Storytelling and Market Research

C. Frederic John enjoys a global reputation as a strategic researcher with a career spanning over 40 years. He specializes in melding profound insights into concrete recommendations for clients, and in crafting compelling research deliverables using story-telling techniques.

Preface and Acknowledgements; Introduction; A) A Human Condition; B) Getting Down to Business; C) The Need to Evolve; Chapter I: The Fundamental Power of Story; A) The Ubiquity of Story; B) The Transformative Properties of Story; C) The Sacred Role of the Storyteller; D) The Market Researcher as Storyteller; Chapter II: The Immediate and the Essential; A) Story as Novelty; B) Story as the Essential Learning; C) Extracting the Essence; Chapter III: Tales Clients Tell; A) What Clients Believe, What They Tell Us; B) Sources of Client (Mis)Belief; C) An Added Benefit; Chapter IV: The Written Report as Narrative; A) Approaching the Report; B) Incorporating Storytelling into the Preliminary Sections; C) Selecting Content for the Detailed Findings Narrative; D) Managing the Flow; E) Suspending Disbelief: Accepting our Reality as "Authentic"; F) Juxtaposing Elements; G) Stimulating Identification and Empathy with Characters/Situations; H) Achieving Closure in Closing; Chapter V: A Radically New Approach to the Presentation; A) A Wasted Opportunity; B) Introducing a Radically New Approach; C) Selecting Content: Less is More; D) What About the Deck?; E) The Manipulation of Expectation; F) Juxtaposing Elements in Presentations; G) Suspending Disbelief from the Get-Go; H) Wrapping-Up with a Bang; Chapter VI: Humanizing the Presentation; A) Humanizing the Material; B) Humanizing Yourself; C) Introducing the Extraneous; D) Humanizing Through Storytelling Techniques; Chapter VII: Recasting the Narrative as an Imaginary Tale; A) A Daring Leap Through the Looking Glass; B) The Nature of the Beast; C) Sample Tales; D) Taking the Plunge; Chapter VIII: The Story of a Company or Brand; A) What Is/What Isn’t a Corporate / Brand Story; B) Comparisons with Other Communications; C) Crafting the Successful Corporate Story; D) Focus on the Brand; Chapter IX: Continuous Learning; A) Internalizing the Learning; B) A Day in Your Life; C) A Longer Arc of Your History; D) Continuous Engagement with the Arts; E) Applying the Learning; F) Parting Words; Appendix: "Landscape and Narrative" by Barry Lopez; Index