#Brand Narrative

[fabianbrowning]

Benefits of Brand Story Telling

In the modern age, where people have become increasingly resistant to interruption marketing, it may be essential for your business to engage in brand storytelling for survival. For many years, interruption or traditional marketing reign supreme, but people are tired of that one-way conversation tool. Hence, more businesses are focusing on engagement marketing, whereas brands concentrate on relationship building with customers through content. The fact is that customers are not inherently opposed to brand communication, but they are suspicious of the outcomes. Now they want an authentic, honest relationship built on respect and trust. In other words, they need to know who you are, why they should care about you, and what they have in common with you. The better you can communicate these things, the simpler it is to engage target customers and build long lasting relationships.

What Is Brand Story Telling?

Your brand narrative combines many things, like who you are, what you do, what you care about, how you help people, etc. In other words, it is a story of why you exist and why people should want to communicate with you, sharing your brand story transparently and honestly let people behind the curtain, demonstrating your vulnerability and confidence, which makes people eager to engage with you.

Benefits of Brand Story

What makes you different from others? Whether it is your service features or product design, people want to know what it is. You may think of it as self-indulgent, but the elements of your brand story, like how you come to be, grow, learn to do good work, etc., are more interesting to other people than your imagination. If you can spotlight the things that differentiate you from others, you can easily beat your competitors.

People want to interact with each other, and your brand is made of people. By peeling back the curtain and sharing that part of the story, you make it easier for people to know you better and trust you. Unfortunately, many brands focus their strategic brand narrative on product features, missing an opportunity to make an impact. Sharing your brand story is a perfect way to fill that gap, cultivate more authentic relationships, and demonstrate transparency.

For more information, you can visit https://resultsandco.com.au/storybrand-framework-faq/.

[t1sunfortunate]

I truly do think one of the largest pitfalls among the "media consumption is my passion" crowd is the tendency to treat characters as human beings with agency rather than narrative tools manipulated by the author

[champagnemoon]

I really think it’s masterful that Taylor Swift has made herself into a perpetual winning underdog like every year I feel like I’m hearing about how inspiring it is that she overcame and never understand what she’s overcoming for real lmaoooo

[thegoldenhoof]

After reading multiple metas on all sides, I think the biggest problem with OFMD, specially Season 2 is that it is almost entirely built on tell don't show. Worse sometimes it is hint, don't tell or show. This is not great writing in itself but it is made worse when the POV characters are all shown to have a rather unstable relationship with reality and memory.

Stede is self-centered enough to just not acknowledge or even notice things around him that don't actively interact with his focus which is mostly just Ed. He is self-centered to the point of being delusional about other people and reality of circumstances. Season 2 sees him doing better and his rescue of the crew is his highest point. But we see this even through Season 2 in his interactions with Lucius and during Ed's apology his interactions with Zheng Yi Sao.. Basically anyone not Ed.

Ed is shown to have a negotiable understanding of truth - seen with his Ed/Blackbears/Kraken split, his "I didn't kill them, the fire killed them" dissociation with his own actions, his rewriting of the context of his own memories (Knife parade) or just straight up forgetting shit (Talent show). And yes all of these are trauma responses but that does not dismiss the fact that his perception is far from objective.

Izzy is straight up shown to be lying in his first interaction with Ed regarding Stede. He is aware of his surroundings better than Stede and Ed but he is also supremely blind to himself and his interpersonal relationships. Where Stede is delusional about the world he can be interpreted as delusional about himself.

We as the audience ofcourse can put context to their words from their actions and this worked ok in season 1 (not always but mostly and that becomes important later) But Season 2 leans much more heavily on tell without show. (Yes yes budget cuts...but that doesn't change the final product).

Where season 1 added some flavour of back story with tell dont show, Season 2 expects dialogue to do all the heavy lifting (none more than Izzy's death speech) without this dialogue being backed up by action. Worse (or better) this dialogue isn't exposition which makes the scene better but which also means more often then not it is merely hinting at a meaning.

So we have half explained dialogues, sometimes with dubious context, used as a substitute for action given to us by characters with established unreliable perspectives. The heavy lifting of understanding the meaning of these dialogues, their significance and weigtt, has then been shifted to the audience interpretation. This interpretation is of course done per individual interest and bias. This is not bad in itself but remember this has been happening since season 1. Which means the new interpretations are being built on older interpretations. Those little flavour back story hints have now become the lens through which the entire season 2 is meant to be understood.

