What is StoryArc
Story Arc is a storytelling initiative that unites TNC Marketing behind a theme and set of impactful stories aligning with our indentified Values-Centered Social Awareness Moments. With a larger Marketing effort behind this set of stories, there can be a consistent, repeated message delivered to our audiences driving home the message that TNC is doing great work in pursuit of our 2030 goals.
Each quarter, two-five stories (or concepts) are chosen and the StoryArc team deploys resources to develop each story into assets - such as articles, social posts, photo essays, and magazine articles. Once a story is identified, the StoryArc team is able to use budget to develop and shape stories as needed, and also to promote and measure the success of the stories.
The StoryArc team is a committee representing storytellers from across the organization and various marketing and creative teams. Each quarter (starting in FY22 Q2) is given a theme, chosen by the StoryArc team. The first theme was "Nature is the Investment of our Lifetime" and the three stories chosen to promote were:
- Mangrove Restoration in Kenya
- Belize/Maya Forest Deal
- Climate Change and Schools
Submitting a Story
The StoryArc submission form is built in Microsoft Forms and any TNC employee should be able to access and use the submission form. Currently, we are accepting submissions for the January-March story set aligning with the activation moments: Black History Month (February) and Women's History Month (March).
StoryArc Submission Form
- Ladder up to our climate and/or biodiversity 2030 goals
- Demonstrate TNC efforts to address a clear threat to nature
- Amplify partner voices
- Be a compelling example of some of TNC's best work
- Tell a local story connected to global goals
- Be respectful and inclusive to all parties
Calendar
Nov - Dec 2021
- Saving the Maya Rainforest by the Magazine team.
- Mother Mangrove by Margaret Southern and the Africa team.
- With Great Care, Climate Change is in the Classroom by Adam Bloom with support from Global Digital and Youth Engagement.
Jan-Mar 2022
Apr-Oct 2022
FAQs
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The purpose of the Story Arc is to unite TNC storytelling across the organization at key moments, highlighting the best, most inclusive stories in promotion of our narrative and 2030 goals.
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To show that the marketing division is organizing our stories and efforts around the 2030 goals while also improving communications techniques with new and existing audiences.
As the organization finalizes our 2030 goals and begins research to determine new supportive audiences for our conservation work, it’s vital that Marketing invest in translating our 2030 goals—and the projects that support them—to multiple important audiences. It’s also essential to show that every effort we put into external promotions helps to communicate the progress towards our 2030 goals.
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Initial success of the Story Arc will be determined by tracking the stories promoted in a given quarter and showing the following:
- Documentation of stories promoted to show investment in 2030 goal storytelling
- Documentation of audiences reached and what channels were used
- Report-outs on specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each channel to show engagement with topics
- Improved internal processes for managing this work
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The Story Arc is a global marketing priority and will be led by a diverse team of marketing colleagues who will curate the quarterly stories for promotion. This Story Arc Editorial Team will also convene Story Production Teams, when needed, to help craft and promote individual stories for promotion.
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The calendar themes are developed by the Marketing & Communications Leadership Team with input from leaders across the organization (e.g., Membership, Regional Marketing Leads, etc.) and the Executive Leadership Team. They’re informed by critical external moments our target audiences care about and key internal drivers important to the organization’s 2030 goals.
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Central to the Story Arc work is a content calendar that corrals and unites all important activations (such as well-known dates like Earth Day and Black History Month) with internal launches, acting as a guide to show when our audiences’ attention might already be piqued on a certain topic.
This calendar uses these activations, plus the 2030 goals, to guide on quarterly themes, which act as loose guardrails to lead us towards consistent messaging about our organization’s impact.
The Story Arc Team will use these themes, as well as feasibility of execution, as a guide when reviewing pitched stories.
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No. The Story Arc themes are being drafted and chosen in order to help guide the Story Arc Team towards successful KPI measurement (see above). To that end, the team would rather have a multitude of options for which they can think strategically about how to message the story for our audiences, than to not have any stories submitted.
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The Story Arc project will target the same priority TNC audiences:
- Members
- Influencers (e.g. corporate, policy, government)
- New Audiences (Anyone who does not fall into the above)
The Story Arc Team will take each story and determine how that story could and should be told for the above audiences, leading to differences in tone, messaging, and even channel in order to target each.
StoryArc Submission Form
Submit your story to the Story Arc team for the Jan-Mar 2022 story slate. We will be celebrating Black History Month and Women's History Month during this period.