Stories bring us together (P1): Something to listen to and something to look at

Something to listen to

Few stories seem to hold as much attention as the ones told by a survivor; they tap into universal themes of resilience, strength, and hope. These narratives often reveal our incredible ability to overcome adversity. 

“If I tell the sorrows of my heart it will burn my tongue, If I keep it in my heart I’m afraid it will burn me from the inside. But If I let it out, I fear that it will burn the world” - a father who lost his sons.

I’m listening to Yuval Noah Harari discuss how stories can unite or divide us. Some lead to cooperation, others lead to conflict. Wars are fought not just over resources or territory but over the underlying stories that justify and give meaning to those resources and territories. 

And we can also change our minds about stories too. I’m thinking of "The General" by Dispatch; particularly the lyrics "Take a shower, shine your shoes, you got no time to lose," It's a song about the futility of war. It tells the story of a war-weary general who, after a profound realization, urges his soldiers to abandon the fight and go live their lives. 

There is a term for when a positive psychological change occurs as a result of experiencing a highly challenging circumstance; they call it post-traumatic growth. I think, to a certain degree, we’ve all experienced or witnessed this at some point. It’s a soft sage-like patience in the moment of crisis; a profound calmness and understanding. 

Listen to Nina Simone's live recording of Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Some messages are more powerful when spoken softly. I feel gratitude when I listen to this song. You’ll recognize the survivor in her voice. 

These are our shared myths; they aren’t epic stories of gods and nations, they are personal narratives of survival. If you are into these moods, check out my Change is Gonna Come playlist. Fair warning, these are big feelings songs.

Something to look at

There’s a beautiful film about a man named Mr. Badii (played by Homayoun Ershadi), who drives through the outskirts of Tehran, searching for someone to help him with his plan to end his life. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami and set in contemporary Iran. It’s called "Taste of Cherry" and is a visual masterpiece in my view. The film goes into some deep existential questions about human connection, and life and death—these are big themes we all are familiar with, regardless of cultural background. This is an example of how stories can bridge cultural gaps and connect us through common human experiences.

It's a bit of a slow-paced film with moments of dialogue. Long takes and stationary shots allow the scenes to unfold naturally without cuts. This kind of visual and narrative strategy creates a space for the audience to get to know the story's characters.

This is a good way to approach brand development. It’s better to give enough time between changes for customers to familiarize themselves with the difference. We often refer to this as the 25% rule; as the minimum amount to retain. Gradual changes over time help maintain familiarity and trust with existing customers.

I often advise entrepreneurs to approach developing their business identity and personality similarly. Sometimes the core identity doesn’t emerge at first; I’ve worked with businesses that start with a particular idea, and by the time they launch, they’ve changed their entire model. So I find it’s better to leave room for the brand to grow along the same path as the business. 

Businesses are like people, as they grow so does their sense of identity and personality. Let the business story unfold naturally. A logo will become more meaningful over time. This is why I think a brand is as much built on reputation as it is on vision. The stories we tell shape identities and perceptions.

Co-publish with us on Instagram

Every few weeks, we release stories designed to get co-published as collaborator posts on Instagram. Each story is thoughtfully created, researched, and produced, giving original content designed specifically for Instagram. When you co-publish these stories as a collaborator with us on Instagram, these original stories appear on your profile while connecting your channel to new circles by pooling audiences. As a collaborator, you can also contribute appropriate images or videos of your business or personal brand to the story. It's a great way to access original stories that contribute lifestyle and wider idea-based narratives into your feed.

FAQs

How does this work?

Collaborator posts on Instagram allow adding up to four people to co-publish a story together. A story published this way appears on the Instagram feed of every collaborator. When you browse our story releases, if there’s a story you’d like to co-publish with us on Instagram as a collaborator, just email us at hello@publicworks.store or WhatsApp +94 777 647 096. We’ll get in touch with the details to make it happen.

How are co-publishing stories priced?

Co-publishing prices for 2024 are as follows;

Shared collaborator: LKRs. 4,500

Sole collaborator: LKRs. 8,000.

What is a sole collaborator and a group collaborator?

A group collaborator is when you collaborate with a group of up to four more people who will be added as collaborators to the same story. This is great because the story you purchased to co-publish with everyone else will appear in all their feeds, introducing your account to new circles. A sole collaborator is when you pay extra and become the only collaborator to co-publish the story; this gives you room to supplement the story with more images/videos from your personal brand or business and have a higher degree of customizability.

Can collaborators add to the story?

