90s Dad Thrillers, a Brilliant Christmas Ad and Ridley Scott's Music Choices

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10 stories we've enjoyed this week

Illustration of a music player with an image of a woman on it. Surrounding the music player are animated circles and squiggly lines depicting sound all around. The sky is pink, purple and green.

Illustration by Kezia Gabriella - Hire her

Hi All,
Hope all our US readers are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Friend of Storythings, Ian Sanders has a new book out. It's called 365 Ways to Have a Good Day. It's a year's worth of tips, tools, habits and actions to help you live your best life. I've provided a couple of days' worth. One is about drinking tea, which I've done many times with Ian. Those days are always good. He's a lovely man and a great writer. This will make a lovely Christmas present.

Thanks this week go to Grace Dobush, Darren Garrett and Richard Shotton. They are all very smart and lovely people so subscribe to their things.

OK. That's it from me. Enjoy the stories and have a wonderful weekend.
Hugh

The Short Story

Formats Unpacked - Architectural Digest's Open Door
(5 min read)

10 Rules for Writing a Murder Mystery
(6 min read)

The Stupidity of Sameness and the Value of Difference
(7 min read)

Gorgeous Stop Motion Short About Polar Bears and the Climate Crisis
(7 min watch)

What You Can Learn About Tone of Voice From a Pro-Pimple Skincare Brand
(5 min read)

90s Dad Thrillers: a List
(11 min read)

A Must-watch Christmas Advert From the Norwegian Postal Service
(3 min watch)

Why You Don't Hear About the Ozone Layer Anymore
(8 min watch)

Ridley Scott on 6Music
(1 hour listen)

The Tamagotchi Was Tiny but Its Impact Was Huge
(6 min read)

How can we help you?

Storythings is a strategy and content company based in Brighton and London. We'd love to help you with some creative and bold ideas.

Here's 3 reasons to get in touch.

1. You want to talk to us about content production: podcasts, videos, animations, illustrations, editorial.

2. You want to talk to us about content strategy or format development.

3. You want to create a brand or an identity that makes it easier to communicate your message.

We do other things too. We're very friendly and always enjoy meeting people, so get in touch.

The Full Story

Formats Unpacked - Architectural Digest's Open Door
Why do we love property shows so much and what is it about this format that makes it so special? Open Door gets the Formats Unpacked treatment: "For decades property shows have been feeding our universal hunger for snooping. We all love to do it....But snooping isn’t the magic of Open Door. The magic is that Open Door is made with the perfect amount of glance-up-ability (37%) built-in. OK, made-up word and made-up stat, but let me explain. Open Door isn’t designed for scheduled TV. It’s designed for Youtube TV."
(5 min read)

10 Rules for Writing a Murder Mystery
As you'll know from our obsession with formats, we love to read about the structures that great entertainment sits upon. That includes works of fiction too. If you like the works of Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle you're going to love this breakdown of what should or shouldn't happen in a murder mystery.
(6 min read)

The Stupidity of Sameness and the Value of Difference
In 2017 BBH Labs counted at least 27 brands using the construct ‘Find your X’ in their communications. Why would brands want to be the same as competitors? Why wouldn't brands want to be different? Well, there's a school of thought that advocates for ‘distinctiveness’ over 'difference' as a way of gaining a competitive advantage. It suggests that increasing the visibility of the brand in its competitive environment is better than setting it apart. Tom Roach thinks differently and outlines 10 reasons why you should avoid the sea of sameness.
(7 min read)

Gorgeous Stop Motion Short About Polar Bears and the Climate Crisis
This is technically brilliant as well as being a very moving piece of storytelling. A mother polar bear and her cub flee their arctic habitat as styrofoam icebergs crumble into the water and their once-frozen home becomes unliveable. As they encounter insensitive brown bears in a lush, green climate, the duo struggles to survive.
(7 min watch)

What You Can Learn About Tone of Voice From a Pro-Pimple Skincare Brand
A couple of weeks ago I introduced you to Tone Knob, a newsletter about tone of voice. The second newsletter has just dropped in my inbox and it's another cracker. It's not just the learnings about tone of voice I'm enjoying, I'm loving discovering the new and interesting brands it features.
(5 min read)

90s Dad Thrillers: a List
This is more than a list. It's a deep dive into the genre. It's got a 2x2 matrix of Dad Thrillers, a genealogical timeline, and a visualisation of Harrison Ford's 90s career. The list is broken down into categories that include: Movies Where Cops and the Guys They're Trying to Catch Are Not So Different, Simply Two Sides of the Same Coin and Movies Where the President Is a Character and Seems Like a Cool Guy or even Movies With Guys With Freaky Rooms Filled With Photos and Cut-Out Newspaper Headlines.
(11 min read)

A Must-watch Christmas Advert From the Norwegian Postal Service
Soooo good. You must watch to the end.
(3 min watch)

Why You Don't Hear About the Ozone Layer Anymore
Vox looks at the brilliant job Dr. Susan Solomon did in communicating the problem of the hole in the Ozone in the 80s. A few years ago we made a podcast called This Will Change Your Mind which features an episode on how “The hole in the ozone layer” is one of the most influential metaphors in modern history. Give it a listen.
(8 min watch)

Ridley Scott on 6Music
If you're as fascinated about telling stories with music as I am you will enjoy this conversation between Ridley Scott and Miranda Sawyer. Ridley talks about the music that shaped classic films such as Alien and Bladerunner, and where George Michael's 'Faith' fits into his latest drama, House of Gucci.
(1 hour listen)

The Tamagotchi Was Tiny but Its Impact Was Huge
A good nostalgia read for 90s kids that looks at how pioneering the toy was: "It also gave players a sense of duty or obligation, because the continual play required them to check in every few hours to keep their digital pet alive and healthy. The Tamagotchi was a pioneer of this type of gameplay, where the game does not pause even if you turn off your device. This was largely unheard of before the Tamagotchi’s release but now lives on in some of the world’s most popular games, like World of Warcraft and Elder Scrolls Online."
(6 min read)

We hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm sure some of your friends would love to read it. Sharing it would be really appreciated. If you've received this from a friend you can subscribe here and get it direct to your inbox every Friday.

Thanks for reading and see you all next week,

Hugh, Matt, Anjali and the team at Storythings

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