out of everything she could pack, that was the one thing she didn’t want to be without……”
This is the most powerful example of brand storytelling I’ve ever come across. A story full of humanity and emotion, and because of that it’s memorable, impactful and engaging.
HUMOUR
I watched the two speeches made by King Charles in the US recently, to see what all the fuss was about. They’re worth studying for the technical skills on display around both content and delivery – structure; audience mapping; eye contact; pace and pause; and above all, humour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e97DedX_bg4
Can you imagine the challenge of creating those speeches? Treading a fine line between respecting the hosts, resonating with disparate audiences and addressing highly controversial issues. But they did it. And the moments of levity helped – almost as if the spoonfuls of humour helped the medicine go down…… A highlight for me was the “if it weren’t for us, you’d all be speaking French” quip.
Of course, these are not the only component parts of brilliant communication. Our factual content needs to be packaged in a memorable and ear/eye – catching way; our structure needs to be logical and clear and varied and, most importantly of all, we need to give our audience a reason to keep listening. In the AI/digital age, with attention spans decimated we must be guided by one simple mantra…
