A big chunk of your brand lives in what people say about you when you’re not in the room. It’s essential to hear and learn from those insights when your aim is to create powerful, authentic stories for your business. Let’s call that the “outside-in perspective.”
How do you come by it? You talk to people. We appreciate that sounds a bit retro in an age of AI-powered platforms adept at turning floods of signals into trends and dashboards at the press of a button. But we’ve learned to never underestimate the power of conversations when truth and insight is our goal.
More conversation, less chat
What we’re really advocating is “conversation as research”, following an established and consistent process. One party should be impartial, open minded, with no agenda to push. The other will have experience of working with you, buying from you, funding you — lots of skin in the game.
"On the very best calls you get a shiver, a little frisson of excitement when the person you’re interviewing sums up something so perfectly, or sheds new light on the relationship — we’ll scribble those down and circle them, in the moment"
This magic only occurs when two people meet and converse. It’s a uniquely human phenomenon.
Controversial Conversational AI
As storytellers, copywriters and communicators, we’ve a bit of a gnarly relationship with AI. But we’d also describe ourselves as skilful, responsible and curious adopters. AI has already joined our conversations — with consent — as a third pair of ears listening in and carefully transcribing. At a minimum, that’s a really valuable failsafe to the old process of note taking.
"I think through a pen, so it still helps me understand more deeply when I write down what I hear and notice"
From an AI’s perspective a conversation is a sequence of words, creating a “pattern-rich data set”. And if interpretation is only about data processing at scale and speed, then AI ought to be better at it than any of us.
But there’s nuance in a conversation that an AI is blind and deaf to: the texture, intimacy, spontaneity and emotion that has such influence on context, meaning, and intent.
"Great conversations can spark a gamut of emotions – sadness, joy, frustration, inspiration. Their meaning is wrapped up with their feeling."
There is a genre of AI applications that carry the label Conversational AI. It turns out that “conversation adjacent” would be more accurate. For now, true conversation is purely the domain of humanity.
The making of a brand story
It started with a conversation, and it continues through the craft of spotting truths, insights, and the turns of phrase that capture the essence of the difference you make, the experience you create, and the values you hold true to.
"Does AI have a further contribution to make here? Yes."
When we’re going back over transcripts to confirm our gut reactions, or to discover new insights, AI can be part of the analysis team. If you’re following up on your own thinking it’s valid to have AI check the transcript for evidence. To search for quotes that confirm, or conflict, with your thesis, as well as to summarise testimony.
"It’s a powerful tool… Its ability to transcribe, organise and analyse conversations in near real time. Being able to look for patterns, follow threads, and help join dots…."
Where it gets more hazardous — but also more interesting — is when you invite AI to mine for insights of its own. It’s precisely because AI is looking through its own lens that it can sometimes throw out different and useful perspectives — talking points that move the thinking along even if they’re eventually discarded. Diversity in thinking is a powerful tool, and AI can offer some of that.
Is there a risk that some of the craft of reflection is lost in this process?
"Do I listen quite so hard when I know that I can always listen again?"
It needn’t be. All craft needs to evolve, and our job is to do that skilfully, transparently, and honestly. To that end we see AI as a collaborator and co-creator – within guardrails. A partnership where empathy meets scale, intuition meets insight and craft meets compute.
When all is said and done
We move from truths and insights to words on a page. Our goal is to create a story that is authentically, uniquely yours. And a great story needs to make someone feel something, in order to do something. That makes it a job for humans.
"The first draft of anything — you need to write that yourself. It’s in those efforts that ideas crystalise, metaphors emerge and narrative springs to life. It's pure joy — why would you outsource that?"
A truly great brand story should have the power to move you. Both sensually and physically – the “feel something, do something” effect. We’ll give the last words to poet Maya Angelou, and hope you feel ready to write your story.
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
What do you think?