It may sound a bit strange to say, but the book True Storytelling; Credibility as a marketing tool was written for ourselves. Although, of course also for its readers, but mainly for ourselves. The book was a result of a search based on a gut feeling that we had been carrying around for a while, which was also the reason why we started our own creative content agency Truman.
Truman is an old English boy's name that stands for loyalty, faithfulness, and honesty. This is where the core of our gut feeling is processed. It often happened that as a creative team (art director and copywriter) we received a briefing, scratched our heads and thought: "How are we going to solve this?" Not because we lacked confidence in our own abilities, but because we didn't believe what was written on paper.
We didn't believe the insight, promise, proposition, or the face that the company had set up enough - or sometimes not at all. It was then up to us to ignore this obstacle and find a solution. To come up with a bow, a sauce, a frame. For something that, according to our feeling, didn't match up at the core. Take it from us: advertising creatives are the most critical consumers there are. Yet, as a creative team, you must deliver a good solution, even if the foundation doesn't match up or not enough.
Now it seems like it was all misery and woe, but it wasn't. There were also brands and advertising colleagues who understood it. For this book, we placed our positive and negative experiences next to each other to see if we could find a common denominator that lay at the foundation of our gut feeling. We discovered that there was indeed a connecting factor. That factor is credibility. That was the start of our search.
Our journey began: a search for a way of working, a vision, and a proposition for our new agency. A search that led us through authenticity, content marketing and storytelling. A journey that brought us to Belgium, to our friends at Duval Union. When we shared our story with Klaus Lommatzsch, the former CEO of the renowned Duval Guillaume and the current founding partner of Duval Union, he was able to define our mission. He said: 'You are true storytellers!' The term True Storytelling was born. Now it wasn't just a gut feeling, but it had to become tangible. We started with the core. For good creative work - whether it's content or a campaign - you need a solid, credible foundation. Frameworks that guide creativity. Fences within which all brand decisions must be made.
Inspired by Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas, a handy brand canvas on just one A4 was created. We named it the True Story Canvas: a canvas that we fill in together with our clients, based on what already exists. Not invented, but what is there. So, no wishful dream positions or castles in the air, but a positioning based on the actual and authentic identity of the brand. The foundation where all expressions and stories of the brand originate. Around this canvas, we developed the True Story workshop. During the workshop, we fill in the canvas in co-creation with our customers. Who has the most knowledge of the brand? Indeed, the customer. That's why brand strategy is not something a strategist should do alone. You must do it together! It's always a celebration to see the effect it has on the participants of our workshop. Clarification, explanation, insights, and renewed energy!
Then our journey continued. With questions such as: How do you make communication credible? What do you need? How does it work? Are there rules for it? What is credibility actually? And what does credibility have to do with content marketing, storytelling, and authenticity?
We have found the answer to our questions. The answer is: True Storytelling. In our book, you can read all about it. We have learned a lot from this journey. As we said: 'We initially wrote the book for ourselves.' But we hope the readers will also draw inspiration from it. The message we want to convey with our book is:
‘No more sugar coated bullshit. Let’s disrupt your industry fairytales!’