Getting Goosebumps: The Power of Storytelling

Nir Eyal is best known as Wall Street Journal's Bestselling Author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products", published in 2013. As well as a captivating public speaker, behaviour-design consultant, investor; and helping design & marketing teams create more engaging products.Nir spent years in the video gaming and advertising industries, he describes the techniques he learned and applied for motivating and influencing users. We also discuss some popular companies who are great at creating 'habit-forming' products and how they do it; with great examples using the 'Hook Model'. Right from the start Nir provides thought-provoking pearls of wisdom I know you'll enjoy.

Robert Greenberg is a Composer, Pianist, Music Historian, Author, and Story Teller. Since 1993 he has recorded over 650 lectures on a wide variety of musical subjects, and in 2011 his book "How to Listen to Music" was published by Penguin.Robert has lectured for some of the most prestigious musical and arts organizations in the United States, and is passionate about story-telling. This was a stimulating discussion and one I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Jorgen Sundberg. Jorgen is the Employer Brand Consultant and CEO at London-based employer brand agency, Link HumansJorgen started as a recruiter in 2003, he caught the early wave of digital marketing and tested many talent attraction tactics while managing hiring campaigns for giants like IBM, Accenture, SAP, and Deloitte. By late 2009, he thought he was convinced that when social media communicated an uncommon employer brand then talent attraction results improved.So, in late 2009, he quit his job and Link Humans. Seven years in, they've grown into a boutique agency of ex-recruiters & creatives that can help link your brand to the right humans, they say by Employer Brand Strategy, Brand Asset Creation and Recruitment Marketing Campaigns.Jorgen and I discussed the power of storytelling in employer branding and it was a thoroughly absorbing discussion. I hope you enjoy it.

Graeme Johnson is Senior Leader of Resourcing and Talent Acquisition at BT, with a track record of developing and leading high-performing teams and implementing transformational change. Prior to joining BT Graeme led a remarkable employer brand project at Virgin Media, which put brand storytelling front and centre in Virgin's talent attraction strategy, driving an innovative campaign that helped win and retain customers just as much as staff.We dive straight into a great discussion about the importance of employer brand and storytelling to attract great talent - so put your feet up and enjoy the chat!

Ed Nathanson is a legend in the world of employer brand storytelling. Ed has spent over 20 years developing and building highly effective, efficient, and successful employer brands and talent attraction strategies. Ed lives by the mantra that "Even the most revolutionary idea in the world is nothing without the right people to drive and build it". Attracting the right people is all about telling the right story, and in this thoroughly entertaining and wide-ranging discussion Ed's passion for his subject shines through.

Bryan Kramer is a renowned social business strategist, global keynote speaker, executive coach, and bestselling author. He’s one of the world’s foremost leaders in the art and science of sharing. As you'll hear, Bryan was the guy who originated the "human to human" business movement which hit the marketing world like a tsunami a few years ago.With more than 350,000 social fans and followers, Bryan is both a practitioner and authority on the subject of social technologies and social behaviours, This was a fascinating conversation, and I know you're going to get a lot of food for thought from what Bryan has to say. During the chat, Bryan mentions a website he's involved in, but he gets the URL a little wrong, so you can find the site at www.sellstuffinyoursleep.com

This week's show is a chat with Michael Yank. Michael is a story editor at the amazing DreamWorks Animation, the studio that has brought us such modern-day classics as Shrek, Kung-Fu Panda, Madagascar, and How To Train Your Dragon. We discuss his work both in animation and live action, the importance of collaboration, the Story Circle approach to narrative storytelling and tips to deal with writer's block. Michael is really entertaining; he's full of great insight and I think you'll get a lot from what he has to say. Enjoy this chat with Michael Yank

Noah Klocek is Art Director at Pixar Animation Studios, one of the most iconic and ground-breaking production companies in the world. Responsible for developing the use of computer-rendered animation into film-making, Pixar has brought us such modern classics as the Toy Story series, Wall-E, Up, Cars and The Incredibles.Prior to Pixar Noah also enjoyed roles with Dreamworks Animation and Industrial Light and Magic, and has his own content production company Imageblock Studio, which focuses on his painting and illustrations and is dedicated to storytelling in all its forms.Noah shares fascinating insights into how he visually conceives, plans, and approaches storytelling. I know you're going to enjoy his insight. http://imageblock.com/

Joe Pulizzi is a legend in content marketing and brand storytelling. He's the founder of Content Marketing Institute - the leading education and training organization for content marketing - and the author of five books, including his latest, Killing Marketing. Joe and I last spoke a year or so back and it was great to catch up with him again. Over the course of our conversation, we discussed how content and customer interaction is driving the growing dominance of Amazon amongst the big four online brands, how a company's brand storytelling needs to be aligned with its purpose, and how content marketing is something 99% of businesses are doing wrong. So sit back and enjoy the content marketing wisdom of Joe Pulizzi.

Jen Grisanti is an acclaimed Story/Career Consultant at Jen Grisanti Consultancy, Inc.Jen is also a Writing Instructor for Writers on the Verge at NBC, a former studio executive, a blogger for The Huffington Post and author of Story Line: Finding Gold In Your Life Story, TV Writing Tool Kit: How To Write a Script That Sells, and her upcoming book, Change Your Story, Change Your Life. In this podcast, she discusses the concept of "the personal void" in storytelling, how to tell a story that people will care about and the trigger incident that every story needs. Listeners can get a discount on one of her writing courses.Visit https://jgcis-master-classes.thinkific.com/ and use coupon code bryanadamspodcastjgcoupon

