Why truth is fundamental to commercial stories

The trust that a business cultivates with its audience has a lot to do with the truthfulness in the stories that it tells. Especially now, in our age of misinformation driven into hyperdrive with deep fakes. From my experience in designing stories for business, I’ve understood that truth is fundamental. It’s the basis of a good business story that forms a real connection between businesses and people.

Remember a good story told by a business that led you to forming a connection with that brand; it either tapped into your desires, fears, anxieties, comforts, amusements, or aspirations by offering solidarity, by resonating with you or by providing a solution. But, imagine if you later found out this story was not exactly factual; it would most likely alter your entire perception of that business. Why, though? Why isn’t an untrue business story easily acceptable as fiction, like we would embrace a movie or a comedy skit? This is where context is everything in a story. People generally associate a business story with reality; a product or a service they can use. Unless stated, or presented through the work of an artist, performer, or an influencer whose stories are known to be fictional, business stories live in the context of reality where truth is imperative. For example, see how we set the context for this fictional story for a client. Also see this funny story that needed no explicit context because audiences already recognise the work of these creators as fiction. 

However, the product qualities or values told in a fictional story by a business must still be true. For example; in a campaign video that went viral, tech giant Apple’s team, including CEO Tim Cook, is portrayed having a meeting with Mother Nature played by Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer. In a compelling narrative, Apply cleverly uses a formidable Mother Nature’s demand for sustainability updates to talk about the company’s innovations across materials, clean energy, and low-carbon shopping as well as its work in restoring natural ecosystems. The story ends with Mother Nature being pleasantly surprised, as Apple successfully presents itself as on track to meet targets for its 2020 pledge to reach net zero across Apple’s entire carbon footprint by 2030. The story also doesn’t miss the opportunity to unveil its first carbon-neutral product, an eco-friendly Apple Watch. This story has won Apple admiration for transforming a boring sustainability report into something that has humor, entertainment, and facts while also achieving what all companies want with their content—going viral. It’s genius storytelling. Or, is it? The story has also created significant backlash bringing the spotlight to Apple’s already existing reputation for creating products that quickly become obsolete and limiting the ability to repair—both highly unsustainable policies. This has led to accusations of greenwashing and dismissal of Apple’s sustainability claims; unfortunately, even the ones they uphold. This is a case that highlights the importance of making communication not only interesting but also authentic. In the long run, honesty is at the core of stories that build trust. Brands should proudly claim their victories while being honest about their shortcomings and what they’re still working on. For brands that prioritize longevity and build a legacy of reliability over short-term profits and virality, honesty is key when it comes to communication.

Truth is fundamental to business stories; it’s non-negotiable. Even in entertainment, where fiction is a norm and readily welcomed by audiences, truth holds enormous value. Just think about the weight it adds to the value of a story when you read the line ‘this story was based on a true incident’ at the end. Truth is so valuable; never, ever compromise or downplay it in business stories.

When a brand is truthful in its communication, it establishes credibility. Consumers grow to trust a brand that doesn't mislead, change narratives, or overpromise. This means transparent communication about products, services, and business practices; it builds trust because consumers always appreciate more knowledge and a deeper understanding of their purchases. 

Honesty in branding and business communication is not just a moral or ethical consideration; it's a strategic one. It builds trust, credibility, and loyalty, ultimately contributing to a brand's long-term success and financial growth.

Truth is one of the most fundamental aspects of a good business story; but, there’s more to building a successful conversation between a business and its audience. We always encourage clients to tell true stories, or present truth through the entertainment of fiction; this paired with conscious intention that comes from your company’s values, a rational relevance built to your audience through the message, and the ritual consistency of a well-rounded brand personality, language, voice, and tone maintained right throughout can form a great connection with between a business and its audience. Without these elements, your brand stories will also remain lost in the digital noise, deleted unread from inboxes, or overlooked on the feed. To find out how we can help your business tell its real story in ways your audience can draw value from it, get in touch.

When creativity is more of a condition than a profession

I'm Shamalee—one of the two minds behind Public Works. I have a strong resonance with the Creator archetype and it's the first archetype of Public Works too. These thoughts were penned in response to the series of stories we put together celebrating the Creator archetype.

I write because I must. Because words spill out of me. As I walk, as I eat, as I shower and order groceries… Words keep weaving threads in my brain, in my wake. Sometimes, I wake up with sentences forming in my sleep. Even as people talk to me and I get lost between the words they say (especially what they didn’t say); words keep spilling out of me. 

I write because if I don’t, they haunt my days and preoccupy my thoughts, and weigh down my mind. They slow me down until life begins to feel like the act of going up the stairs with a cup too full to the brim; slow, tedious, and just plain ridiculous. I have to stop everything else and take a sip, or risk spilling it and never tasting it.

I write because I’m afraid of forgetting. Losing an idea—a perfectly articulated string of thought—is such a goddamn shame, isn’t it? I just can’t bear it.

Writing is just the way I unfold into this world; the only way I know to be. I just write, and sometimes people read those things. 

This compulsive nature of creativity is probably something all creators can relate to. It’s interesting to note how this approach changes in commercial creative work. Personally, when I create for commercial outcomes, there is an obvious difference; there is a calculated deliberation that sets it apart from what I create compulsively. In commercial creativity, there is more aiming than conducting; but, the thrill of searching for the perfect word is common to both situations. A large part of my early career was in figuring out these differences, similarities and the processes that allow me to make the best of both approaches; and, I’m still learning.