We are all watching a different show in a sense and that us not a failure of the audience. It is, rather, an accidental byproduct (and a failure) of the show's design because of the combination of all the above factors which was (made worse by the budget cuts leaving less time/space for action)

The show then unfortunately comes down to whose POV are you accepting (and certain fans have turned this into an exercise of moralizing self righteousness.) and to what extant.

A true understanding, imo, can only be by accepting that none of their perspectives are absolutely true and trying to center the objective narrative between all of them in a way that best fits all their perspectives AND accounts for all their blind spots, rather than lift any one POV as the absolute uncritical truth. (And fans on all sides have been guilty of this)

(P.S. I think this may also have worked positively towards making this show so huge is season one because it left enough ambiguity for us all to project on it multiple complex and sometimes contradicting interpretations creating an Illusion of much greater complexity that was more in our collective heads than in the actual show.)

[feragon-dingbat]

Loved the ending of fhjy but I definitely feel like there were some loose ends and plot points that I do want closure for. Does Fig still owe her last record label money for not putting out her sophomore album in time? Is Gorgugs house/soil still infected? What was the relevance to his tree being a warden? The timeline inconsistencies between the 7 and this season with Zelda? I’m sure there’s more O: I need like a 4 hour long adventuring party immediately.

[greenlandpissshark]

Dick Grayson, my beloved of beloveds. My blorbo of blorbos

[areseebee]

something stupid

“We’ll always be friends. It’s just the once. Everything will be absolutely the same after.” _ The summer before they start their first term at Queens University Belfast, James and Erin do something stupid. part I: that summer feeling is gonna haunt you derry girls | james/erin | future fic | rated M

[wonder-worker]

“Studies of Elizabeth Woodville […] have been hampered by the continuing fascination with her brother-in-law, Richard III. The Ricardian [and Yorkist] apologetic is now largely dependent upon the argument that the Woodville family posed such a threat to Richard of Gloucester, and the kingdom as a whole, that Gloucester had little option but to take the throne from his Woodville-dominated nephew. Although this argument has [irregularly] been contested, a reassessment of the queen's role in 1483 has not yet been attempted. Michael Bennett, in his 1987 account [...] still dismissed her as `an inveterate intriguer, capable in her vanity and fecklessness of some remarkable shifts and turns'. But more often she is scarcely mentioned in general histories of the period.”

-J.L. Laynesmith, “English Queenship 1445-1503” (thesis for the degree of DPhil in Medieval Studies, University of York, Centre for Medieval Studies, April 1999)

[incomingalbatross]

For a book which makes it explicitly clear that the author has no idea what the Eucharist actually is, Dracula has some really strong Eucharistic themes.

It's like "Dracula, a damned creature, who may look alive but is actually dead, has this endless need inside him which he attempts to satisfy by draining the literal and spiritual life from those around him through the consumption of their blood—but, since he is in fact dead, their life can have no effect on his nature and he ultimately remains empty of life no matter how he tries to fill the void" (GEE, it's almost like he's spiritually dead and trying to consume mortal life as a substitute for the Divine Life from which he has cut himself off!! It's almost like how receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin doesn't help you and is in fact another mortal sin, because you are too cut off from the Life of Christ to receive Him!)

And you get to Lucy and it's like "the blood of those who love her, given to her in love, is a medium which conveys not only life-sustaining strength but also a literal portion of their strength and their love for her into Lucy's body and soul" (GEE. WHERE HAVE I HEARD OF THAT CONCEPT)

And then Van Helsing starts running around committing an unbelievable amount of casual Eucharistic sacrilege with, apparently, the best intentions in the world! And it's just. Stoker. You are so close. And apparently you have no idea.

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.

[total-drama-brainrot]

"It's okay, little buddy. Hypnosis isn't scary. Al had hypnotized me before and I'm alright!" Owen happily said to Noah. "I think you should let Al help you conquer your fear. I'll be right beside you, so nothing embarrassing will happen to you, I promise."

Noah hesitated, looking at Alejandro with a mixture of fear and suspicion. The other contestants, sensing the tension, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, man. We'll all be here with you. You're not going to be alone." Tyler said.

Finally, Noah relented, feeling the pressure of his peers. "Alright, fine. But you better keep your word."

Alejandro grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the dim light. "Of course, Noah. You have my word."

Alejandro began to swing his necklace back and forth in front of Noah's face, the hypnotic movement calming his nerves. "Look at the pendant, Noah. Watch it go back and forth, back and forth. You're feeling more relaxed already, aren't you?"

