Nature's timelines: lessons from a scarecrow festival

You can find inspiration in the most unexpected of places.

During a summer hols camping trip to the Yorkshire Dales (where, improbably, I got sunburnt) we came across the annual scarecrow competition in Kettlewell.

If you ever get the chance, go. It's an incredible display of stuffed creativity. Scarecrows of Oasis, Jeremy Clarkson and Mary Poppins, among the hundreds.

The winner, though, was created by a farming family to celebrate the 60th wedding anniversary of the parents. It unfolded their life in the village through all the many changes, ups and downs they had experienced. A beautifully expressed story.

In our busy comms world, the thought of starting from scratch when it comes to creating story content can sound like a lot of work.

But natural structures and storylines already exist for us to build on. The hours of a day. The changing of seasons. A lifetime of a person or place. It can give the foundation for lovely emotive storytelling like this video from St Helens Council.

There's a quote I love from creative whirlwind Rory Sutherland: "The seasons give you a ready-made narrative. The trick is to make it feel personal to your audience, not generic.”

Your story scarecrow is there. It just needs you to pad it out.

USE THIS: content and campaign ideas

We come up against barriers in our comms, campaigns and content all the time when it comes to using things like certain images, audio and branded assets.

So this workaround from a share-investing company was a brilliantly inventive approach.

It reminded me of the Surreal cereal celebrity endorsement campaign too.

(Get this type of creative and content inspiration first on the Creative Catch of the Day WhatsApp channel.)

STORYTELLING: micro-moments

A few weeks we were talking about how micro-stories can be so effective in campaigns.

What about getting even more mini with micro-moments that really capture vivid, specific details that can bring our stories to life, like this example from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service?

AI: don't edit out empathy

This blog from Ishtar Schnider, Chair of the PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Board, really struck a chord on how we can't replicate human understanding and connection with AI.

SOCIAL: hook inspiration from songwriting

This clip from 6Music talks about writing song intros and the need to hook people within 2-3 seconds - about the same time as you have to stop someone scrolling past your social content. Our social and content hooks are our intros.

And on the music tip (and talking again of micro-moments), I also loved this example of photo storytelling with the drummer of Blur, who has published a book of old photos he discovered from the early days of the band.

(Blatant plug - if 90s and 00s alternative music are your thing, I have a show on Fusion Radio on a Sunday night, along with other comms folk like Darren Caveney and Helena Hornby.)

CULTURE: how we got hooked on dopamine

Award for most eye-opening graphic of the month comes from a blog called The State of Culture by Ted Gioia about the rise of dopamine culture.

TRAINING: Tell me more?

Working with lots of teams and comms folk in the last year, I've discovered that while storytelling skills are still a priority, there might be a vital gap that's been overlooked.

You'll be first to know about a new offer on this front but if you really can't wait that long, then reply to this email with 'Tell me more'.

And if you're planning your training for the next few months, I'm booking sessions now so if you need storytelling, campaign or creative support, then just let me know.

COMMS SCIENCE: a right touch

We always need to trigger senses to incite feeling or emotion and touch is no different.

If people can imagine the feel or touch of something, it makes them more receptive to it and take on a sense of ownership.

It's called haptic marketing and I reckon it's ripe for a recycling campaign that taps into the satisfying, sensory pleasures of the ripping and crunching involved in recycling materials.

NEW FAVE FACT

What value do Duolingo place on their socials? About $342,000.

That's the top end of the salary advertised for their new social media director, who will replace the brains behind Duo The Owl and all the iconic mascot's insane adventures. (It's also interesting to read how they might replace someone who's tone of voice is so tied to their brand).

LEARNING OPPS: dates for the diary 📆

📆 FREE WEBINAR - Behaviour Change Network x Turn The Page (September 9)
​I'll be joining behaviour change expert Dominic Ridley-Moy for an Ask Me Anything session, talking about how stories are so influential in our decision-making and communications.

Dom and I will also field any questions on campaigns and increasing impact with your comms. Book your place now.​

📆 FREE IRL EVENT - Orlo's Big Social, Birmingham (October 22)
​The brilliant annual free learning event from Orlo will be back in Birmingham, at the very fine Eastside Rooms venue, in October. Nab your free place fast.​

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 can help to improve engagement and trust.

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