Why Storytelling and Sourdough?
Back in the late 1st to early 2nd century CE, Roman poet Juvenal satirised that people desire only two things - “bread and circuses” as he put it. More than anything, it was a scathing remark on Roman politicians and the electorate - instead of thinking about the state, all they wanted to do was eat and be entertained.
Nearly two millennia later, we can safely say that not much has changed. Today, perhaps, we have come to terms with our desire for life’s simple delights - we like a good story and a good meal, and there's no shame in that.
News, brands, and entertainment fight for our attention, making their content and branding more compelling. Food chains and companies make their food more, well, everything - green, addictive, delicious, healthy, unhealthy, tailored, organic, cheap, take your pick - it’s probably out there.
While consumption requires very little of us, making good food or crafting a good story for the consumer has always been an invisible kind of labor. So what happens behind the scenes?
When it works - it works. When we like a film, we like to kid ourselves that we know exactly what made the film “work,” but the truth is - the best acting and the best script will be unwatchable with bad camera work, shoddy color grading, sub-standard sound, or poorly-paced editing. When we eat a piece of freshly baked sourdough bread, we can’t single out what made it delicious or distasteful. Similarly, the consumer doesn’t analyse how the individual elements of their interaction with a brand formed a cohesive image and shaped their opinion. When it works - it works.
How does it actually work?
Well, if we’re talking sourdough, then I have no idea. I went through a very typical COVID lockdown phase of baking but haven’t gotten anywhere close to what my local bakery sells in the morning. I will leave the breadmaking to the professionals and contend that I can be good at maybe one thing in my life, but that one thing is enough.
What makes brands work? It used to be called brand-building, but today I would use the term “narrative design” as I think it is far more accurate. Narrative design is a video game term, and it can encompass so many things that it gets confusing when you try to pinpoint what exactly narrative designers do for a game. But to put it into simple terms - they craft an experience. An interactive product like a video game is far more than the script or storyline - it’s everything from the user interface to ambient sounds and flavor text. Ensuring that every element of the product creates an unmissable memorable experience for the consumer - that’s narrative design.
In content management, we like to ensure the “tone of voice,” and that is certainly a big part of crafting a cohesive experience, but not all of it. The customer’s relationship with brands and entertainment is increasingly more interactive. Every brand is now expected to produce content daily and tailor it to several social media platforms, answer messages and DMs, provide a user-friendly experience on its website, . Today, to truly deliver, we must account for all possible interactions the customer has with us. In an era of social media, 10-second Insta reels, and TikToks, we don’t get many (if any) second chances. So, while “bread and circuses” still applies, the craft to deliver the best circuses requires a lot of adaptability, research, and effort, and the stakes are as high as they ever were. So here’s to storytelling and sourdough for making our life fun and delicious :)