Noah's eyes followed the pendant, mesmerized despite his best efforts to resist. "Yeah… it's… calming…" he muttered.

Alejandro smiled, his voice steady and soothing. "That's right, Noah. You're feeling very calm and relaxed right now. Your fears are beginning to fade away. You're starting to trust me. When I count to three and snap my fingers, you're going to fall asleep. One… Two... Three."

As Alejandro snapped his fingers, Noah's body relaxed completely, and his breathing deepened as he slipped into a deep sleep. Noah had a peaceful smile on his sleeping face. The other contestants watched with bated breath.

"Sleep well, mi amgio... He's going to need his rest now," whispered Alejandro. "But don't worry, I'll make sure that he's safe."

Most of the contestants nodded and walked out of the room.

Owen however hesitated. "... But I promised Noah that I would be right beside him when he wakes up."

"And you are a wonderful friend for doing that, but if you say or do something that wakes Noah up, it might reverse my work." Alejandro lies, looking at Owen with false patience.

Owen nervously looks at the sleeping Noah, then he sighs. "Okay then... If you say so, Al... I trust you."

Why does Owen feel like he's making a mistake?

As Owen left, Alejandro remained behind, standing over Noah. The Hypnotist whispered softly in Noah's ear, his voice like silk, "You're going to be so useful to me, Noah. You're going to help me achieve great things. You understand that, don't you?"

Noah's eyes still remained closed, but then he nodded slightly.

"Good boy. Now, let's put some more ambition in your mind, shall we?" 😈

anon, you can't just post an au fic of an au fic in my inbox and NOT expect me to go feral.

10/10, please post to ao3 so i can give you kudos. 👏

[variousqueerthings]

I think it's also interesting to see how things change depending on the time in which they're being engaged with. so I see things about rose today that point out that she's written to be 19 when she meets the doctor and that's a big age difference (which... I understand the point is it's a big age difference because billie piper was 23 and eccleston was 40, and then dtennant was like 34/35 when he started which isn't so big of a shift but anyway the optics I get what people are getting at, but also I think it does oversimplify a lot of what's actually going on in the written dynamic, anyway-)

and also that the rtd run's Themes start coming together properly around s3 (although they are present from day one), and in some ways at this point, because nu!who has been running for... fuckn. actually quite a few years, which is wild to me as someone who started watching as a kid, and I wonder if classic!who fans felt the same way about their show and anyway -- she shifts from being Literally The First Companion You'd Seen For 17 Years (not counting the movie and fan things and the sketch) Who Was Defining A New Era For A New Generation to... a companion

comparable to other companions, comparable to the rest of the show

we sift through the writing to see what worked and what didn't (in our opinion), and we know how the ten-and-rose storyline Really ends, and how the ten storyline ends (sort, of because now that doctor and donna are Back), and we know what happens afterwards, and we talk about tenrose with a 2020s eye, and rose is "just" one of the people that travels with the doctor, one of several, and notably the one who gets most of the sunshiney doctor that buries a lot of the (wonderfully portrayed) angst of the latter half of the rtd show, and doesn't have as much lore as everything after that, so the story is "just" more simple overall

and to me she's kind of incapable of being just that. doctor who was still a risk that first season, it wasn't a done deal that it would have legs at all, never mind that it would continue for as long as it has. rose was created to be the Face of what nu!who was, moreso than nine/eccleston, because even with the extra angst and the eccleston gravitas, we know the doctor, the doctor is established, it's not actually the doctor that needs to sell what the new show is going to become and what the Feel of that new show is going to be (I mean, partly ofc, but-)

rose was doing so much heavy lifting and she succeeded! she was the face of who before dtennant or any other doctor or companion of his era and subsequent eras. she was created to appeal to a demographic of girls who wanted someone relatable in science fiction, because rtd wanted this to be for the girls, and billie piper came into it off the back of being a popstar and it changed her entire trajectory (for the better I think/hope -- there's a lot of bad shit in billie piper's past and I'm always sending her a fond thought)

nine/ten-and-rose were It! not calling it romantic or platonic or any secret third thing (haunting the narrative), but simply It! that's why it has so much staying power as a ship (which, my opinion on shipping has been somewhat *eh shrug* in later years, but in early-days when that was how you engaged with dynamics that got to you, of course it was going to be massive). it's so hard to properly describe how "for the time in which it was made" that this dynamic was written for, and how successful it was. it was rose that breathed doctor who -- and the doctor's character -- to life, as much as herself

she sets the stage for everything that comes next, both within and without the show proper

and I'm always so pleased that rtd at the time was thinking about what was needed to create this character and he opened with a shot from a girl on the estate with messy hair, clumpy eyeliner, and a minimum wage job, and went "that's the girl who's going to go on the adventure of a lifetime, that's the girl we're seeing the story through and relating to, because that's what girls (and uh... those who were girls at the time - and their parents and the boys) should be seeing."

