Why Brand Storytelling
Matters

When I started out in the health and fitness industry almost [does horrifying age maths] two decades ago, I was writing for and then working at a little magazine called Men’s Health. Our moments, back then, were an issue hitting the newsstand. Seeing them stacked up on supermarket shelves or at a good ol’ WH Smith was always a buzz. To begin with, I’d rifle through the pages to find my bylines on boxouts and the regulars. In the end, it was the covers secured and entire issues overseen. Those were moments.

But a ‘moment’ has become a branded thing. Brand moments might be launch events or pop-up activations, seasonal colourways or merch collab drops. Moments are vital to the momentum of a brand in the space. But they are moments. By definition, they are a fleeting period of time. Moments are all to soon forgotten - replaced by the next moment on someone’s social media feed. And the next, and the next, and the next.

Stories last. One of my sons is currently reading an age-appropriate retelling of The Iliad and The Odessey, the same tales from the epic poems passed down through generations of oral history until Homer was attributed the written form. Stories like that endure.

Brand storytelling is not Homeric, clearly. Yet, when done well, it does endure. Branded editorial is a both a soft-touch and lasting form, putting you into the hands and minds of your audience and building a trustworthy sense of who you are and, crucially, how you can serve them rather than always just selling to them.

Brands in the fitness and wellness space have much more to offer than their products alone. We believe they have stories that yearn to be told; stories that can inspire their communities, old and new, to become better. Not as consumers. But as people.

People all have stories to tell. This inaugural issue of our quarterly digital magazine well.being is a collection of our stories from the world of fittest. and the real people behind the brands we work with. 

We hope you like it. By which we mean that you enjoy really reading something that can’t be just double-tap ‘Liked’. That lasts longer than a moment. Speak to you next issue.