I’ve discussed in previous posts the challenge of bringing the traditional storytelling arc into business communications. Companies don’t have two hours to set the stage, tease out the plot with the requisite twists and turns before the trumpets sound with the happy ending. Often, we’re lucky to get 90 seconds, and even that depends on a clever subject header that hits the mark.
That’s why I was blown away by a video from the Thai telco, True Move, which went live on YouTube last week. Not only does it deliver the classic story arc in a tidy three minutes, the pacing feels natural. If you’re not one of nearly 8 million who have already viewed the video, it’s below:
For storytelling to captivate, you’ve got to have something go wrong or better yet, go terribly wrong. The True Move video jumps right into the bad stuff with a young boy caught shoplifting goods to help his sick mom. The hero, a restaurant owner, steps in to help the boy with the single twist coming 30 years later when the same restaurant owner collapses and the boy, now a doctor, returns the good deed.
I love the humanity in this narrative.
But does the video connect this humanity to the True Move brand? The company strives to make the connection with the closing line in the video, “Giving is the best communications.” I don’t know. It seems a bit forced.
Still, I think the feel-good story does create a halo effect for the company. You subconsciously figure that True Move cares about people.
No doubt, the company will measure the video’s impact on perception. The fact that this is the first video from True Move that includes English captions says the company wanted to raise awareness beyond Thailand’s borders. With millions of views, I’d say mission accomplished.
While I obviously don’t have access to the company’s measurement tools, Wikipedia gives us a “cheater’s” way to correlate the video to general awareness.
You can see from the chart that True Move’s wiki plods along with a 100 or so views per day. The first full day of the video on YouTube spikes the number to roughly 1,600 views and subsequent days show more than 3,000 views.
Hopefully, the success of the video emboldens True Move to double down on storytelling.
I’ll be watching (from afar).