Fresho x Dales - Creative Brand Storytelling
Combining authentic human stories with compelling visual narrative
Creative branded content that tells authentic stories and builds emotional connection
Your brand video probably sucks. Not because the footage is bad—the footage is gorgeous. 4K, cinematic, beautifully lit. It sucks because 93% of viewers clicked away after 8 seconds, and the remaining 7% only stuck around because they were too polite to close the tab during your MD's opening monologue.
We know this because we've made those videos. Early in our journey, we'd deliver stunning corporate films that looked like Nike ads but performed like shareholder reports. Beautiful to look at, painful to watch. The problem wasn't craft—it was story. Or rather, the complete absence of it.
Here's what we learned after a decade and 500+ brand films: Nobody gives a shit about your company. They care about themselves. Their problems. Their aspirations. Their 47 seconds of attention before the next dopamine hit. Your job isn't to inform them about your brand—it's to make them feel something before they scroll past.
The Media Hog Principle:
"If your brand video could work just as well as a PowerPoint deck, you've made a PowerPoint deck with expensive B-roll. Tell a story or don't bother shooting."
What follows isn't theory from a marketing textbook. These are battle-tested storytelling techniques from real productions—the frameworks, emotional hooks, and creative approaches that turned corporate briefs into content people actually wanted to watch. From tech startups with £3K budgets to global brands with six-figure shoots, the principles stay the same: story first, always.
What You'll Learn
Story Frameworks That Work
Every memorable brand video follows a narrative structure. Not a rigid formula, but a framework that gives your message shape, direction, and emotional arc.
The Hero's Journey (Customer-Centric)
Your customer is the hero. They face a challenge, discover your solution, and emerge transformed. This framework works brilliantly for case studies and customer success stories.
Problem → Agitation → Solution
Identify a pain point, explore why it matters (the cost of inaction), then present your solution as the path forward. Direct, effective, conversion-focused.
The "Why" Story (Purpose-Driven)
Start with your purpose, your belief, your mission. Show how that drives everything you do. This builds deep emotional connection and brand loyalty.
Case Study: Life in Motion - Mount Anvil Canary Wharf
The Challenge: Property developer Mount Anvil needed to reposition Canary Wharf from "business district" to "aspirational place to live" for luxury residential development
Our Approach: Multi-technique storytelling using drone aerials for scale and grandeur, gimbal for human-level energy, timelapse for rhythm and vibrancy, hyperlapse for immersive journey
Narrative Arc: Dawn awakening → Morning energy → Daytime sophistication → Golden hour beauty → Night excitement - telling the story of a full day living in this dynamic location
Storytelling Techniques:
- • Varied pacing creates emotional waves - slow contemplative moments contrasted with energetic sequences
- • Camera movement conveys feeling - sweeping aerials for aspiration, flowing gimbal for lifestyle immersion
- • Golden hour grading reinforces premium, aspirational positioning
- • Music-driven editing creates rhythm that feels cinematic, not corporate
Result: 2-minute brand film that transforms perception through pure visual storytelling. No voiceover, no text - just narrative craft that makes viewers feel the lifestyle before reading a single word
Hook Them in 3 Seconds or They're Gone Forever
Logic makes people think. Emotion makes people act. Every marketing course teaches this, yet we still get briefs that start with "Open on our headquarters building" or "Begin with the CEO explaining our mission."
No. Just... no. Your viewers aren't sitting in a cinema with their phones off, committed to watching. They're scrolling Instagram while half-watching Netflix, and you've got the attention span of a goldfish with ADHD to work with. Three seconds. Maybe four if the thumbnail was really good.
The 3-Second Hook Formula
You need one of three things: Curiosity, Emotion, or Disruption. Ideally all three. Here's what actually works:
- • Start with a question (visual or verbal): Show a problem mid-crisis, ask something provocative, create information gap
- • Open with raw human emotion: Laughter, tears, surprise, frustration—something that makes us instinctively mirror it
- • Break the pattern: Do something unexpected. Close-up on texture instead of wide establishing. Silence instead of music. Movement when they expect static.
Case Study: Fresho Case Study
The Brief: Tech company (Fresho) needed to showcase how their platform transforms food retail businesses
Emotional Strategy: Led with the human story - real business owner, genuine challenges, authentic transformation
Hook: Opens with the subject in their element - hands working with fresh produce, immediate authenticity and relatability
Impact: Instead of tech specs, we told a business owner's story. The product benefits emerge naturally through their experience
Emotional Triggers That Work
Aspiration
Show the transformation, the better version, the achieved goal. "This could be you."
Belonging
Create community, shared identity, being part of something bigger. "You're one of us."
Curiosity
Pose questions, reveal gradually, create information gaps. "Want to know how?"
Relief
Acknowledge pain, validate struggle, offer solution. "We understand, here's help."
Visual Language and Style
Your visual choices are narrative choices. Camera movement, color grade, shot composition - these aren't just aesthetic decisions, they're storytelling tools that create mood, guide attention, and communicate meaning without words.
