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.
Natural storylines to start using now
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 ideasWe 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-momentsA 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 empathyThis 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 songwritingThis 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 dopamineAward 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 touchWe 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 FACTWhat 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) 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) 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 can help to 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...