I know rose isn't the first working class companion including classic!who, but she set the tone for nu!who and her family and background are important to why she is who she is, and is explored

"I've got no A-levels, no job, no future-" said the girl about to see the universe

she was very much for teenagers, and so she reads differently when you're an adult watching it back (much like those "teenager saves the world," novels you loved as a kid), but that's why she's 19 at the beginning. that's why she's billie piper (who does a perfect job). she was there to bring a new generation into this story, and it was perfect. and then she grows up. and we grew up. and she had adventures and it was brilliant and she survived and she made a life for herself. that's her story

[billpottsismygf]

Episode 4 of Dead Boy Detectives (Lighthouse Leapers) doesn't quite reach the heights of last episode, but it was still good. I really appreciate the way this show is able to blend comedy and darkness. I love its oddball sense of humour and I often catch myself laughing out loud, particularly at Niko, and it never clashes with the dark storylines running alongside it, which takes a lot of skill.

I would be surprised if that's the last we see of the Night Nurse. Although Charles' defeat of her was brutal, or 'extreme' to quote Edwin, it was satisfying to see him get to fight back against someone hurting him, especially after seeing his father's abuse and his death at the hands of his "friends". I also want to know more about him stopping his friends from beating someone up.

This thought is slightly out of left field, but I find it interesting that seeing a male hero hitting a female character, even a villainous one, might have been impossible to include a while ago. It is a very unusual sight and people have pointed out before that usually, when a woman needs to be physically fought in an action scene, she is often only allowed to be hit by a female hero. While obviously I don't mean that it's actually fine to hit women, I do like that maybe we're moving beyond this reductive 'don't hit girls' narrative (combined with the 'it's fine and dandy for a woman to slap a man for comedy' one). Sometimes a woman is in a position of violent authority and is using that power to hurt a man (or boy, technically, in this case) and it's cathartic to see him get to retaliate.

Again, there's a rift forming between Edwin and Charles as they struggle to be honest with one another. Interestingly, they both seem able to talk to one of the others. Charles opens up to Crystal about his father and feeling angry, while Edwin (although still not saying much) seems able to be honest with Niko in a way he can't be with anyone else. Niko is perhaps becoming my second favourite character, and something about her brand of upfront quirkiness (read: autism) breaks through a lot of Edwin's defences. Their talk on the sea shore was my favourite part of the episode, with them watching scooby doo together at the end maybe a close second.

There have been hints since the beginning of Edwin maybe having feelings for Charles, and this is dealt with somewhat directly for the first time with the Cat King shapeshifting into him, and then that little lingering shot later that Edwin has to shake himself out of. I don't have much to say about it other than that I love that Edwin, who has even admitted now that he doesn't know whether he wants to kiss Monty, has enough love interests - none of whom are ideal in one way or another - to make his sexuality journey, much like this sentence, as confusing and complicated as possible.

Small things:

The washer woman is a cool concept well-executed.

I want to know more about Asha.

I love the Walrus man and am glad he seems to have his own running subplot.

Jenny's "love letters" are giving me huge creepy vibes, but I'm also intrigued.

I missed Esther this episode. Even when she only appears for 30 seconds, it really brightens the whole thing.

[181kmh]

williams is looking for a head of brand? yeah i bet they are

[wreckedhoney]

a while ago on the discord i brought up the "which desk at the station is forrest's desk" question when the answer should probably have been obvious. he's been at the job for approx. one week, so it's the desk with all the unpacked boxes. it just didnt occur to me because thats Frankly A Lot Of Boxes and my first thought was this is where all the storage and junk are piled on, but no. it's all stuff forrest brought (/hc). he's a heavy packer. he spite packed all the stuff he didn't want his old job to keep even if he doesnt need or even like them all that much but now that he's blacklisted then no one in the entirety of chicago can have them

[echthr0s]

I always think "the pandemic didn't really mess up my life all that much" because I don't work and I never got to leave my house much anyway and I never got sick etc but forget all that. the pandemic messed up my life big time by blasting my conversion goals to smithereens