I had the pleasure of speaking at Compass USA’s communicators’ conference in North Carolina this morning. As one of the largest food service companies in the country, Compass has a good story to tell. With all due respect to my technology brethren, it was liberating to discuss storytelling in the context of banana bread, grilled …more
There’s no question that startups enjoy an advantage in applying storytelling techniques to the “About Us” section on the company website. For Exhibit A, look no further than a new venture called SigFig. Its site gets the story off to a good start with with the subhead, “Our Story.” Now, check out the narrative: Before starting …more
The Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow. It’s one thing to crowd source a speaking pulpit in New York. But the movement has picked up momentum weaving its way to cities across the country. In the latest sign that these “people” aren’t going away, Occupy Wall Street set up camp at The Hoffman Agency yesterday. You can see …more
I was catching up on Charlie Rose segments and came across a recent interview with Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times. The interview offered yet another proof point on the importance of storytelling in cracking the mainstream media. Check out this exchange. Charlie: How does Jill Abramson see the mission of The New York Times? Jill: I see the …more
In a world where a tweet or a Tumblr or a teenage blogger in Iowa can make a difference in the perception of a brand, The PR function alone can’t sustain outbound communications. The McKinsey Quarterly published an article “We’re All Marketers Now” which caught my attention. If you replace “marketing” with “communications” and replace “customers” with “influencers,” the …more
Don’t let the words fool you. This isn’t the latest addition to the Food Network. “Why’s This So Good?” comes from Nieman Storyboard, part of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Enjoyed the way Andrea Pitzer describes the new feature: “… we thought it would be intriguing to host a series of one-off posts by …more
Most organizations waste the “About Us” section on their web sites. This is the property’s big moment to woo you. If there was ever a place on a web site to apply storytelling techniques, it’s here. Yet, the section typically regurgitates the company party line. I’m going to periodically take a look at an organization’s “About Us” section. Today’s “lucky” …more
Many of the articles on the passing of Steve Jobs highlighted his Stanford commencement speech and his gift for storytelling. I raked the media coverage to see if anyone actually focused on his communications expertise. A few did with the best one ironically coming from MIT’s media property, Technology Review. David Zax penned a post …more
That’s the subhead for a Wall Street Journal column crafted by Peggy Noonan earlier in the month. It triggered over 700 posted comments which says something about the topic. After her preamble that patriotism is alive and well even as the country struggles to find its mojo, we get to the heart of the matter: “Are those …more
