Narrative Assets

Narrative Assets Announces Plot Change....

As a note of interest to my loyal readers, I wanted to announce that I've accepted an 8 month full-time contract in Communications starting tomorrow. I'll be working as a Communications Specialist for an organization that supports and services professionals in the financial services industry.

The opportunity is a great one with lots of potential, and gives me the opportunity to put my writing, strategic and project management skills to good use.

I will still continue to blog, although the timeline for posts might not be as frequent as in the past. I look forward to reading more of your comments.

If anyone has ideas on content they would like to see on Narrative Assets, please let me know and I would be happy to provide it.

According to brand guru Scott Bedbury, a "great brand is a story that's never completely told. A brand is a metaphorical story that's evolving all the time." If we as marketers and communicators think of ourselves as a brand, then each decision we make gives us the chance to add another chapter to our story. Nobody is ever sure how the story is going to end, but that's what makes life interesting isn't it?

I look forward to writing more stories - and to hearing more about your own.

Keep reading...and keep thinking. The world is full of stories yet to be told.

 

Building Trust - How Poor Communication Loses My Vote

   

   

As Ontario gears up for an election in October, we're being inundated with the usual flurry of promotional pieces. Election promises abound as candidates strive to make their message heard. Debates are won and lost, press interviews are countless - and television ads occupy our airtime.

Recently, one of the candidates left a brochure on our door outlining his promises for a better Ontario. What strikes me as a bit ironic is the fact that I found numerous typos in the brochure (not one, but several), as well as notable inconsistencies in design and format. Call me a perfectionist, but if I am to put my faith and trust in a candidate, you'd think they would at least take the time to use a spell-checker.

The idea of not taking the time to double check your work isn't just a problem in the political arena. When I was hiring interns from a nearby college, many of their cover letters contained numerous typos. I've seen emails from Executive Directors of national associations so poorly written, that it made me wonder how the person ever got (and kept) their high profile job in the first place.

Have we become too busy to care about the way we communicate? Politicians spend oodles of money on campaigns, yet lose credibility when they fail to remember the basic rules of communication.

That's not to say that all this will be the key factor in choosing my favourite candidate. But I have to wonder if a person who can't seem to handle things on a small stage, will have the skills needed to lead on a larger one.

Communicating Through Film: Lessons from Hollywood

In just a few weeks the glitz, glamour and mayhem known as the Toronto International Film Festival will be in town.  I attended my first festival years ago, and it's definitely an exciting experience.

I've always been entranced by film. To me, it represents something extraordinary, something out of this world. I find myself caught up in the story, and in the buzz created by being part of a group who is enjoying a similar experience.

In the world of communication, the mark of a good communicator is someone who, through their story and ability to engage an audience, is able to make people understand their message. The ability to do this through film provides added benefits as the experience is quite different from more "static" methods.

It is in this spirit that I propose several ways in which companies could learn from communication techniques used in Hollywood:

• In every organization, there will always have to be someone in control - the CEO is the Director of your company's story
• To better engage people, create some buzz - give people a reason to be a character in your company's vision
• Tell it like it is - documentary filmmakers do this all the time
• Find out what people want to buy, and give it to them
• When formulating company strategy, put yourself in your audience's shoes - how do you want them to feel when they buy your product?
• Managers have to act first, before they can direct
• To engage shareholders, CEO's have to be good actors and storytellers

As Ingmar Bergman once said, "To shoot a film is to organize an entire universe." The techniques needed to lead a company in the real world aren't much different than those used in the magical world of Hollywood.