By Paul Furiga
Editor’s note: Through the development of WordWrite StoryCraftingsm we’ve learned that effective PR storytelling is driven by three things: factual authenticity, storytelling fluency and continually reading and measuring audience response. Today we continue our new monthly series of blogs that will highlight stories, storytellers and audience engagement examples that illustrate true PR storytelling. Watch this blog for posts that illustrate creative factual thinking, show fluency in sharing stories and demonstrate success in effectively engaging and responding to audiences.
Avoiding brainwashing ‘by some marketing agency that says you can’t show problems’
What does it mean to have an “authentic story?”
Most people would agree a story that’s authentic has at least some measure of that elusive thing called “truth,” and at least a dash of that ingredient called “honesty” in how it’s told.
At WordWrite, we use the power of storytelling to create marketing and public relations success for our clients, so we have some strong ideas about the definition of an authentic story.
In marketing and public relations, far too often truth and honesty are lost somewhere in fancy storytelling, which makes the whole effort more like fiction than authenticity.
To us, authentic storytelling is rooted in the facts and presents a point of view (advocacy for cause, a person or a product) in a way that the audience considers a legitimate interpretation of what they see, hear or experience. If the storytelling is well done, the facts are clear, and the viewpoint is transparent and forthright, the audience may do much more than accept the story as authentic — they may adopt it as their own.
That audience adoption is what every marketer wants — it’s what puts fans in seats, sends people to the streets and motivates consumers to buy. Yet telling this kind of story takes great courage because it requires marketers to holster the fancy weapons of fiction that guide so much of their work.
That’s why we honor Safi Airways this month for the start-up airline’s refreshingly honest approach to how it markets its home, Afghanistan. Safi’s in-flight magazine is the subject of a revealing and entertaining profile by Michael M. Phillips that appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s August 19, 2010 issue.
Mr. Phillips does such a fine job of uncovering the elements of an authentic story that I have to quote his work directly:
“KABUL—Safi Airways, a start-up Afghan airline, ventures where few air carriers dare to go: Its in-flight magazine tells the ugly truth about the place where you’re about to land.
American Airlines’ magazine lists the 10 best pizza parlors in America. United Airlines has a spread headlined “3 Perfect Days: Amsterdam,” presumably perfecting its 2007 article, “3 Perfect Days: Amsterdam.”
In the seat pocket in front of you on Safi, you will find an article on Kabul heroin addicts, photos of bullet-pocked tourist sites and ads for mine-resistant sport-utility vehicles.”
Well, now. Not the sort of fluffy fictional marketing approaches that brands such as Domino’s Pizza have recently made fun of in their own attempts to tell an authentic story.
Yes, the Safi story is extreme. But it’s the kind of extreme that makes the case for authenticity. A daily barrage of news media reports and political theater make clear that Afghanistan is a very dangerous place. Really now, what would any of us think of a marketing and public relations approach that ignored or tried to paper over that reality?
As Christian Marks, the editor of the Safi in-flight magazine told the Journal’s Mr. Phillips: “I would like it to be a magazine where you can read interesting things, not just get brainwashed by some marketing agency that says you can’t show problems.”
As Mr. Phillips points out in his article, people still need to travel to Afghanistan (most of them diplomats, relief workers, etc. rather than tourists). Because these people need to fly, the savvy owners of Safi started their airline. And because even a war zone is a market with consumers willing to buy, the owners of the airline smartly hired Mr. Marks to create a magazine that manages to tell an authentic story about the current state of affairs in a troubled country while at the same time marketing the company and the advertisers who support it.
Few marketers face the challenges that confront Safi or Mr. Marks on a daily basis. If they can manage to tell an authentic story in the face of such harsh reality, then how can the rest of us fail to demonstrate authenticity in our daily work? For this reason, we select Safi Airways and its in-flight magazine as our very first Authentic Story of the Month.
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Paul Furiga is president and CEO of WordWrite Communications.
