Culture x story.
We know the signs that a brand is dying or withering on the vine. We can smell it like a sixth sense. When transformation is required, we can light the fire from which a phoenix can rise again. If you’re stuck, lost, floundering or flailing, when your brand is having a dark night of the soul, we are the mentors you need, with the magical tools on board, to write a story that will transfix customers and transcend your competitors.
Make stories on purpose. Make meaning take hold. Make connections that make sense of this world.
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Make stories on purpose. Make meaning take hold. Make connections that make sense of this world. 〰️
A catalyst for great change. A provocations workshop that will rattle you from slumber. An opportunity missile finder.
For those whose plan looks and smells like it did last year. For those who quietly suspect that in reality they don’t have a plan. And yes, all for those who think they have it all sewn up. This is your wake up call. Get ready to be poked, shocked, uncomfortable, awakened.
In scriptwriting, the inciting incident is the moment the hero’s world changes forever and they are sent hurtling into a new adventure, a transformative new trajectory. It’s not foreseen. It requires the action of an outside force. Consider this your bolt of lightning.
Proposal from $500.
A catalyst for great change. A provocations workshop that will rattle you from slumber. An opportunity missile finder.
For those whose plan looks and smells like it did last year. For those who quietly suspect that in reality they don’t have a plan. And yes, all for those who think they have it all sewn up. This is your wake up call. Get ready to be poked, shocked, uncomfortable, awakened.
In scriptwriting, the inciting incident is the moment the hero’s world changes forever and they are sent hurtling into a new adventure, a transformative new trajectory. It’s not foreseen. It requires the action of an outside force. Consider this your bolt of lightning.
Proposal from $500.
A catalyst for great change. A provocations workshop that will rattle you from slumber. An opportunity missile finder.
For those whose plan looks and smells like it did last year. For those who quietly suspect that in reality they don’t have a plan. And yes, all for those who think they have it all sewn up. This is your wake up call. Get ready to be poked, shocked, uncomfortable, awakened.
In scriptwriting, the inciting incident is the moment the hero’s world changes forever and they are sent hurtling into a new adventure, a transformative new trajectory. It’s not foreseen. It requires the action of an outside force. Consider this your bolt of lightning.
Proposal from $500.
A catalyst for great change. A provocations workshop that will rattle you from slumber. An opportunity missile finder.
For those whose plan looks and smells like it did last year. For those who quietly suspect that in reality they don’t have a plan. And yes, all for those who think they have it all sewn up. This is your wake up call. Get ready to be poked, shocked, uncomfortable, awakened.
In scriptwriting, the inciting incident is the moment the hero’s world changes forever and they are sent hurtling into a new adventure, a transformative new trajectory. It’s not foreseen. It requires the action of an outside force. Consider this your bolt of lightning.
Proposal from $500.
It’s time to tell tales.
The Folklorists are your business alchemists.
The truth tellers.
The soothsayers.
We put the cult in cultural branding.
We are the prophets of profit.
We create the stories that will define your identity.
We are the meaning makers.
We can see your future.
Without us, you may well be destined to the dusty abyss.
Together we can slide into culture’s DMs.
The Folklorists is a venture studio.
We’re here to bring new visions to life, to bring form to ideas that will alchemise and transform businesses through the power of heart and soul.
As prophets of profit, we hold unapologetic contempt for bland brands, knowing that middle of the road is the middle of nowhere.
We are a collective of specialists that can tap into the cultural consciousness to create meaning and connection through the power of narrative.
Does the name feel nerdy and quirky to you?
Did it make you wonder what it really means?
Well then, we’ve rather made our point.
Dissonance and resonance. These in equal measure.
Have people join the dots themselves and you’ve already set up camp inside.
The Folklorists: those who study how ideas are passed down by word of mouth can take hold in - and create - culture itself.
We know the signs that a brand is dying or withering on the vine. We can smell it like a sixth sense.
When transformation is required, we can light the fire from which a phoenix can rise again.
If you’re stuck, lost, floundering or flailing, when your brand is having a dark night of the soul, we are the mentors you need, with the magical tools on board, to write a story that will transfix customers and transcend your competitors.
A tale as new as time.
