The Power Of A Great Story

Not all stories are created equal. You know this, Netflix knows this, Tolkien knew this, but it seems to be often overlooked with branded content.

I see a lot of content being made with little or no regard for storytelling, however without a great story, you’re just left with stuff and a costly production invoice.

In scripted storytelling, the writer holds the keys. With huge amounts invested in acquiring and crafting the best stories, there’s a commercial understanding of the value a great story has. They say it’s hard to screw up a brilliant screenplay but impossible to make a great film with a dud script. 

But in nonfiction, with real stories, before you can tell a great story, you have to find a great story, and that requires a different set of skills and expertise.

Story-first casting puts the emphasis on finding great stories for non-fiction branded content, and it’s an approach that brings a huge amount of business value when it’s done right

If finding great stories becomes your first priority, you will increase your success rate in generating earned media and PR, whilst creating a stand out from your competition – not just your direct competitors, but the other brands that are competing for the same finite amount of attention your audience has to spare.

Added to that, as a proportion of spend, story first casting is far cheaper than the latest 8k camera and generates much more value. A great story will always outperform an average story – no matter how much money is thrown at the production. 

So next time you’re thinking about making a new piece of branded content – make sure you put the story first. It won’t just be your audience that thanks you, your boss will too!