Category: Blog

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has been around for many years. In fact, since the 50’s when the phrase was first used by academics and business leaders to identify and articulate the impact of global businesses on society. (I imagine the phrase was near strangled by the booms and busts of the 80’s and 90’s when the environment was not at the forefront of a businesses strategy).

There’s been as many critics of CSR as there have advocates. That’s to say, it’s never been a government initiative, nor has it been obligatory. It’s voluntary and, as such, has swayed in both directions since its conception.

But what does CSR mean for businesses? Can it really affect the bottom line? Can it embed itself sufficiently within a business or brand and become a competitive advantage?

Some years ago, I attended a talk by the founder of the clothing label Howies. As a business, Howies pride themselves on their ethics and it’s become the thread by which the company has grown and flourished (indeed they were recently purchased by Timberland). Every aspect of the brand is as sustainable as can be. Every product is produced with as little environmental impact as humanly possible. Every catalogue printed on recycled stock and printed with vegetable inks. And, every employee as earthly as the brand they represent.

All of this is, collectively, what makes Howies appealing to its customers. So much so that they trade almost entirely on their principles alone. Subtle marketing, no gimmicks and no expensive ad campaigns. CSR, for Howies, has become a real competitive advantage and certainly reaches to their bottom line.

What Howies does isn’t new though. (You just have to look at the great work Anita Roddick and team did with The Bodyshop). But it works for them. They trusted their own beliefs and built a brand which echoes those beliefs, and the beliefs of their customers.

So (and this isn’t a final summary as such but something to ponder) CSR, and indeed corporate/brand values, need to be the foundations by which a business is formed. To add them like you would condiments to a finished plate of food will only affect the credibility and authenticity of the approach. CSR needs to reside within the DNA of an organisation and should be a personality trait that every employee is proud of.

Barnardo’s have always created great adverts. Adverts which communicate the lives of those they strive to help. And their recent TV spot titled ‘Turn Around’ is nothing less than brilliant.

The ad builds upon the great press campaign which ran earlier in the year, where hard-hitting copy and brave art direction shared the stories of children who had been given up on. Indeed, they won many awards but that comes secondary to the role they played in delivering a clear and direct message to the masses.

The new campaign, launched just a few weeks ago, uses laconic narrative, similar in style to that of a text message, to tell the story of a young girl. The film uses the trademark Banardos sepia tones and cleverly uses the  same eight scenes to tell a story of two halves; the young girls transition in and out of various and troubling situations.

To see the full advert click here. Visit Barnardo’s website to read the true story and find out about The Teens’ Speech this Christmas day.

Congratulations to Bill Bryson, whose book A Short History of Nearly Everything has been declared the top selling non-fiction book of the decade.

What’s extraordinary about this book is the sheer ambition of its scope.  Bryson deals with the Big Bang, quantum theory, extinctions, epidemics and earthquakes, subjects which have sunk many a high-brow academic tome.  Yet A Short History… is the most popular non-fiction book of the decade.  Why?

The answer is that Bryson is a born storyteller.  He takes this formidable array of scientific subjects and he presents them in a clear, compelling narrative.  There is cause and effect, there is a timeline, and there’s even a reason to care: he gleefully explains all the many things that could go wrong with our planet at any second!

Not all of us have Bryson’s skill with words, but if he can spin a great yarn around incomprehensible physics and geology, we should all be able to do the same for our own areas of expertise.

Illustration has always been close to my heart, having been an avid Beano and Dandy collector as a small boy.  Its ability to share and communicate stories is, I suppose, what draws me in (if you can excuse the pun).

So, I was pleased to read a great article by Anna Richardson called ‘picture perfect’ in today’s Design Week newsletter which featured an array of beautiful packaging projects from such studios as Elmwood and Pearlfisher.

The article was a real testament to the value an illustrator, or illustrators in some cases, can bring to a project. Torben Dunn, group design director at Elmwood explains:

‘We have people who can draw fantastically well, but there are times when you know that if you gave the project to an illustrator they could add something extra. It’s important not to accept second best and get the client to invest in someone who can turn it up another 10 per cent. There’s always some magic an illustrator can bring.’

Illustration breathes personality into a project; introducing a viscerally engaging element. I personally champion the notion of words and pictures being as one, but they really connect on two distinct levels – rationally and emotionally.

We call this the ‘visual connection’ and illustration, more so at times than photography, is a much welcomed and fresh perspective within a corporate environment.

I’ve just received a really nice set of postcards from Two Sides Paper featuring six illustrations by Holly Sims.

The cards include the strapline ‘print and paper have a great environmental story to tell’ and have a short and punchy story on the back which has been illustrated on the front.

It’s a really engaging way to communicate the incredibly important topic of renewable and recyclable paper sources. And, of course, a rather good advert for their product!

I get a lot of mailers in the post but this one feels like a little more consideration has been put in to crafting it and ensuring that it’s not just another piece of marketing bumpf. And, the beautiful illustrations make it just too hard to throw in the (recycling) bin!

