Autonomy, mastery and purpose
Reader advisory: this blog is shamelessly self-promotional. This week marks a significant inflection point in the life of Insight Agents. It’s particularly important in terms of brand language, content marketing and thought leadership, three of the main services we offer to our clients. But for once, all the focus is on us. After 18 months […]
Which party deserves my vote?
It’s the afternoon after the night before. Paxman attacked Cameron on policy, Miliband on personality (that “Are you alright, Ed?” jibe on camera was beneath Paxo, though Ed’s riposte “Yeah, are you, Jeremy?” gave it the contempt it deserved). And Kay Burley? The Twitterverse has said enough about her partiality. But are we any clearer […]
Strive for conscious competence in every sentence you craft
Fresh threat of Newspeak as General Election verbiage piles up Simple, clear words are attractive. The obfuscatory lexicon is to be avoided at all costs. Which sentence do you prefer? My trade is that of the corporate storyteller, helping companies and brands to find their why; to express what it is that makes them […]
Impactful corporate storytelling demands singular stories, not schizophrenia
Remember when you were a kid? Something had gone wrong. You were involved, and someone was going to be angry. A teacher, a parent or a sibling. But you weren’t seen, and to minimise repercussions you crafted a version of the truth that had an air of plausibility to it that would also get you […]
The geek shall inherit
Few companies have done more over the past 20 years – and frankly ever – to turn Big Data into insights that inspire evidence-based action than dunnhumby. Before they helped Tesco create its Clubcard and methodically predict customer shopping behaviour, Sainsbury’s was the UK’s biggest supermarket. Within a few years, the insights developed by dunnhumby […]
How to be a better brand storyteller: the five golden rules
This week is the Society for Storytelling’s 15th annual National Storytelling Week. Events to mark this promotion of the oral tradition of storytelling take place in schools, museums, bookshops and pubs across the country. If I get my way, the 16th will take place in boardrooms, too. Storytelling is much in vogue in business. Marketing […]
When storytelling goes bad – a guest blog for PRmoment
(This blog originally appeared on 17 November 2014 as guest blog on PRmoment. Thanks for the platform, Ben!). On this coming Thursday, PRmoment is hosting an event on storytelling: “The role of public relations as a content provider”. And quite right, too. Storytelling is a craft whose time has come. Again. Stories rock. Storytelling is […]
Two dozen things I learned from #TEDxBrighton
Last week’s TEDxBrighton was my first TED event in the flesh. As an aficionado of the form, a passionate advocate of more impactful communication, and a corporate and brand storyteller, I had high hopes of a Halloween well spent. I was not disappointed. I learned a lot last Friday. About new ways of thinking and […]
#TEDxBrighton: a buffet for the brain and a curate’s egg
Long Beach was twinned with Brighton beach (not the nudist bit) on Halloween, as the TED roadshow rolled into town, annexed the Dome, and treated open-minded Sussex folk to a buffet for the brain. Truth be told, it was also the very definition of a curate’s egg. Good in parts – at times exceptional – […]
Why social intelligence matters – live!
Later this evening, I’m chairing the W2O Group’s Social Intelligence Summit. And I can’t wait. I like the W2O Group, and its agencies WCG and twist. A lot. I’ve worked for WCG, heading up strategic planning for EMEA, out of the London office. And I’m now lucky enough to count them as a client in […]