Hey all,

Join us on Thursday at 1pm (GMT) for Proper Fancy – a team show and tell that everyone is invited to. We’d love to see you. I’m really enjoying meeting you all and adding new names to our talent roster. It’s a very relaxed affair with a bunch of us chatting and sharing things that have tickled our fancy in the last month. You don’t have to share anything or join in the chat. Just enjoy the creative inspiration. If you want to co-host sometime we’d love to have you.

Right. The weekend has landed and somewhere out there a curry has my name on it. Enjoy the links and I’ll see you all next week.

Hugh

A Creative Manifesto by Molly Manning Walker (2-min read)

How to Measure Ghosts: Introducing Mr X (14-min read) 

Red Hand Files: Nick Caves Answers 50 Quick Questions (5-min read)

It’s About Time in the Market, Not Timing in the Market (4-min read)

Tate Films - An Archive Worth Celebrating (2-min watch)

Ozempic Marketing Push Sparks Body-Positive Backlash (6-min read)

A Zine Designed by Richard Turley & Julia Schäfer Using Microsoft Word (3-min read)

Jon Ronson’s Guide to the Culture Wars (14-min read)

Creative Bloc SOS Kit (3-min read)

We Dare You to Figure Out What Our Nonprofit Does (3-min read)

How we can help you

Storythings is the content marketing agency of choice for some of the world’s most forward-thinking B2B brands and organisations. If your content isn’t getting the results you need, let us help you understand why. Here are 3 reasons to get in touch. 

1. Audience Research – We help B2B brands understand modern attention patterns and how they can get more engagement with content.2. Content Strategy – We use our bespoke process to develop unique content formats that hold audience attention, build community, and increase brand salience.3. Content Production – We craft beautiful and diverse stories of impact that capture and hold attention using podcasts, videos, editorial, and newsletters. We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch for a FREE 30 minute consultation. 

A Creative Manifesto by Molly Manning Walker (2-min read)Football player, fan and filmmaker Molly Manning Walker doesn’t think there’s too much difference between the art form and the sport. We Present asked the “How To Have Sex” director for her hard-earned tips for being a successful director. Here they are as a beautiful poster for you to download.

How to Measure Ghosts: Introducing Mr X (14-min read) 60 years ago tonight, The Beatles made ratings history with their first appearance on US television. A few hours later, on the same channel, Arthur Nielsen, the man who invented ratings, made his first, and only, TV appearance on What’s My Line. The story of this incredible coincidence is told as a chapter from our very own Matt Locke’s book on the history of how attention has been measured. If you enjoy this story, dive into some of the other fascinating How to Measure Ghosts articles on the subject.

Red Hand Files: Nick Caves Answers 50 Quick Questions (5-min read)Regular readers will know that Nick is always generous with his time in answering fan questions. But sometimes he gets questions that just require quick answers. Here are 50 of them including “Why are you such as massive wanker?” “Is Satan real?” and “Is there any point in being nice, when people can be so appallingly mean?”

It’s About Time in the Market, Not Timing in the Market (4-min read)B2B advertising is not in a good way. In recent research, 75% of tested B2B ads scored just 1 out of 5. Tyrona Heath, Director of LinkedIn's B2B Institute, a think tank that works with some of the leading marketing academics and thinkers, takes us through 10 critical concepts for B2B marketing.

Tate Films - An Archive Worth Celebrating (2-min watch)We talk a lot about the importance of building an archive in the new era of content discovery. We often ask clients at the start of a new project to not just think about the first episode, but imagine what the 100th episode looks like. Tate celebrates its 1000th video on YouTube with this lovely short trailer. Over the years they’ve filmed with artists in their homes and studios, on the road and in the garden, on the beach and even on a canoe. The archive includes road trips, how-to tutorials, animations, music videos, live performances, staff stories, exhibition tours, and sneak peeks behind-the-scenes at Tate.

Ozempic Marketing Push Sparks Body-Positive Backlash (6-min read)Plus-size influencers are getting paid to promote weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Some call it ‘an affront’ to what was previously a ‘safe space’ for body acceptance: “Pharmaceutical companies paying influencers to market their drugs has inherent ethical issues because the influencers cannot be expected to understand the science issues with the drugs. That’s not what they do.”

A Zine Designed by Richard Turley & Julia Schäfer Using Microsoft Word (3-min read)Last year we shared Offal, a radio show…or is it a podcast?…that was produced entirely by AI and distributed on WhatsApp. It was dark, twisted and very entertaining. Well, the brilliant team responsible has now turned their smart and slightly warped minds to the world of zines. The first issue has been designed by Richard Turley and Julia Schäfer using Microsoft Word. Offal Industries is the kind of really interesting media company that you can’t wait to find out what their next thing will be.

Jon Ronson’s Guide to the Culture Wars (14-min read)A great interview with the New Yorker in which the writer and broadcaster talks about his superb second series of Things Fell Apart. One thing that runs through all of Jon’s work is his ability to tell some of the stories he does because of his lack of judgement: “I like people thinking of me as being empathetic, but I think probably a better word is curious. If you fill your head with judgment, there’s no room for curiosity. And, also, I don’t like hierarchies. I don’t like hierarchical journalism, where we’re supposed to be representatives of righteous society. At the same time, I think it’s very important when you’re back at home, and you’ve gathered all the material, to keep your morality intact. So there has to be a moment when you become skeptical again.”

Creative Bloc SOS Kit (3-min read)A handy glanceable guide to creative block that highlights the causes, the symptoms, and the recommended treatments for each.

We Dare You to Figure Out What Our Nonprofit Does (3-min read)"So, how does our staff spend its time? We can describe it in three simple words: we drive change. There, we told you. You want to know more? Fine, here you go. We leverage resources to build capacity. We align partners for impactful solutions. We address needs, embolden stakeholders, empower the powerless, and give voice to the voiceless.”

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

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