Businesses have always told stories; it’s nothing new. It’s what we do with those stories that’s evolving. Let’s take a look at the evolution of brand storytelling through the eyes of the coffee drinker.

This National Storytelling Week is the perfect time to ask yourself how your organisation's story could be helping you to improve how you communicate with your employees and customers – and change the world.

Knowing the answer will show you how important your story is for helping you to connect and I mean REALLY connect with your customers on a far more deeper level than ever before.

Brand New Story is on a mission to help brands find their lost stories before it’s too late. Our campaign is called #StandUpForTheStory and we need your help. You can watch our first video, standing up for the story of Greene King, here.

Brand New Story has formed a partnership with Tree Sisters and will donate 1% from every Brand New Story created to help reforest the tropics and restore this beautiful planet we call home.

‘Saving our planet is now a communications challenge. We know what to do, we just need the will.’

Crafting a purpose is the very first thing I do with all my clients as part of the ‘Create Your Story’ process. The end result of which is a Brand New Story for their organisation.

The traditional approach to creating a brand rarely includes creating an actual story. Most folk will work to pull a story together for their client or organisation in some shape or form. But rarely is it executed to the level it needs to be.

Like politics, it feels like many large brands are out of touch with the people who should really matter to them. Large organisations have more than enough resource to experiment with re-purposing (with an emphasis on purpose) their products and services. They just don’t have the will. Yet. But the time to do so is coming sooner than they think.

Last week I read a letter sent to our Prime Minister, asking that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) be used to consolidate and future proof the UK’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. This is my open letter to those who signed it.

Do you tie yourself up in knots trying to work out how to make your company look better and more attractive than your competitors? Or do you speak directly to them in their world?

I recently asked a CEO ‘who is the hero of your organisation’s story?’ As I did so his eyes widened, he sat back in his chair, blew out a massive puff of air and said: ‘in all my years running companies no one has ever asked me this.’

How is the Space Between Stories showing up for your organisation, its people and customers? There has never been a better time than this to create your new story.

Do you tie yourself in knots, trying to work out how to make your company look better and more attractive than anyone else? Ever considered you could be barking up the wrong tree?

In truth, you probably should feel a bit scared (and excited) when you step into and start telling your organisation's new story. Because it means you have an exciting and different story to tell.

Do these times feel like the moment in history your organisation was created for? You just know you’re a small (yet important) cog in a colossal story of change that's needed to restore and heal this beautiful planet we call home? But you keep tying yourself up in knots when it comes to defining your story? A story that connects you with the world and is way too important to mess up.

An organisation's purpose and values should run from the top of its tree right through to its foundations. They form the heart and soul of a company and should drive EVERYTHING it does. Only then will people see and feel its authenticity on every level.

When I started Brand New Story it was my firm belief that the most important story of our time, one that I could only ever dream of working on, was the story of one of my heroes, earth lawyer Polly Higgins.

It's not always easy making decisions in business. But every single choice you make shapes your brand, its culture and the world we live in. For better or worse. Knowing and living your values makes hard decisions easier.

Everywhere we look there are so many companies whose stories need to evolve before we can call ourselves an equal society. And, if the stories being lived and told in the business world continue to silence and omit the voice of the feminine, I predict that all those soulless organisations who could be transforming themselves and the world, will simply fall by the wayside as the next generation completes its coming of age.