Camera Movement as Storytelling
Static/Locked Shots
Feeling: Stability, authority, contemplation
Use for: Interviews, formal messaging, establishing confidence
Gimbal/Flowing
Feeling: Energy, discovery, immersion
Use for: Behind-the-scenes, product exploration, human stories
Drone/Aerial
Feeling: Scale, grandeur, perspective
Use for: Establishing scope, revealing context, creating wow moments
Visual Case Study: More London Destination Promo
Visual Strategy: Promoted London Bridge area through varied visual language - drone for scale, gimbal for street-level energy, timelapse for rhythm
Storytelling Through Shots:
- • Aerial establishing shots create "wow" and show connectivity
- • Ground-level gimbal work captures human scale and vibrancy
- • Golden hour lighting creates aspirational, premium feel
- • Varied pacing between contemplative and energetic moments
Narrative Result: Told a location's story purely through visual language - no voiceover needed to convey lifestyle, energy, and desirability
Color Grading as Emotional Language
Color grade isn't just "making it look nice" - it's setting emotional tone and reinforcing your brand identity.
- • Warm tones (golden, orange): Comfort, nostalgia, human connection, authenticity
- • Cool tones (teal, blue): Technology, professionalism, trust, modernity
- • High contrast: Drama, intensity, premium quality
- • Desaturated/muted: Sophistication, documentary feel, seriousness
- • Vibrant/saturated: Energy, youth, playfulness, creative industries
Pacing and Structure
Great stories breathe. They have rhythm, variation, moments of intensity and moments of rest. Poor pacing is one of the most common reasons brand videos feel flat or lose attention.
The Three-Act Structure for Brand Video
Act 1: Hook (First 10-15%)
Establish world, introduce tension, create curiosity. Make them want to keep watching.
Act 2: Build (Middle 60-70%)
Explore the problem/solution, build emotional investment, provide value. The meat of your story.
Act 3: Resolution (Final 15-20%)
Deliver payoff, provide clear next step, leave lasting impression. Emotional peak + call to action.
Editing Rhythm
Shot Length Creates Feeling
- • Quick cuts (1-2 seconds): Energy, urgency, modernity, excitement
- • Medium shots (3-5 seconds): Comfortable viewing, professional pacing
- • Long holds (6+ seconds): Contemplation, luxury, importance, emotion
Vary Your Rhythm
Constant pace becomes monotonous. Create waves - build tension with faster cuts, release with slower moments. Musical pacing even without music.
Optimal Video Lengths by Platform
- • Social Feed: 15-30 seconds (grab attention fast)
- • Website Hero: 30-60 seconds (engage, don't bore)
- • Brand Story: 90-120 seconds (tell full narrative)
- • Case Study: 2-3 minutes (depth while maintaining interest)
- • Documentary: 5-15 minutes (full storytelling, earned attention)
Authenticity vs Polish: Finding the Balance
Here's the tension: audiences crave authenticity, but they also expect professional production. Too polished feels corporate and disconnected. Too raw feels amateur. The sweet spot? Intentional authenticity with professional craft.
You can light it beautifully, grade it perfectly, and deliver it in 4K—but if the story feels manufactured, or the "real person" is clearly reading a script, audiences sense it immediately. Technical excellence means nothing without genuine emotion and believable storytelling.
Authentic Storytelling
- • Real people, real stories
- • Natural dialogue, not scripts
- • Showing vulnerability/challenges
- • Imperfect moments that feel human
- • Genuine emotion and reactions
Professional Craft
- • Intentional cinematography
- • Controlled lighting and audio
- • Strategic editing and pacing
- • Purposeful color grading
- • Thoughtful music selection
Case Study: Motability Foundation
The Challenge: Demonstrate real-world impact of charity grants without feeling exploitative or overly sentimental
Authenticity Approach: Genuine interviews with grant recipients in their environments, natural lighting, conversational tone
Professional Polish: Thoughtful B-roll, intentional pacing, quality audio, purposeful grading that enhanced without manipulating
Balance Achieved: Feels documentary-real while maintaining professional credibility. Emotion comes from truth, not manipulation
The Authenticity Checklist
Before finalizing your brand video, ask:
- • Would a real person actually say this, this way?
- • Does this feel like a human story or a corporate pitch?
- • Have we shown vulnerability or only perfection?
- • Would our audience's skeptical friend call bullshit?
- • Does the production style serve the story or overshadow it?
Story First. Everything Else Second.
The difference between brand videos people skip and brand videos people share isn't budget. It's not gear. It's not celebrity endorsements or viral trends or TikTok-style editing. It's story. Just story. Applied ruthlessly, from the first second to the last.
Every brand has stories worth telling. Most just bury them under features, benefits, corporate speak, and mission statements nobody asked for. The challenge isn't finding your story—it's having the guts to tell it without the safety net of jargon and the courage to lead with emotion instead of information.
The Uncomfortable Truth:
If you're not willing to make your audience feel something in the first 3 seconds, you're not making a brand video—you're making a very expensive brochure that nobody will read. And that's fine. Just don't be surprised when it lives on your website, unwatched, while your competitors are getting shared on LinkedIn.
These aren't theories from a marketing course. They're techniques from a decade of real productions—working with clients brave enough to ditch the "safe" approach and trust that their audience is smart enough to connect with real stories, told well. Sometimes that works. Sometimes the client still insists on opening with the headquarters building. But when it works? That's when brand videos become brand stories people actually remember.
Ready to Make Something People Actually Watch?
We've made brand films for tech startups, global corporations, and everything in between. Some went viral. Some quietly delivered 40% conversion lifts. All of them started with story. Let's find yours.
Let's Talk Story (Not Specs)