Storytelling
An important component of our voice and tone is the way in which we tell our stories. As a charity whose work can only happen with awareness of our work and the financial support of generous donors, our storytelling must always aim to prompt some form of emotion or action from those who read it.
Stories Guide
An important component of our voice and tone is the way in which we tell our stories. Through the stories we tell, people who join our cause will know that their support delivers meaningful impact to the lives of horses, donkeys and mules, and the communities that depend on them.
Brooke stories are about animals and the animal/human relationship, told with relevancy, authenticity and a narrative arc.
How we tell stories
Our stories are authentic: They feel believable to audiences so that they build trust, clearly explain what we do, and bring them closer to the work, giving them a sense of intimacy.
They are provocative: They create a reaction – indignation, sadness, joy or empathy.
Story cycle
We want our supporters and other audiences to experience a narrative arc over time as they move through different levels of engagement with us. Our external content doesn’t need to present all parts of the story cycle at once, for example an appeal is likely to only focus on ‘Need for change’ or ‘Challenges’, but it’s important to be aware of where your audience is to inform planning.
| 1. Hero animals | Working horse, donkey or mule at the centre of the story. A single animal is ideal. |
|---|---|
| 2. Need for change | The issue/problem to be resolved, clear on the needs of the animal or animals. |
| 3. People helping | This will be a range of people, including those who work with and/or own the animals, Brooke Staff, community members, partners, vets and people creating change at a wider level, like policy makers. |
| 4. Challenges | While the process of change happens there will be challenges to be overcome, both expected and unexpected. |
| 5. Triumphs | There will be positives, both immediate and long lasting. |
| 6. Tangible results | The resolution of the story, including the benefits to animals and humans, but also any areas of further change needed. |
How stories are used
Stories can be used to create awareness, build consideration to support, and deepen engagement, as well as provide qualitative evidence to demonstrate our impact. Stories are the raw materials that we use to create content and can include photographs, film footage, text, audio recordings and more. Content is the finished pieces of communications that we create using stories — an appeal, newsletter, short film, social media post, etc.
They are relevant: Our stories should be timely, sensitive to platform differences, and listening to what our audiences are engaging with.
They are integrated: To achieve brand recognition and awareness, we want stories to be used across multiple platforms and audiences. In Brooke UK, we conduct regular planning meetings to identify opportunities to join up and use stories in different ways.
Story selection checklist
You should be able to answer ‘yes’ to each of these questions.
- Are we conscious of not perpetuating saviourist narratives (those that position Brooke as knowing best, without giving the viewpoint of the animal owner) and therefore making sure that both Brooke staff and animal owners are being shown in active roles in the story?
- Do you have or can you access accurate information about the animal welfare issues outlined in the story?
- Will I ensure animal welfare messages and images are technically correct, factually accurate and relevant prior to dissemination to external audiences?
- If this image shows animal welfare breaches, will the accompanying text explain why this is a problem and/or what is being done to support this equine?
- Are you making sure that the images are accompanied by the correct quotes/names/text rather than creating composite stories or attributing images/words incorrectly?
- Are you sure the people and/or animals are depicting appropriate expressions for your story? For example, matching sad animals to happy humans.
- If an image is shared, will it be accompanied by a caption providing context so that all people shown are named as part of our commitment to responsible storytelling?
- In the accompanying information, are we protecting people by making sure that we are not sharing more than one of these three pieces of sensitive information: 1. their full name, 2. specific location or location of origin and 3. identifiable image? Whilst doing this, are we ensuring that it is clear who the animal is and who the person is in the story and captions?
- Will I ensure that any materials for dissemination to external audiences are not subjected to air-brushing, photo-shopping or other forms of image alternation to falsely amend the perception of an animal’s welfare state (or owner or environmental condition), either positively or negatively?
You can read the full Storytelling strategy here.