To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Tuesday 14th July saw The Future Economy Network run an interactive workshop on “The Planet Needs Your Story: A Branding & Video Marketing Workshop”. The event was attended by delegates from a diverse range of industries, all prepared to understand their brand in depth and learn how to create a video storyboard.
The team introduced everyone to the virtual events space and gave quick training on how to make the most out of the interactive webinar and networking opportunities. Once everyone was used to the space and had networked a little, the seminars began. Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, where you can check out the video here.
Rather than The Future Economy Network’s traditional 60 second pitches, the event began with everyone in the room giving a 20 second pitch about themselves and what they are looking for from the workshop.
Rachel Savage from Brand New Story kicked off her 10 minute introduction with an overview of her background and how she came across brand storytelling, leading her to Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” as the inspiration for her work. The book suggests that all successful stories follow the same trajectory. Since George Lucas famously said that if it wasn’t for this journey he would still be writing Star Wars, all large film makers have jumped on it for future scripts. Rachel came up with the idea for Brand New Story from this method – she explained that we have always been telling stories, and our marketing is no exception for that. She then showed three coffee videos from the 1950’s, 1980’s and 2010’s to showcase the storytelling and how the companies’ purpose changes over time due to movements in society. She finished her introduction by explaining that this is what the session will do today – find the purpose to your company and start telling your story.
Next, Jo Haywood from Skylark Media explained how they will start the process of creating a video storyboard for your company. She highlighted the importance of showing purpose, before emphasizing the company’s history and who they have worked with. As Skylark Media are based in Aardman Studios, she used a Wallace and Gromit storyboard as an example to run through how the process works. Jo explained the importance of a storyboard, how it takes the audience on a journey, and the importance of emotional engagement. She then gave a successful example of this by showing their Longleat marketing video.
After the introductions, the event moved into the workshop phase, which started with Brand New Story explaining the role of the customer and organisation. In traditional marketing, the organisation is the “hero” that you are showcasing. In Brand New Story marketing, the customer is the hero and the organisation is the mentor. She stressed the importance of this, and how much more empowering it is for messaging. She used the first ¼ of The Hero’s Journey to explain the process of how the mentor helps the hero (how the business helps the customer, or how the customer buys the company’s product/service). Rachel explained that heroes are often unrealised, and the mentor is key to them unlocking their power. The voice of the mentor is key, and Rachel explained the concept of architypes and choosing the correct voice. The groups then went into break out groups to complete the “craft your purpose” exercise. The speakers facilitated these break out rooms, before returning to the main screen for further discussion and feedback.
After a 10 minute tea break, the group then continued with the second half of the workshop – creating a video storyboard. James Sampson, Creative Director of Skylark Media, started off by talking through one of their client’s films as a case study. He reminded the group that video is an emotional tool, not just a showcase of what you do. He showed the group the video and explained how it can be understood while muted as successfully as with sound on. He moved into the action phase – “building your story arc” – looking at the customer’s problem, what the solution is, and the resolution. The groups went into break out rooms to discuss what theirs were. Next, Jo spoke to the group about visualising your story and creating an actual storyboard, asking everyone to place their “problem, solution, and resolution” into particular boxes on a piece of paper. Jo supported the group through their sketches, before the group went into break out rooms and discussed their storyboard drafts with each other. The speakers facilitated these break out rooms, before returning to the main screen for further discussion and feedback.
The workshop finished with some insightful and high-level questions to the panel as a group. Finally, everyone was able to network in different groups using facilitated break out rooms, before the event finished.
A huge thank you to the speakers and attendees of this event, without this support we would not be able to do these wonderful inspiring events.
Skylark Media would like to offer all of the event attendees a free one-hour video marketing consultation to help get further clarity on their visual story.