If anything defines our humanity, it is a deep-seated need to seek out authenticity.
For me, the one hard and fast entry in my storyteller’s rulebook is: it all begins with something real. Real connection. Real emotion. Real understanding. We have to feel something real as storytellers and take the audience to that. Whether the story is a Q&A article or a big overarching campaign, the same rules apply – it must always start in the inexplicably human.
And we get there through the old who, what, where, when and, crucially, why. Why should we care? I’m not reinventing the wheel here, but I do believe that, as we pick up the new tools that technology is offering us, we’re too often putting down the tools that help us meaningfully shift hearts and minds.
This is not a conversation about AI-versus-human or low-fi, gritty content versus a high-budget production. It’s about the enduring fundamentals of what makes a compelling story. The tools and technology at our disposal are incredible for research, systems and formatting, but the heartbeat of the story must remain at the forefront.
A photographer I work with sent me a link to this musician recently – sorrycarlee – who plays with mixed media animation for low-budget music videos. It’s playful, fun, compelling and real. One of her videos boasts: “Here is the exact AI prompt to create this effect: 1. Put your phone down; 2. Pick up a paintbrush.”
Carlee Chappell’s bio is “music + art made in my bedroom for people who feel everything and all at once”. The time it would take this individual to hand-make her work is immense, but she’s standing above the muck because she’s so completely real.
When Instagram first arrived, the intimacy and joy of seeing slices of our friends’ lives unfold in real time through the tiny grids on our phones was electric. But now the novelty of infinite scrolling, AI tricks and rage bait is waning – you can feel it. It feels tired. That dopamine hit of variety is lessening and that brilliant term ‘slopification’ invokes a mucky wasteland of content, meaning that when storytelling gold emerges, it feels like both a relief and a triumph.
Vogue Business recently declared that going viral isn’t cool anymore in a think piece arguing that two decades of algorithmic manipulation followed by the onslaught of ‘manufactured virality’ have left us hollowed out and seeking truth. There are still opportunities for discovery, entertainment and service information across social channels, but our cynical eyes are being trained to quickly move on from artificiality.
Sugar rush content is not a long-term strategy for any brand. The narrative detail that builds up a story ultimately builds brand credibility. It doesn’t mean it can’t be quick or low-fi, it just needs to have an authentic narrative. This Transport NSW Insta post nails the brief: journalist Annabel Crabb had commented on the kindness of a bus driver who waited as she chased a bus on route 9026. Transport NSW swung into action and found the driver to put a face to the person who, as Crabb said, “made the world seem noticeably more human today”.
The value of that approach is higher than the few extra dollars you might add to your Opal Card after seeing that. Case in point: Grũns Daily vitamin gummies recently sold to Unilever for $1.2 billion just three years after launching with campaigns made up of real stories from real people.
Kareem Rahma’s social media sensation, Subway Takes , evolved in much the s...