For any hard-pressed comms person in the public or third sector who just needs a bit of inspiration, handy learning or fascinating facts (there really is a New Fave Fact section). Campaign and creative inspiration you can steal. Storytelling and comms tips and insight to pass off as your own.
Death to storytelling?
Praise the lore - storytelling takes a new shapeFirst I winced. By the end I was punching the air in agreement When this LinkedIn post went semi-viral last week, I was ready to jack it all in and retrain as a dentist (always fancied it for some reason). Death to Storytelling is not the sort of headline you need to see when much of your work revolves around the subject. But as with everything, times change and things evolve. Lore has become the new buzzword around storytelling - from Taylor to TikTok, (over?)sharing personal history has gone mainstream. The crux of the argument in the LinkedIn post was stories have endings. Lore is ongoing. It's world-building. It's authentic connection. You could argue it's brand in a different coat but the key word here is 'authentic'. And if you're a regular, I argued hard about the overuse of 'authentic' last time out. Lore is us being unapologetically us. Embracing our quirks, our past, our culture. THAT'S what authentic looks like. Just don't call it a story. USE THIS: content and campaign ideasCountdowns are great hooks for content to grab people's attention and keep them watching to the end. This ad from an insurance company (I know!) is a great example - I mean, if you can keep people watching an ad about insurance... (Get this type of creative and content inspiration first on the Creative Catch of the Day WhatsApp channel.) STORYTELLING: narrative debt - new Story Board tipSo how do hooks like this one above work ?👆 It's all about keeping people guessing and wanting more - find our more with the Story Board. Catch up on all the storytelling shorts on the Turn The Page YouTube Channel. CO-CREATION: free new resources The fine folk at digital engagement specialists Orlo have shared some excellent free resources, explaining the importance of co-creation and then a guide on how to do it. And there's a free webinar on March 19 on it featuring Manchester City Council to boot! COMMS REALITY: the effort behind the outputI really enjoyed this post from West Yorkshire Fire's Oly Woodcock, perfectly capturing the vast array of unseen and under-appreciated skills that go into producing a piece of content. Sweating the small stuff for a great end result, even if it doesn't always get the recognition it merits. HUMAN STORIES: Winter Olympics athletes lead the way I'm a bit gutted the Winter Olympics has finished. Every four years you become transfixed by sports you don't know the slightest bit about. Anyway, an interesting trend emerging from the comms side of things was the receding influence of big brand and sponsorship saturation to athlete-led human storytelling. Or maybe we should call it Olympic lore? TRAINING: last bit of budget burning a hole? I had a great time working with a fire team last week on their campaign planning and playing Comms Countdown! And I'm really looking forward to helping a charity sharpen up their messaging before heading to the West Country to share storytelling insight too. If you need to get that last bit of 2025-26 budget spent before it gets nicked off you, give me a shout. ABOUT USTurn The Page is a story-led communications consultancy, using the power of stories to create memorable, measurable campaigns, strategies and narratives. Campaigns and comms led by stories are measurably more successful and improve engagement and trust.
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The Page Turner - creative comms and storytelling gold
For any hard-pressed comms person in the public or third sector who just needs a bit of inspiration, handy learning or fascinating facts (there really is a New Fave Fact section). Campaign and creative inspiration you can steal. Storytelling and comms tips and insight to pass off as your own.
The underrated art of acknowledgement My brother does nature conservation. No real reason for you to know or care about that, but he does. What I'd completely forgotten about was how a letter from Sir David Attenborough had played a large part in that, until he was recounting the story around the great man's 100th birthday celebrations a few weeks ago. When he was 12, Paul sent him a letter about reptiles he was rescuing near our house (our shared bedroom was always full of snakes and lizard...
They don't teach you that at college No matter what type of comms qualification or experience you have, some things you just can't train for. You may have either got along to the UnAwards Masterclass event in Birmingham (well done if you bagged a ticket) or been able to join the online webinar last week. And, as always, it was brilliant to hear the stories behind the award-winning work - how it was planned, created and executed. (By the way, one of the top comms hacks out there is the Comms...
Sell the benefits, not the features It's always there. Everyone knows it. But no-one says it. I've just finished a messaging refresh with a national charity. It covered a really important initiative for them, one they wanted employers to jump on board with. On the surface, there was nothing hugely wrong with what already existed. But then I put on the glasses of the intended audience, which always helps to reveal the most important factor - will they care? There was plenty in there about what...