I would point out that this the use of stories is not so much used directly by companies as part of their advertising, but rather a part of the way they connect with customers, and the way they connect customers with each other, which is a significant distinction. Stories may sell products, but if they incite us to take action about the things we care about, then there is nothing to manipulate, fake or presume because people are already invested in how those stories take shape… they are willing participants.

The advertising paradigm is a much larger issue that we will address in the follow-up piece to this, and in short, the implications are that messaging must be grounded in something more than just tag- or copylines or even social media conversations.

Storytelling has always impacted business. We’re just seeing it used more directly by companies as part of their advertising. After all, stories sell. Stories move us to action.

I wonder about Joey’s question around growing cynicism to stories. The key will be for advertisers to keep them authentic. Consumers tend to see through fake tales fairly quickly.

Here is a transmedia framework that (hopefully) incorporates these elements in full bloom, and absent of the “brand issue”:

http://goonth.posterous.com/deep-inside-the-algren-project-a-framework-fo#