Our Role as Storytellers

By Kim Nielsen

I don’t often think of myself as a storyteller. I’m not a novelist, and I don’t share stories with children sitting on the floor around me as I recall my grandfather doing when I was young.

Regardless of the mental picture I have of storytellers, those of us in the PR, marketing and communications professions really do have stories to tell – the stories of our company, organization or client. I’ve become increasingly reminded of our role as storytellers (especially through technology) over the past few weeks.

Just today, as an alumna of the MA program in Marquette’s College of Communication, I received an email asking me to complete a survey on a graduate sequence in digital storytelling that the school is devleoping. The courses explore and apply the integration of technology and storytelling through blogs, documentaries, websites, etc.

Even before receiving the survey, the topic was already fresh in my mind. I recently attended a conference where Jonathan Harris was a keynote speaker. He combines storytelling and technology in amazing ways. If you aren’t familiar with Harris, I strongly recommend checking out some of his work here. One of my personal favorites is We Feel Fine. Commissioned by MOMA, I Want You to Want Me (highlighted in the video) is also pretty neat.

 

We’ve always been storytellers. When you really think about it, though, we can tell our stories in an incredible number and collection of ways.

Who Will Win It All?

by Sam Sova 

Today is the start of the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament. Do you have your bracket in? I heard on ESPN this morning that 27% of office workers are in an office pool and companies in the US will lose $10 billion in the span of the tournament due to lost productivity. Are you one of these people losing big money for your company? Do you feel guilty about it? 

If you have been reading the news you will also see that CBS is streaming all of the games live on the Web. This is the first accessible on-demand broadcast of an event this caliber, which has attracted over 20 sponsors. Take a look at the article.

The coolest thing about this is an application called the “boss button.” If your boss is walking by, you click the button and a spreadsheet pops up!

So people in the office now have access to all of the games and, of course, many will be watching it. Being in a marketing/communications discipline this is the opportunity to figure out how your company can embrace the biggest sports event of the year. How can you take this event and turn it into an office experience in the future. Maybe a culture builder? Yes, it may be too late this year, but it’s never too early to start for the next year. Could you have an office-wide bracket with prizes like an extra vacation day, parking spot in the executive row for a week, etc.?

With video becoming so easily accessible on the Web, it is evident that the workforce has access to a lot more distracting things. In the future, it may be an opportunity for you to make a difference in the culture of your office.

Oklahoma Representative’s Hate Speech

by Sarah Nohr

This is Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern’s ugly anti-gay speech that was recently made wildly public on the Internet. 750,000 views on YouTube in just six days.

At one point, Kern is quoted, “If you have cancer in your little toe, do you just say that I’m going to forget about it since the rest of you is fine? It spreads! This stuff is deadly and it is spreading. It will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation.” What an appalling and irrational analogy!

And talk about a positioning statement. I’m very surprised that someone of this political caliper would speak so strongly. I’m not sure what her image was locally prior to this, but this is not one of those situations where “any press is good press.” I can’t even begin to speak as an expert in political PR – but this makes me wonder what her reps are thinking now …

Please share this with others. I think this is outrageous.

Happy Cows Come From Where?

by Sarah Nohr

So here’s what I don’t understand: What were their media buyers thinking when they decided to run these commercials in the Wisconsin market? I get that these commercials get us Wisconsinites all riled up – but how in the h*ll is that increasing market share/sales? I’m assuming this is part of an image campaign – but I see running this in Wisconsin/Minnesota as a waste of money. Why would you want to tick off your target market? What’s the strategy here?

Honestly. Happy cows come from California. I’m so sick of these. Maybe they should do a commercial for tourism, too. “Happy people come from California.” It’s pretty obvious that the 96″ of snow here has put me in a slightly cynical mood…

I suppose we’ll be battling this one out till the cows come home …

YouTube Video Made By Sam

Check out the video. It was made for a friend of mine to try in an attempt “sell” himself. The project was based on his senses and after viewing hopefully you want to contact me to see how to hang out with this cool kid.