{"id":10993,"date":"2016-09-01T14:37:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T13:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=10993"},"modified":"2020-08-24T11:34:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T10:34:09","slug":"storytelling-is-dead-long-live-story-doing","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2016\/sep\/storytelling-is-dead-long-live-story-doing","title":{"rendered":"STORYTELLING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE STORY DOING"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1Jq6uh wp-block-lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--overflow \" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\r\n  <div class=\"container container--spaced-lg\">\r\n    \r\n    <div class=\"row\">\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n                \r\n                <blockquote class=\"blockquote blockquote--md-right\">\r\n          I\u2019m going to give Beto Nahmad the credit. He\u2019s the executive creative director of VCCP Spain and the first person I heard using the phrase \u201cstory doing\u201d.                  <\/blockquote>\r\n                \r\n  \t\t\t      <\/div>\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n    \t\t<p>Ever since, I\u2019ve latched on to it like a zealot, almost forgetting that it wasn\u2019t my own.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In essence, the point he makes is that, in an age of super-saturated communication, we need to start thinking less about brand narrative and start thinking more about brand drama. Put simply, the most important question for 21st century communication isn\u2019t \u201cwhat is our brand saying?\u201d, it\u2019s \u201cwhat is our brand doing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The curious thing about the rise of \u201cstory doing\u201d is that, in many ways, it\u2019s a case of reverse innovation. Like the resurgence of vinyl, it signals that we\u2019re going back to the future, rather than forward into an alien world where there are no roadmaps, co-ordinates or precedent. Admittedly, you have to be jolly old to realise this first hand but, in media terms, the post-digital age more closely resembles the pre-digital world than the age of TV that we are now exiting.<\/p>  \t\t<\/div>\r\n  \t\t\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1cGgKq wp-block-lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--overflow \" data-aos=\"fade-up\">\r\n  <div class=\"container container--spaced-lg\">\r\n    \r\n    <div class=\"row\">\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n        <p>As a result, there is arguably more to be learnt from looking at marketing at the beginning of the last century than at the end of it. Two examples I mentioned in a recent presentation I gave at the El Sol festival in Bilbao are the Michelin Guides (b. 1900) and the Tour de France (b. 1903). Both were conceived as marketing devices \u2013 one to sell more tyres, one to sell more newspapers. The reason they are relevant more than 100 years later is that they both show the innate power of earned and owned media. Because there was no such thing as TV, neither brand could buy mass attention, so they had to earn it from scratch by creating world-famous brand properties. A century later, with the gradual erosion of mass media, this paradigm is back in fashion. Two great examples of the revival are Red Bull and O2. Red Bull Stratos generated more than 40 million views when Felix Baumgartner jumped from that balloon, while The O2 \u2013 once the much-maligned Millennium Dome \u2013 is now one of the world\u2019s leading music venues.<\/p>\n<p>What is interesting about these examples is that, while we hear lots about the need for brands to tell their stories, the above four examples aren\u2019t really about storytelling at all. In a way, they are not even about a message; they are actually propositions, pieces of drama and service experiences in their own right. As such, they don\u2019t tell a story. They are the story.<\/p>        \r\n                \r\n  \t\t\t      <\/div>\r\n      \r\n      <div class=\"col-md-6\">\r\n    \t\t<p>This is why I think we are seeing a redefinition of our jobs and, indeed, our skillsets. With the demise of mass media (and the interruptive marketing model that went with it), we are having to move on from the old-school model of agencies as storytellers. The things we learnt about positionings, propositions and messaging hierarchies are still valid but they are secondary. Now the most important thing for a brand isn\u2019t communication, it\u2019s engagement.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t take my word for it. Look at the winners at El Sol or Cannes. Virtually all the accolades went to ideas that could in no way be described as ads. From REI to Harvey Nichols, Vans [top photo] to La Liga, McWhopper to Netflix, they were variously about staff engagement, social movement, acts of empowerment or pieces of drama.<\/p>\n<p>The storyteller is dead. Long live the story doer.<\/p>  \t\t<\/div>\r\n  \t\t\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-image-full-width-2erwcI wp-block-lazyblock-image-full-width\"><section class=\"fullwidth fullwidth--img\">\n    <img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/RedBull.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"lazyload img-fluid\">\n\n<\/section><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11,"template":"","categories":[191],"class_list":["post-10993","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","category-agency-news"],"acf":{"author":{"ID":930,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2020-07-02 12:04:34","post_date_gmt":"2020-07-02 11:04:34","post_content":"","post_title":"Charles Vallance","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"charles-vallance","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-19 12:22:45","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-19 12:22:45","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?post_type=people&#038;p=930","menu_order":0,"post_type":"people","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"client_id":"","hero_video":"","hero_image":{"ID":11002,"id":11002,"title":"ScreenShot20160901at121003","filename":"ScreenShot20160901at121003.jpg","filesize":38942,"url":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/news\/2016\/sep\/storytelling-is-dead-long-live-story-doing\/attachment\/screenshot20160901at121003","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"screenshot20160901at121003","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":10993,"date":"2020-08-14 13:44:07","modified":"2020-08-14 13:44:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-300x113.