V Strategies tells stories that engage with people
V Strategies is a Calgary success story all on its own.
But its path to becoming one of Canada’s most sought-after media strategy firms is built on telling the stories of others.
“Our tagline is ‘Story first, medium second,’ so our belief is that every medium is effective — whether it’s virtual reality or print — as long as you have a great story to tell,” says Jeff Bradshaw, president and chief executive officer at V Strategies, who founded the company about 20 years ago.
Over the past two decades, technologies have changed from using film cameras to virtual and augmented reality.
Viewers can now explore digital worlds like never before. Yet, without a good story that resonates, a message — no matter how beautifully adorned with captivating imagery — quickly fades from the minds of its target audience.
“You can do the most advanced virtual reality experience, but if the story is not compelling, viewers will be bored in a matter of seconds,” he says.
What’s more, in today’s world truly great storytelling is hard to find.
“We’re bombarded with thousands of images every day between traditional and social media, so we create visual filters that make it hard to get your message out,” Bradshaw explains.
That’s where V Strategies is a difference maker. It has a reputation for helping companies large and small, across a variety of industries, find stories that cut through the noise.
“We’ve developed a process called ‘100 Stories Workshop’ where we go into companies, bring together 10 to 12 people from that organization, and within a few hours we uncover about 100 stories of interest to their target audience,” he says.
“Out of that, we choose the best of the best to develop video, animation, print and digital, like virtual reality.”
From advertising campaigns to corporate training, V Strategies embraces new technologies that make storytelling more immersive and exhilarating.
Yet at heart, the firm of about 20 employees has one simple goal: to captivate audiences with a good story, he says.
“Whether it’s education or marketing, it’s simply not enough to make a product that is visually engaging,” Bradshaw says. “It’s those great stories that people remember.”