Jordan Kelley, Content Director, Brand Storytelling writing for Forbes magazine reported 30th October 2019 that corporations are finally waking to the value of storytelling through Impact Entertainment to express support for social and environmental causes.
Storytelling Works
He cites the award-winning documentary, ‘B5’ as an example. Johnson & Johnson funded the film about the men and women who staffed the first AIDS ward.
The multinational corporation’s branding and logos do not appear in the film. There is no promotion of its companies or products. Instead, Johnson & Johnson simply sought to fund a “hero film” to inspire viewers through demonstration of the values embodied by the men and women in the film.
But isn’t business supposed to be about profit?
Duh-uh! Yes! That’s its charter. Not everyone understands this. A business exists for the financial benefit of its shareholders. That’s how it continues to exist.
But business can also be about other ‘good’ apart from making profit
Just as you and I can opt to spend our time and excess on doing good deeds, so can businesses. There’s little difference when everything is boiled down. That’s what Kelly says is starting to happen with corporations.
What the Harris Poll is saying abut this rise in ‘Impact Entertainment’
- 36% of marketing executives surveyed projected increased spending in the development of impact entertainment.
- 45% of C-Suite respondents surveyed said they would spend more on impact entertainment in the next 3 years.
- 81% of all respondents surveyed believe that activism through entertainment has the ability to change the world for the better.
- 85% of all respondents believe impact entertainment engages with consumers in a meaningful way.
- 87% of C-Suite respondents believe their brand values are more important than quarterly financials.
That’s what I’ve been saying!
See how storytelling presents us with wild exotic variety?
Your application of storytelling doesn’t have to be, ‘Here’s how Great Grandma started the business’, or ‘Here are some testimonials of happy users’, or ‘Look at some Instagram snaps of the company picnic’ or ‘What the annual report said about our profit’. Those are fine. I only wish more business owners would share a little bit of themselves in ways like these. However it’s barely scratching the surface of what’s possible.
Check the video on the Home Page and you will see my claim that storytelling builds trust, creates connection, makes emotional links, drives belief and confidence. Johnson and Jonhnson’s support for the ‘B5’ documentary cannot do it any harm — only good.
Ask me by email for the White Paper Storytelling Works. I’ll email it back it to you.
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