Storytelling becomes strategic and sets the tone for new business

A point on a map is not just a point. For it can become a treasure by activating hidden stories to emerge and bring to life. But what if that point were a house? Every house has a story. In fact, many stories. That's the copy of the new Sony Picture campaign launched in these hours on the American market and linked to the awaited film Here on schedule overseas from 1 November. Next to the evocative text there is a form to be filled out in which each user can enter an address that allows them to start navigating to build and share stories. That point, that here in the film actually allows one to go very far back in time, to discover the different generations that have inhabited a house. This is the sense of Robert Zemeckis' experimental project with Tom Hanks and Robin Wright based on Richard McGuire's graphic novel. A single point of view and many interconnected stories. The film recounts the different families that have succeeded each other on the estate over an extended time span spanning several centuries. Moving through time, standing still at a specific point. Then there is the fixed camera that does not leave the frame of the perimeter within which the narrated events take place. From the big screen to the miniaturised screens of smartphones. Sony Pictures has created an interactive experience that allows each user to explore their own here with a customised immersive map experience using Google Maps Platform. The campaign allows users to interact with real-world places related to their lives and discover their own space in the world. A way to connect personal narratives to collective experiences.

It is the time of 'living stories' on which authentic, coherent, engaging business narratives are based. In a time marked by special effects, companies of excellence are rediscovering the value of strategic storytelling because stories - when told and disseminated in the best possible way - guide business. This is what emerges from research conducted by the Bea agency and carried out by Iulm University with the analysis of Stefania Romenti and Luciano Massa. The survey, previewed in Il Sole 24 Ore, gives voice to communication professionals. An encouraging picture emerges on the strategic nature of storytelling. "The starting point is authenticity, which requires a solid corporate culture, values shared by all, a strong and clear identity. A solid corporate narrative is made up of shared stories and looks to the future. A bit like grand strategy serves to mark a path of growth, grand narrative is what the company needs to tell the path effectively,' says Marco Bardazzi, President of Bea. From Italy to the rest of the world, content factories are multiplying, linking organisations to agencies and professionals in an integrated and interconnected supply chain. "Content factories can take different forms, but the idea behind each organisation is simple: optimise the entire production chain, from market analysis to performance measurement via creation and production, without forgetting the control of distribution. Using the amount of content produced by a content factory gives advertisers a more precise understanding of which audiences, themes and formats perform best, especially in a context where the use of third-party data has become more complex,' wrote Elie Ohayon in Forbes. It is a paradigm shift to cope with a complexity related to the media system. On the other hand, according to the World Federation of Advertisers, more than 50 per cent of brands in the different sectors have already developed in-house content production capacities, also linking up with external expertise. Also because stories, if well constructed, represent a strategy that creates value. This has also been certified by McKinsey, highlighting how the winning recipe is to connect content creation to data analysis. Those who do this record a growth rate that impacts the business twice as fast as others. "Stories are the most powerful raw material a company has at its disposal and an integrated approach is needed to make communication the engine of every business venture. This is an area that must be strongly oriented towards listening, continuous dialogue with the other functions of the business, welcoming feedback from employees as well as external audiences. This means integrating with a centralised but diffuse organisational function. Today, diffuse editorial teams are created to provide the central function with elements that feed the narrative,' says Bardazzi.

From content to platforms. "Omnichannelality is an incentive to break down silos and build narrative paths. What research calls the Netflix effect of corporate storytelling is also emerging: as in a TV series, you start with the content and build a serialised story, anchored in the communication strategy," says Salvatore Ippolito, managing director of Bea. So much for everything and now. Storytelling takes its own space and unravels in a time span that favours seriality. But to do so requires vision over time and integration of channels, formats, processes. "In this way storytelling becomes business leverage. In the research the most adopted expressions were multi-target, multi-platform, multi-vocal, multi-language. This implies the ability to customise content according to the target audience. Owned media are decisive when included in strategies where multi-targeting is also worked on,' Ippolito concludes.