Narratives are open-ended stories that shape the way we think. According to the World Economic Forum, in their BLOG post at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/market-for-narratives-battleground-leader-strategy-why/ 

If business leaders can produce and control a narrative, they are in a position to captivate the minds of those who their narrative encompasses. In an information society, this is becoming a most critical resource.

The WEF is working to produce and control the narrative around Climate Change in order to induce a social narrative that allows them to predict the future. If you haven’t noticed, everyone is in the business of predicting the future these days by inventing, controlling, and distributing it through narrative. 

Because we are entering the age of Metaverses and Omniverses, running on quantum computers that will explode the use of AI, we need to take this concept of narratives very seriously and figure out when and how we will interject our own narratives. 

Throughout this post, we’ll be reflecting on the WEF post listed above to quantify the efficacy 4DStory being the needed platform referred to in the blog post, for producing and spreading corporate narratives as well as personal ones.

Jack Ma, China’s iconic business leader and founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, spoke at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in 2017 where he conjectured that “competing successfully in "old" markets for capital, labour, goods and services no longer suffices. Firms, governments and other actors are compelled to create, contend and collaborate in new markets with distinct features and operating rules - markets for narratives.” 

This is the essence of Story Integrated Marketing®, the 4DStory model for instituting these operating rules. 

“Narratives are more than mental shortcuts for the real world - they increasingly are the real world… And yet, we know relatively little about how organizations compete for their narratives to be heard.This is a contest that increasingly determines success in "old" real markets, as well as in political and civil arenas.

A new strategy paradigm is called for.”

This new strategy really isn’t new. Business owners and managers have always been in the business of controlling the narrative, it’s just that these narratives were deployed in a silo format where its distribution power was limited to the corporate culture and difficult to extend to their customer base. The methods deployed to articulate that narrative were in the form of branding and storytelling through the brand. This worked well enough, but the efficiency of it all is less than desirable. Continuity, congruence and perpetuity had to be rebooted almost every time a new campaign was distributed. 



By encapsulating the narrative into a 4DStory trans-media production that’s connected to the blockchain through NFT’s and any other means desired, a more meaningful and diverse experience can be deployed across the corporate and customer base. 

“Winning in old markets for capital, goods and services depends increasingly on competing successfully in new markets for narratives. Old markets organize the efficient allocation of real-world scarcity. New markets organize mental-world scarcity - the limited cognitive and affective resources that shape our behaviours and preferences. Both are distinct yet tightly linked. Actors compete in narrative markets to secure claims on cognitive and affective bandwidth from consumers, investors or governments, which is then monetized in old markets.”

4DStory is a platform that allows you to organize and characterize your story, broadcast it across social channels and in the Metaverse while mapping each piece of content back to “old-market” products and services. And instead of the “actors” being limited to a spokesperson or CEO, virtual celebrities and influencers can be deployed and tuned in to exactly who the narrative is designed for. 

“Narratives interact with the real world in that actors combine normative beliefs (the "why") and positive beliefs (the "how") into decisions which result in perceived outcomes that potentially trigger a change of the narrative itself. As such, narratives are categorically different from stories. Stories are self-contained, whereas narratives are open-ended. Stories are subjective accounts of other people’s decisions, while narratives are about us. "The resolution of narratives depends on the choice you make and the actions you take - you will determine the outcome", writes John Hagel.” 

A 4DStory was initially designed to tell stories, and can still be used that way but the real power of a 4DStory in how it handles open-ended narratives because it’s natively designed to be interactive and moldable by the fans who follow the story, geopolitical influences, social changes, and more. It breathes and flows with the intention of the community, and being integrated into the blockchain through NFT’s, its intentions can be tracked and monetized. 

“However, for narratives to scale, these characteristics are not sufficient. Strategy must come into play. "

When designing a 4DStory, strategy is embedded into the plot. We are telling an open-ended narrative rather than a closed-ended story so why is there a plot? In an open ended narrative, the plot becomes the intention, theme, or strategy of the narrative that is then demonstrated by the 4D Characters we deploy to carry the narrative/ story. Think of it as a direction the story gravitates towards as it’s influenced by the community. 

“The more important narratives become, the greater the temptation to take advantage of asynchronous information, network centrality, and tools and technologies that exploit our emotional and cognitive biases.”

4DStory connects these advantages together by acting as a non-biased hub for assembly and distribution of the narrative. 

“At a time when worn social, economic and political narratives are falling apart, the race for new narratives is greater than ever. From securing a licence to operate in foreign markets to tapping into the purchasing power of millennials, to building trust in emerging technological domains such as big data, AI, autonomous vehicles and biotechnology, successful narratives are key. Strategy at the highest level is about shaping narratives and the markets where they compete.“

The way to make new narratives more accessible is to fictionalize them in a 4DStory, using the power of its 4D Characters with their emotionally aligned profiles and Kinetic Avatar infrastructure. Once these characters occupy the hearts and minds of those they were intended to communicate with, they innately drive each human response within the context of that narrative. This is the frightening but realistic reality of the power of 4D.

In closing, this WEF blog posts makes the following assertion, one that wholly justifies the implementation of a corporate 4DStory. 

“As a result, crafting meaningful narratives that reshape the way we think, feel and act is the utmost strategic leadership challenge. The role of chief narrative officer has been assigned to CEOs, entrepreneurs and politicians. Narratives come first; the rest of strategy follows.”

Want to shape a powerful narrative for your business, cause, or agenda? Check out 4DStory.com and get started producing your own narrative today!