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Storytelling · January 2025 · 9 min read

The Quiet Revival Of Corporate Storytelling

Why CFOs, COOs and CHROs are commissioning more film than CMOs — and what they're getting in return.

The Quiet Revival Of Corporate Storytelling

Something strange happened in our pipeline last year: more than half of new project briefs came from outside marketing.

CFOs needed films to explain quarterly performance to employees. COOs needed onboarding modules that did not feel like compliance content. CHROs needed culture films, exit films, anniversary films. Even legal teams started commissioning short-form explainers for policy roll-outs.

The throughline is that storytelling is no longer a marketing function in mature organisations. It is an operational one. Anywhere there is a moment of change — a launch, a layoff, a re-org, a quarterly call — there is now an instinct to tell that change with intention.

Marketing teams still commission the highest-budget films. But the quiet revival is happening one floor up, where business problems are reframed as communication problems. That's where we've been busiest.

Written by the studio

RELATABLE is a Bangalore-based storytelling, production and brand experience company. We help brands, marketing teams, and founders solve communication problems — before we pick up a camera.

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