Public Works is where my writing condition transcends from a self-indulgent artform to commercial writing. When I create for clients through Public Works, I notice a stark difference to my approach. I’m less of a vessel to what I cannot contain, and more of a deliberate archer aiming for a specific outcome that makes business for the client.

I find that creativity is a compulsion as much as an artform that can be mastered with the creator’s methodology and processes. Some creators are more compulsive while others are more method-driven; it depends on what your art lends to and what kind of creator you are or want to be. Whichever it is, what matters is that if you are a creator, you keep creating. Because creativity is an act that springs from loving life. Creativity is our mind’s rebellion against death; our refusal to be laid to rest without having bettered this world, even if it’s by a morsel.

What poetry lends to commercial stories

Poetry is an extremely emotive way to tell stories. A poem works under our mind’s peripheral layers, at more subconscious levels. This penetrating quality of a poem comes from how it’s almost unadulterated emotion. Poetry is using emotions to tell a story in all honesty; a poem never explains, it rather makes you feel the story. Poetry triggers emotions through the careful disposition of words. It maps a story that can only be felt rather than 'understood’ through information. We know how important emotions are in decision-making and memory. Like Maya Angelou said, ‘Someone may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel’. This is the strength of a poem, and this is also where poetry and commercial storytelling begin to convene.

Emotions are the first language. You master it, you master language. Pay attention to emotions; they are the ultimate indicator of what’s going on between and behind the constructed facade of words. 

Poetry is an emotion-led art form. You work in the dark with your eyes closed, but your heart wide open. And, this is precisely why the heart also becomes the place where poetry meets the reader. For businesses that want to establish loyalty, intimacy and deep connection, poetry is a great way to communicate. Poems can trigger mental imagery, musical sounds and even a sense of place. A poem is an experience with the potential to surround and immerse. Ask a poet and they would tell you that poetry has a strict economy of words and a very precise geometry. Poetry is not description, nor is it definition; it’s pure emotion—like painting with words. But, it’s heavily reliant on language and culture, leaning into the subtleties and nuances of both.

Poetry is a feeling-first expression using words. Ask a poet and they would tell you that poetry has a strict economy of words and a very precise geometry. It’s not description, nor is it definition; it’s pure emotion—like painting with words. For businesses that want to connect through emotions, poetry is a fantastic art form to use.

But, remember that it works best with a niche audience identified by language and cultural connection. For example, we created the poem below for the Colombo-based sari retailer Rithihi; it was a story which focused on a product with an unusually striking colour; it worked as a way to draw attention to what made the product so desirable, in connection to emotions; it used scenarios and memories that the closely identified target audience which was geographically and culturally mapped out with the client. 

The Sunday white walls,

The blue glass sky,

And the only man walking slowly down the narrow sea road,

All barely alive.

The cat, the houses, and the street

Have all been put to sleep

In a warm, comfortable defeat

From the April heat.

But, the pink bougainvilleas!

Oh, those pink bougainvilleas!

They’re ringing dangerously wild, 

Impossibly alive.

Bougainvillea pink— 

Like laughter in the wind.

Another situation where we used a poem to communicate value was when promoting the popular surf town Kabalana, Ahangama. Although Ahangama is the current it-town on Sri Lanka’s south coast, it wasn’t always the case. A few years ago, when this poem was made to capture the wonder of the area, only a few retailers, restaurants and resorts that had recognised potential were set up there. With our creative safe house, and first-ever real estate investment being based there, we had a vested interest in promoting the area. This poem was written to evoke a sense of fantasy in connection to Kabalana, Ahangama. It aims to transport the reader and create a dream-like render or nostalgia for this place that we wanted more people to visit and experience. We drew inspiration from what makes the place interesting, as well as the folklore connected to the Deep South.

The ocean and the sunset are laws you learn to follow, when you're living in the south’s gravitational mellow.

And, you wonder what makes the peacocks cry the way they do; in a sound between laughter and sorrow—otherworldly and wild, earthly and divine—as they walk through the trees and the sun

in pairs of sisters or newfound loves.

The old man who sits by the sea said that peacocks belong with the spirit of the old god Kadira— a warrior turned forest-dweller, turned ascetic, turned deity.

The old man is a poet; so he must be right.

There’s a morning worth waking up to; but, it’s lost in the sky behind the Kabala trees.

There's something about showering under the palms.

There's something about walking under the stars.

There’s something about sitting by the sea with your heart held out.

There’s something,

there’s something…

There’s something about Ahangama days.

When a business uses poetry in its communication, it engages the audience directly through emotions, and this is great; But, is poetry for all brands? We don’t think so. When we work with clients, we first work out the framework of the business persona before we get into creating any stories. Depending on the outlined brand personality and voice, we create stories that would be appropriate for the client’s company and have resonance with the identified target audience.

Poetry is not for every audience or brand. Is your brand an emotive one, or a more cerebral one? Does your audience have an affinity towards literature and the arts? What emotional ranges do they enjoy? Does your business have a prominent Lover archetype in its persona? These are some of the questions you can answer before using poetry in your brand stories. 

In our story design process, we consider a few carefully chosen theories in human persona-based archetypes, aesthetics, and design thinking. When incorporating emotions into stories, we use the aesthetic theory of ‘Rasa’. Rasa is defined closest in English as ‘emotional flavour’ contained in creative work—it’s not what’s mentioned outright or described, but rather, evoked in the minds of the audience through a deliberate trigger of emotions.

If you’d like to find out more about how we use Rasa theory emotions to create compelling stories for businesses, read our short guide to using the Rasa theory as a brand storytelling tool and why emotions are a cornerstone in our story design process. 

Emotions are the first language. When you communicate with emotions, the message becomes more universal.