Author: Nailia Tasseel

Market research is critical to businesses who need to clearly define their target audience and constantly optimise their product offering. It can be both qualitative and quantitive, yet by its very nature it tends to be presented in a dry, statistical format. Research is one of those things that brand managers, advertisers and business leaders can't live without, but surely must dread some of the presentations where endless statistics are spouted. It's nobody's fault; it's just that human beings aren't wired to receive and absorb information in this way.

This article, published recently in World Research, talks about how storytelling can enhance 'boring' presentations and bring dry, abstract data to life. Researchers take note: by weaving stories into presentations you can pack an emotional punch that will a) make your presentation more compelling, b) make the data more meaningful c) help people absorb the information better and c) build your own brand. It's a no-brainer.

Have a read.

As the furore about RBS's Stephen Hester's bonus, banks and senior executive pay reaches boiling point, news emerges that trust in CEOs has plummeted, as, according to PR Week, 'members of the public increasingly look to 'people like themselves' for credible information'. And these levels of trust are declining. By nine per cent, year-on-year, it seems.

Edelman's annual Trust Barometer tells us that only 30 per cent of UK respondents found CEOs to be believable spokespeople for their organisation. And let's not forget here the CEO – and his leadership team – of the country: the government. According to Edelman's findings in 17 of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right.

As someone with a background in PR, I know only too well that journalists would far rather talk to a CEO than a PR agency or in-house PR team. CEOs are more likely to answer tricky questions than your average PR; they're more newsworthy, and as a leader of the business a CEO is more likely to give a wider perspective and more significant insights than a more junior spokesperson would be able – or prepared – to provide. This creates a sticky situation. The very people being sought to share information about their company are those whom, apparently, we trust the least. So as employees how can we follow them with commitment? And as customers how can we buy from them with confidence?

The inference of course is that from an organisational point of view, trust lies in the lower echelons of businesses. PLU's. People like us. And if that's the case there has to be far better communication within organisations so that the 'trust carriers' are well informed, well-briefed and treated with respect (let's not forget how social media and the immediacy of sharing news has played havoc with traditional channels of communication, where the fall-out of an ill-placed, insincere or untruthful message can be immense (facebook's membership alone equates to the size of the fifth largest country in the world). Put a foot wrong and millions know about it, instantly.

And it's not just consumers who want a voice…to share their experiences and opinons online with a massive, faceless community. Employees do too. They want to be heard. They want what they say to be valued. They want to see their leaders walking the talk, not just paying lip service. Never more has a culture of collaboration, empowerment and involvement been so important. It's PLU's, see, who are at the sharp end of business; who really know 'what's going on'. And they want their say.

So is the implication to give more power to the people to act as the mouthpiece of the organisation, or to rebuild trust at the top? Well, it's both. The clever CEO will recognise that being a true and authentic role-model to his people, while listening to their views and opinions (and acting on them) is the way forward. And encouraging his leaders and teams to act and behave in the same way.

Nice article about The Storytellers in Director magazine this month, featuring Scott Garrett and Alison Esse. The piece talks of how introducing a new Chief Executive to a company run by its owners has helped prepare the business for change and growth.

Have a read!

At The Storytellers one of our guiding principles is that stories shape our beliefs and our beliefs shape our behaviours. I was therefore fascinated to hear Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, on Radio Four last night talking about her work on the cultural aspects of alcohol consumption in the UK.

There’s a belief in this country that alcohol has magical powers – transforming ordinary law-abiding people into violent, disorderly sexual predators.  This belief is reinforced by the multitude of stories we hear about the antics of young binge drinkers on a Saturday night and indeed by the Government’s own advertising on the subject.

Kate and her research team have completed extensive scientific studies on the subject. Their astonishing conclusion is that alcohol itself does not drive this anti-social behaviour; instead it’s the cultural belief that alcohol has this effect on people that’s the real cause. When people drink alcohol they act in accordance with their beliefs about how one should behave when drunk. Their behaviour reflects, emulates and reinforces their pre-existing beliefs. What’s really interesting is when Kate and her team replaced people’s alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic placebos, they continued to behave in exactly the same way. The presence or absence of alcohol was not the determining factor in the way people acted.

In other parts of the world where there are cultures with very different attitudes about the effects of alcohol, the resulting social behaviours are very different. This difference isn’t explained by the amount of alcohol consumed indeed there are countries where people drink more alcohol than in the UK, but which don’t suffer from the same culture of anti-social behaviour.

Kate’s conclusion was that if we want to address alcohol related anti-social behaviour, we should stop trying to reduce how much people drink and focus instead on changing people’s beliefs about how drinking alcohol affects our behaviour.

How many times have we shared or listened to stories about the antics of a good night out? We may not have realised it, but it’s these stories and not the alcohol that will shape our future behaviour.