Corporate storytelling

Association for Social Advancement
Futuro Digitale
Storytelling general overview by Marco De Cave & Francesco Zaralli. This material has been developed for
the objectives related to the project ‘Cultour plus’. Other usages must be authorised by the author.

1. General principles of storytelling
2. Corporate storytelling
www.futurodigitale.org - ITALY

1. General principles of
storytelling

Changing the world
starts from telling it
One story, different emotions, at a time, at different
times.

“A man is always a teller of stories, he lives surrounded by his
own stories and those of other people, he sees everything
that happens to him in terms of these stories and he tries to
live his life as if he were recounting it”
Sartre, La nausée

 To tell = to narrate. In Latin it means ‘to know while
doing’

 Storytelling as a contemporary practice was born in USA in
the last 20 years
 It is the art of telling stories in order to achieve a precise
objective (more empathy with our customers, tell a
project, explain in a narrative way how an enterprise was
born, etc.) and to put ourselves between the ordinary and
a special world;
 On general basis, a story takes off from a
conflict/problematic situation, up to the development of
the story and its conclusion
Storytelling

 The story is always referred to something, someone, in a
precise space and time, and it must create ‘sense’ between
the reader and the narrator
 Stories have a hero, an enemy, a magical object and a final
prove to get something to solve a problem.
 Fictions are the contemporary form of storytelling on TV
and on the internet (Game of Thrones, True Detective,
Fargo etc.) and they respond to the general idea of
storytelling.
Storytelling

A story is made of…
 Words are connected to Images
 Ideas bring emotions
 A movement (why is there a story?): we start from an
equilibrium (a problem, a conflict, a situation) to another
one.
 A beginning. The beginning can make a story win or lose
the attention of the reader/listener (don’t be boring!).
 Questions: make readers/listeners keep on asking. For
instance: wow, omg, aaw! That’s what our readers should
say while reading our stories ;)

How to start a story: it must be
catchy!
The sky was blue also that day, but Mary’s life was going to change
forever. He would have become a singer thanks to a special
meeting.
NO
The sky was blue also that day, but Mary didn’t know how that
concert was more important than she thought. She had a light
feeling that she could have done something greater than her grey
routine.
YES
Why? Because in the first we already give the conclusion. There is
no point of reading more.

Telling stories
 Permits one to order the
experience;
 To inspire others;
 To share dreams, myths,
emotions to create a
community around them;
 We create parallel worlds
and dimensions;
 Engage others!

Toward ‘small stories’
 There are no ‘big stories’ anymore (ideologies, for
instance)
 The crisis of modernity has been introduced by micro-
narrations
 The presence of internet has changed the way of
making stories
 Creating a story is creating a sense

 Social media have made us ‘tellers’ of our lives: we
don’t tell everything about our lives, but we tend to
describe them through different terms, situations,
opinions which we think are desirable or simply
correct in a precise social environment
 Storytelling has changed its approach through the
different social medias, making the space between
the writer (or teller) and the readers really small and
interactive
‘Digital’ storytelling

Storify
 Anything can be a story through social media
 The web creates stories
 We are story-makers and tellers
 Storify is a very simple tool which will make you combine your
different stories/posts/twits on a single dashboard

Blocked in front of a white paper?
Paradoxically, only writing is
the cure to writing. What I can
suggest is to work on the
concepts you want to develop,
make a map, brainstorm, read
different pieces of other authors
on the same topic you’d love to
write. Each write has his/her
own way of creating.

Relax, there is creative writing!
Creative writing indicates any technique which can help
us making a story in order to:
- Keep the track of significant experience;
- Share experience with a target group;
- Free individual expression (also used for therapeutic
reasons).

Creating and telling stories
…helps openheartedness

… helps bringing new ideas into the world
Each time we create a story we create a possible world.
Probably it is not exactly our world, but it can be very
similar.
Fantasy requires coherence! Pragmatism requires
engagement.

… helps to change and influence
 Words are important: I vs me; you vs us (Changing the
subject change also the empathic relationship with
our readers)
 The role of us, tellers/writers, is to connect the reader
and the audience to all the people of the world, to
humanise and a we-and-us relationship.
 Don’t explain. Show with words!

Writing/Telling for change
It is connected to emotions
Empathy
Understanding
Tolerance
We have to fall in love with all the characters of our stories.
It is not then just how many social networks we are in if we
are not able to tell a good story.

Spread your voice
 Creativity requires exercises and techniques
 Telling a story follows precise rules and it cannot be
improvised
 Telling stories requires listening to stories: be open!
 Make people imagine another possible credible world.
You have just been introduced to the world of
storytelling!

 http://pinterestitaly.com/12-tool-gratuiti-per-creare-
immagini-su-pinterest/
 https://hbr.org/2014/07/how-to-tell-a-great-story/
 http://elearningindustry.com/18-free-digital-
storytelling-tools-for-teachers-and-students
 https://storify.com/
 https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/64-sites-for-digital-
storytelling-tools-and-information
Some available online tools
(pick and choose!)

 Don’t look for perfectionism. Writing keeps getting
better the more you exercise your writing style
 Be creative. Think out of the box.
 Think about the values we have pointed out
 Take advantage of the specific moment (while you
walk, while you eat and enjoy everyday activities)
 Don’t be afraid.
 Inspire and enjoy yourself
Last tips

2. Corporate storytelling

Having a good product is not
enough.
We need good stories to underline
the values behind the products.

Corporate storytelling is not just
about creating stories, but planning
them in a strategic way in order to
be effective according to our
customers.

Corporate identity
Target identity
Storytelling tools
Story-marketing

The message must be
concise
memorable
understandable
differentiating

Some examples of corporate
storytelling

The success of your enterprise
depends on the efficacy of the
stories you tell.

Credits photos
 www.salesengine.com
 trystanowainhughes.files.wordpress.com
 http://static1.squarespace.com/
 http://www.scld.org.uk/

 Francesco Zaralli
Email: f.zarali@futurodigitale.org
Mob(s): (+39)3738110267
(+34)605763883
 Marco De Cave
Email: m.decave@futurodigitale.org
Mob(s): (+39)3312301447
 Website: www.futurodigitale.org
 Facebook: www.facebook.com/associazionefuturodigitale
Contacts

Corporate storytelling

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