Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change

by Beth Comstock

get our storytelling capacity up to speed, we worked closely with Alexander Jutkowitz, cofounder of Group SJR, one of the agencies that pioneered brand journalism. Here are his tips on branded storytelling: Digital storytelling is in some senses a race. Speed matters. Serialize and atomize. In an age of ephemeral content and short attention spans, the ability to serialize a story and tell it in small pieces over time determines its staying power. It’s essential to tell stories that can live anywhere and respect the rules and quirks of a particular platform (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). Too many companies assume that what they do is too boring for anybody to care about. That’s not true. Whether you are involved in infrastructure, tech, food service, consumer packaged goods, or financial services, you are supporting the basics of civilization. To you, it might be a daily grind; to somebody who doesn’t know your business, it is often a source of magic, wonder, wisdom, and fascination.