It was an honour to chat with one of the co-writers of Shrek, Roger S.H. Schulman. In addition to his hugely successful writing career, Roger coaches writers, including people like me who are keen to improve their business writing and tell a story in their marketing.One thing I was really keen to explore with Roger was how to create empathy in a business marketing story, given that the opportunity to do so is much more limited in a few lines of marketing copy than in a full-length movie. As entrepreneurs, we need to make sure our business communications are concise and effective, grabbing the attention and telling our business story in a way that stands out from the crowd.To me, there's a gulf between the two disciplines of business writing and long-form screen-writing. How do we create empathy in such short marketing messages and cause someone to take the action we want them to take? The foundation of a great story is often pain, suffering and deep human emotion, but how do we transition from that to a practical framework that someone can apply to business communications when we want to write great marketing messages about our brand?Roger was very illuminating on the topic, and for him, there is no gulf. "It's only a gulf in the mind", he told me. "If we aren't convinced ourselves by the words we are writing then we are never going to convince anyone else". The words that make up the business message, whether its an advert, a PowerPoint presentation or an eBook, need to be authentic and from the heart, just like the greatest novels and movie scripts.Roger's sound advice is that we need to look at our writing and make sure that it represents our true feelings in some ways. If it does, it's successful. Now that may not necessarily immediately translate into commercial success, but it's important as a communicator to write from the heart, otherwise, the message will never hit home. In truth, we can never know what the audience will make of our story, but as long as it is written honestly and with authenticity then it is successful writing. "Over time", he says, "you can feel it, knowing you are authentic. The rest is in the lap of the gods."It came across loud and clear in our conversation that honesty and simplicity is a powerful differentiator when it comes to business communication. Whilst the hero in your business story might not be obvious, there's definitely one in there. Most likely the hero is the great piece of advice at the heart of your message or the news of a great service development that you're launching. Set the story up with an outline of what you do, talk about the issue that your development solves and how you tackled it, and highlight the benefits that your solution brings. That's the classic hero story - an adventure, a crisis and a victory. It was a fascinating discussion. Find out more about Roger's work and courses at https://www.writercoach.net/

This week I am joined on another episode of Getting Goosepumps by Ann Zuccardy, and what an episode it is. Ann a former writer who suffered from a brain injury has since become, what she explains to be, an accidental neuroscientist. 4 years following her injury Ann has learned that the majority of new information she was discovering about her brain, is in fact backed up by science, hence the accidental title of a neuroscientist. How Ann’s brain injury made her smarter Since Anne’s injury in 2011 she has since been redefining what makes somebody ‘smart’. Ann enlightens us into less conventional ways of determining how smart somebody is. She explains how she was once measured on things like her school grades, her job, and the amount of money in her check-book. Today she measures her level of smartness on inventing new ways to do old tasks, her ability to be creative and learn through curiosity. The importance of being present in every moment Ann explains due to her injury, she has no other choice, nor physical capacity, but to be present in everything she engages in. Her ability to only focus on one task at a time has taught her that more people should practice this. Listening to people without thinking of an agenda of what to say next is something Ann can’t do, however this is something she would encourage more people anyway to do too. Telling stories with humour makes a more memorable experience Ann talks of her The Safe/Unsafe Ted-ex Talk and how embracing your ‘inner-dork’ is something she preaches and encourages. Stepping out of your comfort zone every day and doing so with a child’s mind like Tom Hanks in BIG is a way of exposing our brains to novelty it needs to grow. Finding levity in a serious moment and creating stories create memories, something Ann encourages and wills us to do more.

On this week’s episode of Getting Goosebumps, I have the chance to chat with master marketer, NY Times bestselling author and keynote speaker Jay Baer. Jay is president of social media and content consultancy Convince & Convert. He has founded five companies and had worked with a range of renowned brands such as Sony, Nike and The United Nations. He’s been named the third most influential social media blog in the world by Social Media Examiner. Hear what Jay has to say about embracing complaints, making the voice of the customer your consistent touch point and a surprising opinion on the role that empathy plays when it comes to brands.

So on this weeks episode I am joined by Jack Kester Milner. Jack’s career history includes an impressive simultaneous career as a director writer, comedy actor and producer in television, radio and film. Now based on all that he learned in the comedy sector, he provides organisations and individuals with the tools to influence, persuade and engage. He does this in his series of comedy workshops ‘Stand up and deliver’, which have been presented to a whole host of clients such as the National Theatre, Channel 4 and ITV.

On this weeks episode of Getting Goosebumps I will be talking to founder and principal of Amplified Talent, Lars Schmidt. Lars is an expert in intersecting culture, talent and brands and has a background in developing innovative strategies at NPR. He is also the Co-founder of HROS – a platform designed to bring an open sourced approach to HR & Recruitment.

On this weeks episode of Getting Goosebumps, I am joined by Stand-Up Comedian James Acaster. James has been a comedian for the last 8 years and has appeared on Mock the Week, Live at The Apollo & Russel Howard’s Good News! He gives insights into the world of comedy that is far removed from the world of business.

On this weeks episode of Getting Goosebumps, I talk to storytelling expert, TV writer and producer John Yorke. Founder of the BBC Writer’s Academy, John is also the author of the ultimate storytelling book: Into the Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them.

On this episode of Getting Goosebumps: The Power of Storytelling, we chat to Jonah Berger. Jonah is a professor at the University of Pennyslvania and an expert on word of mouth, viral marketing and social influence and trends. Also the author of new book Invisible influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behaviour, there's plenty of insight to begin putting into action.

American theorist and consultant David Aaker guides us through the power of signature storytelling, focusing on strategic brand stories.

In this week’s episode of Getting Goosebumps: The Power of Storytelling, we talk to Cal Fussman. Cal is an American Journalist, New York Times bestselling author and writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine. Cal has mastered the art of storytelling conducting memorable, probing interviews packed with stories from icons such as Muhammad Ali, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson.