Einstein's Process, Seth Godin's Page 19, and the Joy of Radio Ads

Hey all,

One of our other newsletters, Attention Matters, broke through the 1000 subscriber milestone this week. It’s not bad for a niche newsletter about audience attention which is only 8 months old. Thanks to everyone that has subscribed and contributed. If you make content and are interested in how other content makers get and hold audience attention, subscribe now.

We always like meeting you lot when we are out and about but there are less chances to do it in the world of hybrid work. So why not come and say hello over a cup of tea at Proper Fancy on the last Thursday of July.

OK. That’s it from me. Here are some stories for you all. Have an excellent weekend.

Hugh

The Corporate Age of Documentary (25 min read)

A Tone of Voice So Good You Won’t Even Notice It’s There (8 min read)

Seven Rules For Internet CEOs to Avoid Enshittification (5 min read)

People Will Fall in Love With The Format Before They Fall in Love With You (40 min listen)

The Tiny Awards (lots of links to tiny and lovely websites)

Einstein, Combinatory Play, and the Narrowness of Consciousness (4 min read)

Why Do American Diners Look That Way (9 min watch)

Brands and Humour: The Joy of Radio Ads (3 min read)

Online Radio Station That Mixes Lo-fi Beats With Air Traffic Control (internet radio)

Seth Godin on Page 19 Thinking (2 min watch)

How can we help you?

Storythings is a strategy and production company based in Brighton, London, Bristol, 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. 

The Corporate Age of DocumentaryA fascinating read from earlier this year on the crisis in documentary making. An influx of cash from streaming platforms has turned what was once a (fairly) pure artform into a race to find the next ‘Jinx’. But the fight for the Netflix dollar has had an adverse impact on the quality: “For some filmmakers, the pressure to deliver certain types of stories in a timely manner was limiting the scope of what their films might be. Some editors say they no longer even have time to watch all the footage they have. Producers with more experience in scripted and reality TV were getting into docs, hoping to cash in on the boom and perhaps win an award, but also bringing in different ethics and workflows. ‘I have been told more and more often, and I think this is because producers are coming from reality TV, that we need a scene where X happens, one cinematographer told me. ‘When you get more money, you want more of a guarantee that you’re gonna get the thing.’ Several documentarians told me they had grown wary of working with any production company from Los Angeles.”(25 min read)

A Tone of Voice So Good You Won’t Even Notice It’s ThereAnother cracker from the always reliable Tone Knob newsletter. This month it takes a good look at the tone of voice of Gov.uk, a tone so good it won the site a design award. I really like this bit on rhythm: “I think this is fascinating. ‘Pay attention to the rhythm’ is often something we’re looking at with ‘loud’ voices. Here, the subtle rhythms of the writing is what helps make it so elegantly invisible. Most organisations desperately want to be noticed. Here, success comes when nobody notices.”(8 min read)

Seven Rules For Internet CEOs to Avoid Enshittification'Enshittification' is a term coined by Cory Doctorow, by which a company gets gradually worse. As he puts it: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. And then, occasionally, they die. Here are seven basic rules for any internet CEO looking to avoid the enshittification death cycle.(5 min read)

People Will Fall in Love With The Format Before They Fall in Love With YouI really enjoyed talking to Jay Acunzo about why formats matter so much in this episode of Unthinkable. We also talk about the primacy and recency effect, how my previous career as a DJ and club promoter informed so much of what followed, Billie Eilish, Mr. Ben, and how craft holds attention and gets people to the end. I should say, Jay is a great host and really pays attention to the production values of his podcast. (40 min listen)The Tiny AwardsThis is lovely. How often do you stumble across something on the internet that is beautiful or poignant or emotional or unexpected? Something that leaves you startled and amazed by human creativity. These awards are for those kinda sites. Check out the shortlist and vote.(lots of links to tiny and lovely websites)

Einstein, Combinatory Play, and the Narrowness of ConsciousnessWhen French mathematician Jacques S. Hadamard send a collection of questions to Albert Einstein as part of a survey of the mental processes of famous scientists, Einstein responded with this letter, which Maria Popova describes as the “single most succinct articulation of how his mind works, driven by this powerful combinatorial creativity.” The piece also links to many other articles about how some of history’s greatest minds have used combinatorial play as part of their creative process. (4 min read)

Why Do American Diners Look That WayI’ve been a big fan of Archtectural Digest’s content formats for some time. If you’ve not already subscribed to their YouTube channel, you should. In this video, architect Michael Wyetzner runs us through why the uniquely designed American diners look the way they do. It all started with the railway, and later cars and space travel provided inspiration in the diner's evolution.(9 min watch)

Brands and Humour: The Joy of Radio AdsThis week’s Brands and Humour looks at the power of audio using a bunch of audio ads. The last line in the Volkswagen ad is a work of genius.(3 min read)Online Radio Station That Mixes Lo-fi Beats With Air Traffic Control Perfect for working or falling asleep to. Or both at once. Give it a go. (internet radio)

Seth Godin on Page 19 ThinkingTim Ferriss and Seth Godin sat down for a chat about many things. In this clip, Seth talks about how he approaches getting something done when he doesn’t have anyone in the team with the relevant experience. (2 min watch)

We hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm sure some of your friends would love to read it. Sharing it would be really appreciated. If you've received this from a friend, you can subscribe below and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.

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

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