Apparently London is becoming a breeding ground for innovative new words and phrases.  In fact, it’s becoming a new world leader in the production of slang. That’s according to linguists, says the BBC.

Ride on public transport or get stuck behind slow walking teenagers on their way to school and you’ll hear them using words like ‘innit’, ‘bruv’, ’sik’ and ‘you get me?’  Whether you ‘get me’ and approve of these new breakthroughs is a matter of personal opinion but, like them or loathe them, slang is here to stay – well, at least until the next set of terms comes along.

This article got me thinking – has slang always been with us? What purpose does it serve? Maybe it came about simply to alienate the generations older than those using it? Is it a language, a dialect, or something in between?

One thing’s for certain – slang is all around us and it’s popular with the generation who are going to be running our businesses of the future.

So you better get down wiv the kids if you’re gonna stand a chance of being an effective communicator for your business in the future…Knowhatamean?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8388545.stm

A wonderful piece of storytelling

It was a complete coincidence, but I started to read Animal’s People just a few days before I heard on the news that this week is the 25th anniversary of the Union Carbide chemical factory disaster in Bhopal, India.

Whether or not the book is based on this specific incident, the parallels are striking. A devastating escape of poison gas. Many thousands killed within hours. Thousands more left damaged for life. Contaminated water supplies still blighting lives to this day. Brave people fighting for health, proper compensation and justice.

Written in the first person by Animal, a nineteen year old boy born on the night of the tragedy and instantly crippled, it’s a wonderful piece of storytelling. Fierce, unsentimental, uncompromising … but full of human warmth and spirit despite his own attempts to deny it. You’ll hate what happened. You’ll love Animal.

I was amused to read an article in The Tmes today (3 December)  relating to a slating Facebook posting by the daughter of ousted General Motors Chief Executive Fritz Henderson, giving the company’s management a piece of her mind about the enforced exit of her father from the organisation.

As the article points out, many companies now reach out to their employees and customers through the social networking sites of Twitter, My Space, Facebook and so on.  Quite rightly, they recognise that these media are where people congregate to discuss and debate the issues of the day – personal and otherwise – not to mention feedback about their products and services.  The rapid, viral nature of the spread of news and commentary can be extremely beneficial for them as their brand is magnified and reinforced across cyberspace.

Yet as with all things, there is a yin and a yang.  The other side of the coin is that negative comments, while authentic, can of course be damaging.  General Motors may have whipped off the offending posting as quick as you like, but not before the damage was done and the news spread like wildfire.  Brave is the company who stands its ground and lets negativity flow forth in a natural way, but quite sensible too unless it wants a revolt.

The truth is that with the advent of social media, so ebbs away the control mechanisms of the ‘old-fashioned’ media.  It’s a whole new world out there in the world of Corporate.  Communications executives should be highlighting rather different personal qualities these days on their CV’s … bravery, tenacity and courage, for when the CEO knocks on the door asking what has happened to the brand reputation overnight.

Welcome to our new website!  Please have a browse, watch the film with the volume turned right up, post a comment to let us know what you think of it or just quietly ponder!

I hope that what will shine through is the simplicity, clarity, storytelling style of content and forward-thinking design which is so important to us at The Storytellers.  We’re particularly pleased with our film which we hope reflects the creativity and superb quality that comes out of our creative team, Storyfactory (you can read more about Storyfactory under ‘What We Do’).

I can’t post this blog without a massive thank-you to some specific individuals in the team who have contributed to the design and build of the website and of course the film, which wouldn’t have happened without hours of storyboarding, weekend filming (fuelled by many bacon rolls) during the cold, dark early hours of the morning, huge flexibility and professionalism from the cast and crew and the passion and commitment that characterises everyone we work with.  Drumroll please…..

Rodney Mylius – consultant Creative Director

Cai and Kyn Taylor (Cai and Kyn) – graphic design

Martin Hill and Andy Pearson (Binamic) – Web construction

The Film:

Jonathan Bentley – Director (plus Post Production and visual effects)

Rachel Porter – Producer

Ian Williams – DOP

Shaun Atherton – DIT/Focus puller

Gemma Bradley – Production Assistant

Rachel Chambers – Art Director

Ian Rice – Gaffer

Simon Atherton – Spark

Chris Hughes – Grip

Stamos Triantafyllos – Jimmy Jib Operator

Phil Shepard – Music

Actors: Karl Douglas (President), Atina Kapila (Sceptical Woman), our own Chris Spencer (Secret Service Agent), Sammie Bentley (’80’s daughter), David Bentley (’80’s Dad), Ken Bentley, Jonathan Bentley and Marck Jagucki (NASA technicians), Rachel Porter, Ken Bentley, Gemma Bradley, Rachel Chambers, Hanna Jagucki, Sue Brandom, Ian Porter and Rosemary Porter (principal extras).