Praise the lore - storytelling takes a new shape

First 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 ideas

Countdowns 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.)

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​STORYTELLING: narrative debt - new Story Board tip​

So 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 output​

I 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 US

​Turn 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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