Story Sprint

A big-picture overview with an authenticity tune-up

We’ll broaden our sense of possibility by first taking a broad look at American storytelling traditions and present-day audience dispositions, understanding what represents a shift in today’s digital culture versus tendencies that endure across time.

Then we’ll identify areas in identity and messaging that can be improved by shifting language, images or ideas to more people-centered, authentic expressions. By day’s end, we’ll have answers.

Story Intensive

Spot fresh angles and themes that connect

A seminar on American storytelling traditions and audience behaviors precedes a mini-audit of your brand’s overall persona, assessing narrative positioning, visual style, voice and more.

Meaningful available storylines come into focus, including complementary narratives within physical or digital communities that stand to resonate with your audience.

Character Olympiad

A data-driven way to find just the right person

Character Olympiads move a seemingly subjective exercise to a clear-eyed, analytical process, helping gain support for projects and budgets while ensuring the fundamentally best creative choices are made.

Olympiads score characters on a 10-point scale based on the degree to which each holds characteristics critical to success in media. Informal interviews yield scores across key criteria, which are compared to average scores in each category and overall totals derived from more than 70 successful projects.

The process provides an invaluable digital playbook — with storylines for pitching or production and timelines aligning available narratives with marketing needs.

Story Inventory

Explore opportunity in culture and community

Mixing cultural anthropology, current data and regional trends, a Story Inventory identifies pathways for a brand or organization to better connect with a target audience. Anchored by an onsite weeklong visit, we explore storylines and characters unique to a given region, informed by history, demographics, beliefs and senses of place.

Findings identify fresh opportunities to move beyond predictable narratives by focusing on resonant, meaningful stories. The inventory manifests in a playbook from which you can pitch ideas or create ambitious media with confidence.