Kesi Gardener, founding father of The Storyteller Agency.Co, at a company mingle occasion organized for shoppers, Sterling Asset Management Ltd.
When Kesi Gardner, founding father of The Storyteller Agency. Co, selected that title for the corporate in 2019, it was motivated by what she noticed as a shift in promoting tendencies in direction of storytelling, a component that she felt was missing within the native market. Recognising the ability of storytelling in conveying messages extra subtly than conventional hard-selling approaches, she needed her company to concentrate on crafting narratives for manufacturers.
Today, 4 years after creating the corporate, this emphasis on storytelling not solely distinguishes her company but additionally aligns together with her perception that advertising and promoting might be simpler and nuanced by connecting with audiences on a story stage.
“I felt that we could possibly be a bit bit extra delicate in the way in which that we strategy advertising and attain our audiences, which is why I like PR lots since you’re capable of inform a narrative a couple of model with out saying ‘it is advisable purchase this now’,” Gardner associated.
With a background of 20 years in promoting, working with prime companies in Jamaica and educated as a graphic designer, she leveraged her abilities in writing, designing, and creativity to embark on this new route.
Kesi Gardener, founding father of The Storyteller Agency. Co, at an occasion celebrating the company’s third anniversary final yr.
The Storyteller’s strategy to working with shoppers entails a radical evaluation of the market and rivals, significantly specializing in understanding the consumer’s business. The purpose is to assume exterior the field and create options that stand out from the traditional methods employed by rivals. Instead of choosing the comfy and conventional route, similar to inserting adverts, The Storyteller emphasises life-style advertising, aiming at connecting with the target market on a extra private stage.
“You know we stay in a world the place the whole lot is so fast-paced, there’s the transferring picture on Instagram, the transferring video,” Gardner defined. “So we attempt to catch your eye whether or not that be visible or in a narrative that may make folks cease and assume. That’s the directive. We just lately moved into the posh area. So most just lately, we began coping with extra of the upper finish of the spectrum. And that has allowed us to keep up our requirements which is a specific aesthetic.”
The idea has appealed to all kinds of shoppers starting from rum producers Worthy Park Estate to Coffee Roasters of Jamaica; the monetary administration firm Sterling Asset Management; Chez Maria; Caribbean Dreams; Cannonball Cafe; and extra. Government companies such because the Tourism Enhancement Fund and Ministry of Culture, Gender and Sport have additionally enlisted The Storyteller’s companies.
It is not only the company’s strategy to advertising that acknowledges the tendencies of a digital world similar to social media. The strategy to staffing and getting the job finished additionally slots completely into the trendy digital world. The company collaborates on-line with writers worldwide, together with people in Paris and the Philippines, as contractors to generate content material and create tales.
The firm doesn’t preserve a everlasting employees however quite brings in professionals on a contract foundation for particular tasks.
“Every consumer is totally different and each occasion is totally different as a result of I do occasions as effectively,” Gardner revealed. “So whether it is, for instance, for a producing firm or meals or restaurant, I might usher in a particular meals photographer. Sometimes I’ll do the styling, I’ll do the inventive route, however it’s any person that I do know who can {photograph} meals effectively, and that means I give extra worth to the shoppers. And if it is an occasion, for instance, they usually want occasion images, I might rent an occasion photographer who can seize candid images, who’s already form of on the market. So they know who to seize, who’s who, who will probably be positioned within the newspaper, that form of factor.”
In the early levels of the enterprise, the main focus was on working with social media influencers. This concerned helping them in gaining model visibility whereas arranging interviews, securing media protection, and pitching collaborations to manufacturers. The Storyteller discovered progressive methods to showcase influencers and created alternatives for them to be featured within the media and mainstream retailers.
The COVID pandemic, nevertheless, interrupted quite a lot of this work forcing Gardner to pivot the corporate to extra of the form of public relations work it does now. Nevertheless, working closely with influencers within the preliminary interval had a constructive affect in positioning the corporate as being social media savvy and having a profound understanding of find out how to develop narratives through the digital world.
This basis stays a key aspect in Gardner’s imaginative and prescient for The Storyteller’s future.
“The preliminary delivery of the storyteller was based on influencer advertising and managing influencers,” she mentioned. “The purpose is to create an influencer advertising platform which connects manufacturers to affect us regionally.”
And the plan is to attain this by scaling the enterprise. The company now has an advisory committee to assist obtain this and implement extra environment friendly techniques together with extra superior automation of varied duties.
“The imaginative and prescient is that of a regional Caribbean firm that continues to emphasize storytelling in a world the place storytelling has turn into integral, particularly among the many Gen Z neighborhood,” Gardner mentioned, unveiling her final ambition.
https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/enterprise/the-storyteller-agency-co-marketing-through-narratives/