Collaborators can submit photos, videos, and hashtags that align with their business or personal brand, to supplement the story. Of course, the images or videos you submit must bear relevance to the story. If you submit images or videos to supplement a story this way, appropriate credits will be added to the caption, tagging your handle.

Why collaborate for stories?

We started offering the option to purchase our original stories as collaborator posts so that more people can share great content at an affordable rate. It also allows everyone to pool community resources and engage with wider circles.

What kind of images or videos can collaborators submit?

Relevant, within Instagram guidelines (under 60-second videos in MP4 format), and with clear usage rights for the content.

What can’t collaborators control?

Who the other collaborators are (unless you’ve snagged the sole collaborator spot😌), what videos or images other collaborators submit, the order and exact cropping of images and videos, and how many out of the images or videos you submitted will be chosen for the post if you submit more than one.

Got more questions? Just ask us. Email us at hello@publicworks.store or WhatsApp +94 777 647 096 to sign up for co-publishing one or more stories. Currently, Instagram only allows adding 4 collaborators per story; we follow a first come, first served basis.

What language means to business

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk

Ever felt like you’re not getting an idea through because it’s beyond the limits of your vocabulary? Or that an idea is not grasped by your audience because it’s not presented with the right words? Clients with internal content teams often approach us with this problem. We create language catalogues that help them stay authentic and efficient in their communications; this is particularly useful for companies that have transient teams. Let’s unpack why language matters so much when sharing ideas.

It’s hard to even imagine interacting and making sense of the world without words. It almost seems that words are the very architecture of ideas. Is it possible to form or communicate ideas without words? You can definitely feel and experience without words. But, experiencing is not the same as deriving an idea. Experiencing music is not the same as processing it and deriving an idea from it.

Oscar Wilde called language “the parent, and not the child, of thought”, suggesting that thinking is shaped by our words.

But, we know artists and musicians who think in image or sound. The mathematical genius Daniel Tammet processes numbers by thinking in landscapes. Other interesting evidence is in how hearing-impaired people, who are cut off from both spoken and signed language, form ideas without the help of words.

Mundurucú, a remote Brazilian tribe, has only words for numbers up to five. When studying their capacity to understand the concept of a number higher than five, it became evident that for many Mundurucú, the idea of greater than five was a difficult one to grasp. Although some showed signs of understanding the idea of ‘something bigger than this’, they were quick to categorize it as ‘a lot’, rather than attempting to define it more specifically.

We can certainly process an idea without words; using comparison, physical memories and associations with shapes, and colors, perhaps even symbols, sound, and movement. However, some ideas can only be conceived in the presence of the word.

Mundurucú’s limitedness in grasping simple numerical concepts shows that although ideas can be actively processed without words, they may not be fully understood in such cases. Certain ideas or concepts— most certainly numerical ones, as the study with Mundurucú suggests— cannot be grasped fully without the clarity and definition that a word would lend. That is to say, there are certain kinds of thinking that are possible only with words.

So, what does this mean for businesses? Words help us quickly define and zoom in and out of ideas. Access to a vocabulary that accurately portrays the origins and cultural associations of the business, and considers relatability with the audience means efficiency in communicating. It also means consistency in vocabulary, creating the ‘brand voice’ or the persona that audiences emotionally connect with.

When we work with businesses that have internal communication teams—often transient as employees move in and out of the company—we create brand language catalogues. A brand language catalogue helps ideas to be communicated without being limited to the individual vocabulary or linguistic expressions of the employee handling the content creation at the time. They’re story-building tools that help businesses stay efficient and consistent.

We also create visual language catalogues to create sharable boards that portray the look and feel of a business using imagery. But, this insight story is only about written and spoken language.

Let’s decode the function of a language catalogue using this example that we created for Podi Scene documentary film promotions. When we create language catalogues we first have a quick conversation with the client and do a little research on their platforms to find out the typical correspondence that they have with the audience. Depending on the research insights and the client's brief on the requirement, we identify what types of language samples would be most useful to their company. In the case of Podi Scene, we prioritized descriptions for aesthetics, moods, qualities and experiences because it is a brand that often expresses appreciation. We also paid close attention to language for handling complaints because it was important for Podi Scene to maintain good relationships with people from diverse viewpoints and backgrounds as they interacted with the film and the ideas it highlighted.

A brand language catalogue is essentially a collection of written and spoken language that allows you quick access to categorized sections like greetings and sample responses to compliments or complaints. It’s like having a toolbox at hand’s reach for building narrated or written content while staying on-brand with language.

If you want to learn more about how we can help your business coin the language that’s right for it, get in touch.