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":113,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-768x288.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":240,"large":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-1024x384.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":240,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-1536x576.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":576,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":720,"Header":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-1920x720.jpg","Header-width":1920,"Header-height":720,"Wide":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003.jpg","Wide-width":1920,"Wide-height":720,"Square":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-1152x720.jpg","Square-width":768,"Square-height":480,"Tall":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-768x720.jpg","Tall-width":307,"Tall-height":288,"Mobile":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-768x720.jpg","Mobile-width":768,"Mobile-height":720,"Facebook":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-1200x630.jpg","Facebook-width":1200,"Facebook-height":630,"Grid-Item-Square":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-768x720.jpg","Grid-Item-Square-width":768,"Grid-Item-Square-height":720,"Grid-Item-Wide":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-768x384.jpg","Grid-Item-Wide-width":768,"Grid-Item-Wide-height":384,"Grid-Item-Tall":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003-384x720.jpg","Grid-Item-Tall-width":307,"Grid-Item-Tall-height":576}},"meta-title":"Charles Vallance - Why the days of the 'format factory' are numbered","meta-description":"I\u2019ve been working in advertising for 30 years, and it\u2019s been very much a game of two halves. In the first half, not a huge amount changed. In the second half it\u2019s been nothing but change. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the proliferation of format.  In my first 15 years, I had to master two new formats. The arrival of text messaging, and then the arrival of email. To be honest, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve entirely mastered email as it can be something of an etiquette minefield (do we, for instance, still \u2018Dear\u2019 people; and what is the best sign-off, or do you just go straight to Christian name or, as appears to be increasingly in vogue, simply eschew a sign-off altogether?). By contrast to these early years, the last 15 have experienced such a profusion of new formats that I\u2019ve rather lost count.","social-media-image":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/ScreenShot20160901at121003.jpg","news_id":"191","relateditems":[{"relateditem":{"ID":634,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2020-06-24 09:56:54","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-24 08:56:54","post_content":"<!-- wp:lazyblock\/page-title {\"title\":\"Our Capabilities\",\"blockId\":\"Z24KL4u\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-page-title-Z24KL4u\"} \/-->\n\n<!-- wp:lazyblock\/two-column-text-quote-image {\"text-right\":\"\\u003cp\\u003eWith advertising and communications, we believe it only works if it all works.\u00a0 From the first search right through to post-purchase management of data, we make everything compelling, coherent and cohesive.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we transform a client\u2019s business.\u00a0 We\u2019re a fully integrated creative agency offering the following skills and services:\\u003c\/p\\u003e\",\"quote\":\"We are the challenger agency for challenger brands.\",\"top-padding\":true,\"blockId\":\"Z1pypLu\",\"blockUniqueClass\":\"lazyblock-two-column-text-quote-image-Z1pypLu\"} \/-->","post_title":"Our Capabilities","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"capabilities","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-12-02 12:08:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-12-02 12:08:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?page_id=634","menu_order":0,"post_type":"page","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":212,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2020-06-15 22:26:43","post_date_gmt":"2020-06-15 21:26:43","post_content":"","post_title":"Work","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"work","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-04-16 16:47:36","post_modified_gmt":"2024-04-16 15:47:36","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?page_id=212","menu_order":1,"post_type":"page","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"relateditem":{"ID":896,"post_author":"1","post_date":"2020-07-01 10:07:30","post_date_gmt":"2020-07-01 09:07:30","post_content":"","post_title":"Our News","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"news","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-12 12:14:50","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-12 12:14:50","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/?page_id=896","menu_order":0,"post_type":"page","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"visible_on_home_page":[],"websites_to_publish":[],"capability_ids":[],"related_content_title":"YOU MAY ALSO LIKE"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/10993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vccp.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}