Atchley also teaches executives how they can use the same tools, namely video cameras, scanners and software, to capture their own employees stories and transform them into corporate legends. Writing in the online magazine Salon last year, writer Scott Rosenberg articulated the problem of what so-called corporate branding can do to the highly personal realm of storytelling. In a business environment where branding has become a mantra of power, many companies are beginning to think of advertising as an opportunity to tell their corporate story to the world. Quite simply, stories that might motivate employees on a personal level inspiring tales of courage in the face of adversity, say might very well embarrass the company as a whole. Some could potentially lead to legal action.
Some companies skirt the issue neatly by inventing their own corporate stories wholesale.
They succeeded so well, The Wall Street Journal reported, that people still ask if they can meet the couple. Such lapses in veracity are legion in the advertising world, of course. They felt betrayed. And in many cases, the pros say, the fact that a story works is usually more important than its adherence to fact. Despite his declared commitment to fiction, MacKenzie has made a latter-day living out of telling uncomfortable truths to corporate executives and getting away with it.