Make stories on purpose.
Make meaning take hold.
Make connections that make sense of this world.
North ‘It Calls’
The Folklorists:
specialists in how knowledge and beliefs create tribes.
We know that the middle of the road is the middle of nowhere. No-one remembers and recounts that what is not remarkable. Why would you think you’re different?
We mine the deep structures of human belief and what lies beneath timeless tales.
Meaning. Purpose. Identity.
Archetypes. Rituals. Story arcs.
Dissonance and resonance. In equal parts.
Because a story well-told isn’t content. it’s culture.
And culture is how empires are born.
From whispers to wildfire, we design narratives that catch alight.
We create cults not campaigns.
Let’s write your brand into culture so it becomes a lore unto itself.
“You have to be odd to be number one.”
Dr Seuss
Identity crisis? It’s because you don’t have one.
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Brand blueprint - your enduring truths
Find and define your brand’s lore - who you are, your quest, your resources, why it will be talked about.
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Discovery at depth including brand archaeology (digging for gold in your past and polishing up your origin story) and category convention hunting (proving that you look and smell like the rest, even when you think you’re special).
Define your quest (end goal) and the stages to get there. Define your character, motivation, gifts, actions.
Output: Brand on a page - purpose, position, promise, personality, values.
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Create the brand’s architectural blueprint that will set new vision and direction, unify and endure.
Personality goes a long way. If it’s remarkable.
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Brand personality workshop. For those whose tone and manner reads: ‘confident, relaxed, down to earth’ like every other brand who is afraid to stand out. A complete reset on how you show up - brand character, tone and manner, behaviour and actions.
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Archetype analysis, identification of category tropes and wallpaper, refreshed tone guidelines, example copy.
Every piece of communications will work harder when your brand sounds and smells like a real human that you would actually want to talk to at a party or a character you’d invest in on screen - nuanced, dimensional, with a backstory, a strong point of view and topics of expertise.
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Rise above the morass of mediocrity and earn cut-through and pass-on.
Be known, immediately.
Make people feel something and you will be remembered first and longest.
Be consistently dimensional and interesting to all audiences, internal and external.
Provocation workshop. We will rock you to your core.
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Provocation workshop. Opportunity missile finder. For those who feel stagnant, stuck or seeking inspiration, this is a powerful wake up call and compass setting exercise.
Get ready to be poked, jostled, deeply uncomfortable and then utterly energised.
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Category, core, consumer, culture review to identify what might be coming to hit you or what you’ve failed to hit.
A kick in the pants, a fire under your ass, to ignite fresh energy and new direction when you’ve been coasting or drifting too long.
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A fresh pair of eyes, motivation, new strategic or tactical focus, potentially the catalyst for brand, audience, portfolio expansion, extension, growth.
Artefacts to share with stakeholders to challenge conventional wisdom and accepted truths.
That’s not strategy, that’s tactics. Get your story straight.
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Get your story straight. Map out the next year’s worth of marketing and communications activity. A workshop to pull together key activity, phase it in a logical way that builds rhythm and momentum and identify opportunities to strengthen and enhance.
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Objective interrogation on whether your ‘best laid plans’ logically ladder up to, and build, a bigger bolder brand narrative.
Strategy is choices and sacrifices. What can we lose, what can we lift and shift, what pieces need to work smarter together and how? Importantly, what’s missing if you want step change?
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Be the stars of annual planning, give direction and inspiration to your product and sales team and show the exec that when used strategically the brand can unify, strengthen and be the driving force behind growth.
Not for everyone.
If you want stock-standard, safe as houses, there are agencies for that.
If you want data-led, keep paying the algorithm monkeys.
If you have no desire to shoot for the stars or change things up, rock on with your bland selves.
But if you want to get talked about, do things that will have tongues wagging, if you want to mean something, really mean something, you need more than noise, you need to tap into the cultural consciousness and bake narrative into your brand.
So bring us your vision, your weirdness, your raw, beating heart.
We’ll craft it into something unforgettable - a story and identity with meaning and momentum, a tale told by many, remembered by all.
“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Oscar Wilde
Drawing on experience with these brands
Global
EMEA
Australia and New Zealand
