Too Many Stories, No Brand Narrative

So.. early in my career, I thought my job was to find more stories.

Twenty-five years later, I get paid to do the opposite - politely (and sometimes not so politely) kill them.

Not because they’re bad. Because they’re fighting each other for attention like siblings on a long-haul flight.

Many comms and brand strategies don’t fail because there’s nothing to say. They fail because too much is being said. And the audience doesn't know what to focus on.

What is the narrative you want your audience to take away?

A narrative spine is not:

- A tagline that took three weeks and 14 opinions.

- A campaign line everyone feels “quite good about”.

- A sentence no one remembers five minutes later.

It's: One clear, defensible idea about who you are, why you matter, and what you consistently stand for.

And everything else supports it, or it doesn't make the cut. Yes, that includes the cute story that happened this week.

Why does this often go off the rails? - especially at senior levels:

- Everyone wants their initiative represented. (Sound familiar?)

- FOMO. - had to get some generation speak in. 😂

- No comms person has ever been blamed for having "more content," which ends up sounding like a "strategy".

So how do you fix this?

Ask yourself and your leadership, what do you want the brand to be known for? If you get five different answers or a sentence with multiple commas.. yeah, that's not it.

What actually works (and won’t win any creativity awards):

- Ruthless prioritisation

- Repetition that borders on almost uncomfortable

- Leaders saying the same thing… again and again… and again

Because the market doesn’t reward originality in messaging as much as it rewards clarity.

Need a moment after reading that?

This is an uncomfortable truth; most organizations don't lack stories, they lack a willingness to choose one direction and stick to it.

Clarity is a discipline, not a 50-slide PowerPoint deck.

So how many stories is your organization (or you) trying to tell?