A Gorgeous Rebrand, Cheeky Posters and Bad Creative Feedback

Ten stories that have given us creative inspiration this week

Hey all,

Before we jump into this week’s stories, there’s just a quick request from us. We’re always looking to update our talent pool and at the moment want to add more creative content producers and senior creative content producers. If either of those describes what you do please visit our Work With Us page and click on the link to the form.

OK. Enough of me already. Have a delightful weekend and enjoy the stories.

Hugh

The short story

100 Films From the Last 10 Decades (multiple short reads)

How can we help you?

Storythings is a strategy and production company based in Brighton, London, Berlin, and Ibiza. We'd love to help you with some creative and bold ideas. Here are 3 reasons to get in touch. 

1. Audience Strategy - Do you struggle to understand constantly changing audience behaviours, and what strategies you need to reach them?2. Content Format Development - Do you want to develop and test content formats that give you a direct relationship with your audience? (e.g. newsletters, podcasts, publications, or video series).3. Production - Do you need help creating and running an existing or new content format, and growing loyal audiences around them?We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch. 

Natural History Museum RebrandI absolutely love this rebrand of London’s Natural History Museum. It connects with multiple generations and is full of energy and dynamism which makes everything feel alive: "As it approaches its 150th birthday, its vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. In this new phase the Museum needs an identity to activate engagement with both existing and new audiences in everything that it does. From research to entertainment, education and activism.”(2 min read)

The Dos and Don’ts of Giving Creative FeedbackWe’re all guilty of giving bad creative feedback at some point in our careers. We’ve all been on the receiving side too. This short guide will help anyone in need avoid these common mistakes: “Nobody likes being around a negative Ned or Nancy at the office. But what is it about reviewing creative work that brings out the critic in all of us? Psychology has a lot to do with it: our brains are wired to focus on the negative more strongly than positive information. Too much negativity, though, can leave your teammates feeling frustrated by setbacks rather than excited about the progress everyone is making together.” (5 min read)How a Content Format Uses Shock and Satisfaction to Attract a Secondary AudienceIn the latest Formats Unpacked, Susie O’Neill unpacks the Netflix baking show Is It Cake? She looks at what it has in common with Teletubbies and why this genre-bending show is the kind of ‘faking it’ show you need in your life. (5 min read)

Case Study: From Couch to ChorusWe are huge fans of this hugely successful online content format from Opera North. We think it’s genius and frequently encourage clients to think about how audiences and customers are more likely to engage with a new format that has similarities but a twist on an existing format. (5 min read)

How Streaming Caused the TV Writers’ StrikeIf you enjoy peering under the hood of other industries and getting to understand the lesser-known machinations of them, you’ll really enjoy this explainer from Vox. To understand why writers are striking you really need to understand how they’ve been paid for their work since TV began. Vox speaks to writers who take you through the importance of being available to write when actors demand changes, what new cars have to do with TV seasons starting in September, and how Netflix changed the game.(9 min watch)

Discipline Now…Freedom Later - Six Stories on the Art of PatienceThe Six at 6 newsletter is one of my favourite newsletter discoveries this year. Each week Billy Oppenheimer tells six short stories all connected to a theme. This week’s theme of patience is told via stories about Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Holiday, Sony Electronics, and John Mayer. (4 min read)

If You Watch One Documentary This Weekend Make It ThisThe devastating news of the death of Sinéad O’Connor has had many people sharing tributes, whilst at the same time surfacing some misguided views on her career and life. If all you know about the artist is that she sang Nothing Compare 2 U and ripped up a picture of the Pope, I beg you to watch Nothing Compares. It’s a fantastic and hugely inspiring doc.(3 min watch)

100 Films From the Last 10 Decades Speaking of great films, I really like this piece of curation from Time. It’s 10 films from each decade of the last 100 years. (multiple short reads)The Ad Industry is Playing a Loser’s GameFollowing on from the problems in Hollywood, as discussed above, the ad industry is also in decline. As someone who runs an agency that is 50% creative and 50% strategy, I’m naturally going to have a bias toward the sentiment of this piece. You can collect as many awards as you like, but if your creativity isn’t fixing your client’s problems then more attention needs to go to the strategy: “One of the most creatively awarded companies in the world is Burger King – the worst performer in fast food among its major competitors. Their sales per restaurant are $1.4m. McDonald’s are $3.4m and Chick-fil-A’s are $6.1m. Why in the world would you ever run a print ad or a video of a mouldy burger if you want people to come in and eat more of your burgers?”(7 min read)

Barbie Posters But With 1-Star Review Quotes on Them“They won’t be happy until we are all gay”(Tweet)

Yellow dividing line

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Thanks for reading. We’ll see you all next week.

Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the whole team at Storythings.

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