Transparency is a funny word. Brands say they want it, then spend six months perfecting the lighting. Behind the Scenes storytelling actually delivers it — by showing the process, the people, and the imperfect reality that polished advertising quietly edits out. When audiences see what goes into something, they feel differently about it. Trust is no longer claimed. It's shown.
Here are 6 tactics from the Storytelling Engine that pull back the curtain with purpose.
- Process-as-Proof
- Unsung Heroes
- Co-Creation & Fan Energy
- Pulling Back the Curtain
- Process as Emotion
- Cultural Truths Exposed
1. Process-as-Proof
Show how it's made or regarded — and let that do the persuading.
Heinz Unfakeable — Heinz, Rethink, 2024
Food advertising runs on substitutes. Glue for milk. Varnish for meat. Faked steam from hidden heat packs. Food stylists have a workaround for everything — except ketchup. When they tried to fake Heinz, nothing came close. The campaign hired food stylists to reveal their entire toolkit, then put Heinz in front of the camera with no assistance. It still looked better than anything they could manufacture. The brief answered itself: when there's no substitute for the real thing, showing that fact is the most powerful claim you can make.
Heinz Ketchup's 'But First, Tomato' (Africa DDB, 2022) went further upstream — showing farmers, soil, and weather before a single bottle appeared. The New York Times' 'The Truth Is Hard To Find' (Droga5, 2018) used grainy photos, journalist voiceovers, and timestamps to expose the invisible labour of real reporting. BNP Paribas spotlighted renewable energy consultants and accessibility engineers to give a faceless institution a human interior.
