Returning home from Cannes, following the inaugural Lions Health, there is one phrase, which sticks with me most. It came from David Nutter, director of the majority of the best pieces of storytelling to hit our screens over the past 20 years – The X files, Band of Brothers, ER, Smallville, Homeland, Game of thrones to name a few. He simply said“I don’t want to entertain you, I want to reach into your heart and touch you.”

A phrase so apt for health communications – it got me thinking . What else can we, in the world of health, learn from someone such as Nutter?

One suggestion was given by Adrian Parr, Executive Creative Director of McCann health London. Chatting after the awards ceremony Ade spoke of a move to drive creative teams away from big ideas and towards long ideas. My take on a long idea is one that stays with you, one that evolves, one that you, as the audience, take as your own and run with. At Aesop we’d call that a story. And we firmly believe that stories are the best way to engage an audience’s heart and as David Nutter said in his inspiring session at Cannes…”if you’re talking to the heart, make sure it’s listening.”

So what else can we learn from this storytelling guru about how to make sure we’re engaging hearts? One clue comes in the format of the majority of Nutter’s work…he tends to deliver his stories through series…a succession of encounters with the characters that he uses to shape our thinking and emotions. As brand storytellers we should adhere to this simple method. Where in the past we’ve created campaigns, which shouted for an audience’s attention in a launch phase and then tailed off, we now need to be thinking about brand narrative; taking the audience on a journey over time; shaping their response both rationally and emotionally and ensuring that they are moved. As Nutter stated… “It’s not about how many, it’s about how deep”– a huge audience that isn’t emotionally engaged is a fail.

As Kevin Spacey, arguably one of today’s greatest storytellers once said… “The audience is crying out for stories, they’re dying for them…all we have to do is give them to them.”