Ask anyone in the marketing profession what matters most when it comes to creating content these days and “quality” will be your answer. As great as the quality boon has been for getting content creators to up their game and weed out quantity as the approach of choice, it was only a matter of time before people started talking about the next big thing.

Oh yes, the tides of change are upon us, and they seem to be ebbing towards storytelling. About time.

While nothing’s written in stone, there’s a case to be made for a push in this direction. For starters, personalization seems like a natural progression from where things are at now and telling a great story is a tried-and-true way of getting that personal message across. Just look at the Super Bowl.

Not long ago, it seemed like every company was trying to out-weird each other in a commercial war that seemed like it would never end. Sure, there’s always the occasional exception, but that’s just the way it was for a while, until Ram Trucks decided to mix things up last year with their wholly unexpected “Farmer” commercial that had everyone drying their eyes during the most macho day of the year. This year, it was all about Always’ “#LikAGirl” spot that told a great, pertinent story and had us feeling all the feels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIxA3o84syY

As for how companies are going to start using storytelling to their advantage, the options are seemingly limitless. Everyone has a story to tell and everyone remembers the ones that echo their own experiences. Then again, like we said, it’s easier said than done. In a perfect world, every movie would be of Shawshank’s caliber and every trip to the theater would be better than the last. Tragically, that is not the world we live in.

Which brings us back to square one: is storytelling going to be the next big thing?

What do you think?