Hello!

I spent all last week at a Pitching Coaching training course. Not pitching as in ‘getting a client to give you new work’, but pitching as in ‘throwing a ball hard over the strike zone’. (and yes, we do play baseball in the UK).

The Pitcher is the most stressful position in baseball - what you do affects what every other player, on both teams, does next. So we learnt some stuff from the MLB and GB pitching coaches running the course, and the one thing that stuck with me was this: when they see a pitcher 'getting in their head' a bit, they go up and ask them how many pitches they can throw. Now this can mean a couple of things in baseball - it could mean how many different styles of pitch you can throw (eg fastball, changeup, curve) or it might mean your 'pitch count' - the number of pitches you can throw in a game before tiring.

They coaches listen to the pitcher, and then remind them that the answer is one. There is only one ball in play at any one time, and the next pitch is the only pitch they have any control over. They can't change the pitches they've already thrown, and they can't do anything about the pitches they are going to throw later in the game. They've only got one ball in their hand, so they can only only throw one pitch. Just focus on that, and make it a good one.

So forget everything else for a few minutes, relax, and give yourself some creative inspiration. Then go out there and throw some strikes.

Matt

A Framework for Building Community (A useful tool)

The Clock Is Coming Back To NYC (24-hour watch)

What B2B Marketers Can Learn From Impact Producers (6-minute read)

How To Make Your CEO Interesting (4-minute watch)

Self Sabotaging Innovation (5-minute read)

Beautiful Film About a Demolition Derby (8-minute watch)

The Media Needs A New Social Media Playbook (4-minute read)

Beehiiv Launches Multi-million Journalism Fund (1-minute read)

Gary Lineker’s Podcast Revolution (11-minute read)

The Onion Buys Infowars, Plans To Make it ‘Very Funny, Very Stupid’ (3-minute read)

How we can help you

Storythings is the content marketing agency of choice for some of the world’s most forward-thinking B2B brands and organisations. Here are 2 reasons to get in touch. 

1. “I want to tell better stories” – You’ve been creating content but it’s not having the impact you need. Talk to us about our Content Audit Workshop.

2. “I need help making things” – You know what you want to make, but need an agency to make it. We can help make your podcast, video, publication, animation or newsletter. We do other things too. Get in touch for a FREE 30 minute consultation. 

A Framework for Building Community (A useful tool)
Collaboriamo are an Italian consultancy focused on Community Design, and at Storythings we’re obsessed with how you turn audiences in to communities, so we’re looking forward to playing around with this framework. Our current go-to framework for building community is from the excellent Get Together book - if you don’t have a copy, buy one now!

The Clock Is Coming Back To NYC (24-hour watch)
There are at least a couple of the Storythings team who are probably a little too obsessed with Christian Marclay’s artwork The Clock - a 24 hr compilation of every minute of the day as illustrated by shots of watches or clocks in Hollywood movies. I got to see it at the Tate Modern a few years back, and it’s remarkable. If you’re in NYC for its run at MoMA from now till Spring 2025, clear a couple of hours to drop in and see it.

What B2B Marketers Can Learn From Impact Producers (6-minute read)
This is the last of the six-part series I’ve been writing for our sister newsletter Attention Matters, and really helped me address something that has been nagging me - why do so many B2B marketers like creating binary oppositions? Brand v Demand, Sales v Marketing, Leads vs Accounts, etc, etc. Fortunately, there’s a way out of this binary thinking, and it comes from the world of documentary film.

How To Make Your CEO Interesting (4-minute watch)
This is a great speech about the climate crisis from RJ Scaringe, the CEO of EV carmaker Rivian. But the stop motion visuals are beautiful, not just illustrating his talk, but elevating it to a minor work of art. B2B thought leadership doesn’t have to be boring - it can be beautiful and inspiring!

Self Sabotaging Innovation (5-minute read)
Tangentially linked to above, this is a great article that many of us will relate to, about how the focus on metrics has killed our ability to try new things: “We’ve sacrificed the attributes we care most about (resonance, loyalty, fandom, influence and impact) for the metrics easily available to us (clicks, views and follows). As Rick Rubin puts it, “If you can quantify it, it’s not sacred.” In a moment when everyone is terrified of deviating from the norm or data point, that’s the exact moment to question, dissent and zag. That’s how you innovate.”

Beautiful Film About a Demolition Derby (8-minute watch)
Thanks to friend of Storythings Steve Bryant for sharing this New Yorker video on his Delightful newsletter. It’s a great example of storytelling through texture and tone. Every part of this film is creased and bruised, from the battered cars to the muddy track and noise electronica soundtrack.

The Media Needs A New Social Media Playbook (4-minute read)
We’ve been saying for a while at Storythings that we’re in the post-social era, where old playbooks of building followers on social media just don’t work anymore. I’d slightly disagree with the conclusion of this article - that the new playbook needs to base around platform-native content - but the analysis is spot on.

Beehiiv Launches Multi-million Journalism Fund (1-minute read)
We moved all our Storythings newsletters from Substack to Beehiiv earlier this year, as we felt Substack were more interested in growing their own platform than supporting creators’ publications. So we’re really pleased to see that Beehiiv is focusing on building sustainable careers for journalism on their platform, not ‘pivoting to video’.

Gary Lineker’s Podcast Revolution (11-minute read)
This article came out earlier in November, before Lineker announced he was stepping down from his 25 year stint hosting Match of the Day, which makes the last few lines of this article feel very prescient. But the whole article is a great account of how to build a successful media company in 2024 - focus on great talent, build strong relationships with your audience, don’t rely on one platform. Sounds easy when you put it like that, doesn’t it?

The Onion Buys Infowars, Plans To Make it ‘Very Funny, Very Stupid’ (3-minute read)
Talking of great media companies, the rebirth of The Onion in the last year has been one of the few highlights in the media industry. They’ve now bought Alex Jones’ Infowars, as part of the sales of all his assets to pay the relatives of the Sandy Hook massacre that he so terribly traduced. Make sure you click through the links in this article to Jones’ Twitter/X video rant (I love his face as he says ‘The Onion’) and the announcement from The Onion’s fictional CEO.

There you go - 10 links to take you into the weekend. Have a great time wherever and whatever you’re doing, and if you see something you think we should share in the newsletter, send it over by hitting reply.

Till next week!

Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the rest of Team Storythings