Storytelling instead of advertising: why companies are looking for more than just marketers

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Brand authenticity and the speed of working with content are becoming key competitive advantages in the new "attention economy". At the same time, niche stories are turning into mass products thanks to algorithms. These emerging trends were discussed by participants of the panel discussion "Stories in Advertising and Consumption", which was held on 7 February as part of the Open Lecture Hall "Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories" at the National Centre RUSSIA.

Business storytelling expert and founder of the Historia Academy, Artyom Mushin-Makedonsky, noted that expectations that stories would “dissolve” in the overall information noise amid the development of large language models had not come true. On the contrary, demand for meaningful storytelling is growing.

"Companies still need people who know how to tell stories. In December, The Wall Street Journal published a piece showing that businesses are actively searching for storytellers. This is a very clear signal: authenticity is becoming more valuable," said Artyom Mushin-Makedonsky.

According to the expert, two key trends will intensify in the near future. First, more and more companies will rely on genuine stories of real people — top managers, executives, employees and customers. Second, advertising will increasingly feature stories that speak about something bigger than the product itself. He added that consumers will not merely observe brand-created content from the sidelines, but will live through it, relating it to their own values and life situations.

"Companies of today, if they want to become companies of the future, face the task not only of talking about themselves, but also of highlighting the things they want to bring to life — or that already exist but often go unnoticed. This helps to find new sources of inspiration and build communication bridges with different people, including those who were previously hard for us to understand. Sooner or later, we will arrive at a model of the world in which business seeks not only to earn money, but also to create something greater for everyone. And, in my view, by doing what genuinely inspires us, we can gradually make this world a reality," Artem Mushin-Makedonsky concluded.

Co-founder of NorthStar Media Group and former executive at Google and Verizon, Ivana Kirkbride, focused her remarks on the transformation of the media market under the influence of platforms and user behaviour. She noted that many technological solutions and formats that initially seemed unsuccessful were, in fact, simply ahead of market readiness and infrastructure.

"Platform evolution almost always runs ahead of the market rather than being mistaken. Many formats fail not because the idea is wrong, but because the audience and ecosystem are not yet ready. Those who closely observe real user behaviour can see the future earlier than others <…> We live in an attention economy where speed and adaptability often matter more than production value. It is not necessarily the most expensive projects that win, but those who can create content quickly and adapt just as fast to cultural shifts. Context has become more important than the abstract notion of quality. We are fighting for attention with every second of our content, so the future belongs to storytellers who keep pace with the times," said Ivana Kirkbride. 

Ivana Kirkbride added that new content formats are emerging alongside mobile consumption: short vertical stories, micro-dramas and other compact narratives are designed for specific "moments of the day" and a global audience. Algorithms are turning niche interests into mass phenomena, and a story’s effectiveness now depends not on budget, but on how well it fits the moment, the device and the user’s mood. She noted that the future of storytelling lies at the intersection of creativity and data — stories will increasingly be optimised not for an "average viewer", but for specific content consumption scenarios.

"Artificial intelligence technologies will increase the speed of content production and help reach target audiences, but they will by no means replace human creativity," the guest from the United States said.

The Open Lecture Hall "Inventing the Future: Plots and Stories" is an original project of the National Centre RUSSIA. Within its framework, Russian and international experts discuss how storytelling influences key spheres shaping public consciousness and innovative development — education, advertising, cinema and video games. The talks are accompanied by AI visualisation created on the basis of the speakers’ future scenarios, while a single character in the videos guides viewers into the world of tomorrow.