"The Two Things England Loves Most? Football & Fear. "
Stories With Heart – a fortnightly round-up of the best storytelling, for people and organisations wanting to win hearts and minds by telling better, richer stories.
Hello story lovers, Sam Lightfinch here. Welcome to Stories With Heart.
As a strategic storyteller and speaker, I use strategy, ideas and creative executions to craft and share narratives that resonate with people and drive organisational success.
Are you ready to roast the beans of story, nostrils alert for the first whiff of aroma spilling into the air, watching each sentence darken and shrivel, waiting for that sweet spot where flavour springs to the fore, just before you burn the ending and turn it bitter? Me too, let’s heat things up.
🏆 Story of the week 🏆
The English Disease | Sam Diss | Stak
A podcast that dives like a striker-in-the-box into the world of football violence, the working class AND men’s grapple with masculinity? I can’t spout enough about how fantastic this is.
The tone. The imagery. The pacing. The characters. It’s a Pep-esque tactical masterclass in storytelling. In fact, there are so many lessons in narrative and so little time that I’m actually going to crack out bullet points for the first time ever. Here’s what you can learn from Diss…
He builds trust by using the language of the working class, even in his reflective monologues
He strikes a wonderful balance of rich characters while also unpicking his own experiences
He’s a responsible storyteller by not over-glorifying and romanticising the subject
He weaves together nebulous ideologies and themes with intimate snapshots and soundbites
He’s raw, honest and vulnerable, which invites his interviewees to be the same.
If this quote doesn’t make you want to swallow the whole thing then I don’t know what will. “We answer to a different fucking God. And that God has a broken nose and a fucking black eye.”
Takeaway: So many. But the biggest success of this podcast is the people in it. So remember that securing 3 points hinges on the people in your story. Find interesting and passionate people, and the narrative will largely tell itself.
Prescription of the week
A Prescription for Nature | WWF-UK | Uncommon Creative Studio
This is a fantastic example of a solid strategic insight being brought to life through a creative idea. Its effectiveness comes from the execution, which doesn’t hammer the viewer around the head with the concept. The subtle packaging net is much better than the Park Run doctor’s note (IMO) because the best creative ideas give audiences the credit to join the dots themselves.
The image choice is great here, too – these scenes feel attainable within a 20-minute walk from just about anywhere, when the temptation could have easily been to shoot more gorgeous, more remote locations that would be inaccessible to a lot of people.
Takeaway: Root your story in something concrete, then find a way to bring beauty and memorability to it.
Sex accessory of the week
Camdom – Your Digital Condom | Billy Boy | Innocean Berlin
Many brands have woolly purposes that feel like a blindfolded-pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach. I can almost hear the meeting… ”We must have a purpose. It’s 2024. Quick, get the purpose bingo board out.”
“Okay, we’ve got the oceans, planting trees, cancer treatment. Did someone do oceans already? Seals are cute and could probably drive sales.“
So it’s always refreshing when I can see how a company’s purpose is linked to its product. Here’s a smart idea from a German condom brand to tackle revenge porn. It doesn’t have the clout or market share of the big boys, but Billy Boy sticks it to the competition by not just highlighting an issue, but going beyond to provide a solution.
Investing in an app like this tells fornicators that Billy Boy is a partner for the long-haul, rather than a quick fling.
Takeaway: Say it loud and say it clear – the best brand stories are the ones that show purpose over product.
Short doc of the week
Love Means Drawing Your Boyfriend 1,000 Times | James Cooper | New York Times
The reason this makes the list isn’t necessarily the content, but the idea behind it. Because it’s a story about repetition and persistence.
This charming doc delves into the idea of commitment bordering on obsession through a romantic lens. Through his drawings, Wilfrid Wood is setting a good example to any storyteller – resist the temptation to consistently reinvent and retell the story. Instead, keep sharpening it. Hone in on it. Squeeze it for all it’s worth.
Takeaway: If you really want people to hear what it is you have to say, you’ve probably got to tell your story 1,000 times. If the story is good enough, the only person who might get bored of it is you. Resist the temptation to ad lib, and stick to the script.
Fashion house of the week
It’s Always Burberry Weather | Burberry | Rubberband
The final thing to catch my eye in the last fortnight – this charming little collection of videos from Burberry and Rubberband. When you’re a global brand, you can bag a load of A-list talent for whimsical shorts. Must be nice.
All these shorts have a slightly surreal vignette to them. Some are peppered with humour, others with heart. The one of Cole Palmer sees him deliver an ice-cold performance worthy of a screening at some fine art show in a Polish Bunker. The campaign is a lesson in investing in brand building, and creating worlds for viewers to get lost in.
Takeaway: Even if you don’t have the 💰💰💰 of a global fashion house, brand building and stories told to drive awareness rather than sell products are a sure-fire way to connect with people (I’m sure Burberry have loads of paid digital media crawling the web to convert people to purchase, too).
My story of the week
“Trying To Cram As Many Wriggling And Razor Sharp Words Into My Idea Trousers As Possible”
The tale goes that David Ogilvy liked to threaten his copywriters with a Greyhound bus trip. If he reviewed their work and found complicated or superfluous language in their ads, he’d tell them to take a ride.
“If you hear someone using the word on the bus, it can stay. If not, you cut it.”
When I started out writing, I was like a ferret-legging Yorkshireman, trying to cram as many wriggling and razor sharp words into my idea trousers as possible. Oh, ego you old dog. Thankfully, I learned my lesson, and started writing for the people I was trying to reach, rather than myself.
Whether we’re talking about the actual act of writing, or thinking of what to say and when to say it, we must tell stories that speak our audience’s language. Here’s an example…
I once worked on a project to launch a revolutionary sewage treatment plant in India. The project lead was the world-leading expert in treating human waste.
Basically, he knew his shit.
But what he didn’t know was how to talk to people about it. I spent hours and hours on calls and in email chains with him, trying to break down his dense and inaccessible knowledge.
People don’t care about the ideal mass of flocculants over a surface area or the difference between aerobic or anaerobic aeration, they care about smell and noise and discretion.
I often say that my job as a strategic storyteller is to get neck deep into an idea. Because I need to understand how to sell it to someone with an ankle deep understanding.
Whether it’s a Greyhound or grey water, the point is that the best storytellers know when to remove the second half of that word and focus on the first.
THE END(ISH)
Hopefully, you’re here because you like stories, and not because you’re expecting another hot take on the Burger King new mums ad.
If it’s the former, I’d appreciate it if you A) shared this newsletter with someone who might like it, or B) checked out my website.
If you’re looking for more copy-and-paste commentary on exhausted mothers holding a whopper in one hand and a burger in the other, then get yourself to LinkedIn. The gurus, experts and digital nomads are circling its bloodied carcass like ravenous sharks (I thought it was a good ad, btw).