Stories of the Year: Our Top Picks
Our Stories Contain Multitudes: Part One
For every company we work with, our team takes a broad view of all the stories we uncovered. There’s dozens of stories, sometimes across several interview days. And, themes always emerge. We start to see consistencies and patterns. Often, this leads to universal truths about a culture or team.
This year, two (@!) themes emerged when we reviewed our favorite employee stories of the year. And, we decided to honor them all. Hey, when you’re got something to celebrate…
Our Stories of the Year fall into two categories:
Stories of the Year: Our Stories Contain Multitudes (part one, this post) and Stories of the Year: the Best Employee Testimonials, Soundbites with Stories! (part two).
This post includes the stories that contain multitudes. Yes, they all bring culture to life, and that’s enough. But that’s not the only box they checked.
These favorites are working overtime. They communicate many things through stories that are hard to say with written words or taglines alone.
Here are some of those employee stories we loved that fit this theme.
Jump to:
- BAE Systems, Inc: Amy’s Story, Benefits that Matter plus Cultural Context
- Stellantis: Making a Car, part of the Meet the Makers series
- The Knot Worldwide: Giovanni’s Day in the Life video
- The Knot Worldwide: A Different Perspective for an Employer Brand Video
- Intuitive: Dual Perspectives for Emotional Impact
- Stories Inc.: Coming Soon + Behind the Scenes + Culture Insight Videos
- Regal Rexnord: UX Team Story (told by a single storyteller)
BAE Systems, Inc: Amy’s Story
We know great employee story content often answers the question, “What has your organization done specifically to make an employee’s life better?”
We created a video about a policy that changed Amy’s life. And it’s a great story! That version of her story would be enough.
But, there was more value hidden in more context.
Also in the story, Amy shared how she was supported at a work conference. Colleagues were actually trusted friends. The employer branding team at BAE Systems, Inc. wanted to include this important cultural context.
And, these smart marketers now had two versions of the same story. A shorter version was about fertility benefits (important), and it fit into a general culture video. They also created a longer version, which stands alone as its own piece. It shows the personal impact of the benefits they offer while also showing us that trusting relationships and friendships matter at work.
Both video versions serve a good purpose in providing candidates clarity in different formats, in different channels. Here’s the full context version.
Stellantis: The Making of a Car
This Story of the Year takes the viewer through the making of a car.
It’s cool. And it could have stopped there.
But, this video also shows how each job contributes to the greater goal, a product at the end of the line. We see and hear from the employee experts who make it happen. From stamping, to transmission, to engine, to paint, through assembly, we understand the level of detail that each job requires to get the car to the end of the line.
Part realistic job preview, part culture insight, this video also uses the sounds of the floor to transport the viewer into the plant. Read the case study to learn more about Stellantis’ Meet the Makers Campaign.
The Knot Worldwide: Giovanni’s Story
Day in the Life videos are the ultimate “check the box” recruitment marketing content.
Authentic? Check. A person starts and finishes their day, usually by entering and leaving work? Check. Personal elements like grabbing coffee or time with their family? Check. Interacting with coworkers? Check. Showing the office and work environment? Check, check.
But there lies the opportunity. Defy expectations and the ordinary by sharing something unexpected. Be creative. Don’t settle and ship your video, don’t just call it a day (in the life). In particular, Day in the Life videos suffer from sameness and predictability.
That’s why we like the added creative touches like graphics. We like the extra exposition that shows and tells why flexibility is important to Giovanni, a real person that’s both like you and uniquely himself.
The Knot Worldwide: A Different Perspective
Oh yes, your employer brand videos can feature more than employees and leaders.
The Knot Worldwide serves two audiences: people who are planning and vendors providing services. To bring their mission and the basics of their business value to life, the Knot Worldwide team interviewed a vendor who is active on their site. More than just a testimonial, his story addressed misconceptions, showed real world impact, and built emotional connection. You could consider it an employer brand video, too! And, bonus points: A strong hook and embedded graphic stop the social scroll from the first second.
Intuitive: Dual Perspective for Emotional Impact
Yes, your culture content can include customers.
And if your team members are also users, customers, or product advocates? That’s a wealth of stories.
In Intuitive*’s case, they were able to identify several employees who had undergone surgery with the da Vinci, Intuitive’s product.
The Intuitive team interviewed several team members across the company. They created a series devoted to employee storytellers who could talk about their experience working at Intuitive and their personal experience with the da Vinci. This great compilation video makes the most of their storytellers, who have different experiences that showcase the real impact and benefit of the product and the purpose employees feel at work.
*Intuitive is not a Stories Inc. client.
Stories Inc.: Coming Soon Content
It’s a constant question: how do you squeeze all the value out of your video content?
The World’s Best Marketer reminded us all there is an art to Coming Soon Content. And, entrepreneurs are often told to “build in public;” posting about their journey as a way to connect with their buying audience. Capturing their journey is an important part of marketing their story and product. While Stories Inc. was uncovering and capturing stories for a major hotel chain, we could feel the vibe.
How could we bring our audience along?
The result is a video that’s many things: a snapshot of culture, a coming-soon of an important project, and a Behind-the-Scenes story.
Regal Rexnord: Best Team Story (told by a single storyteller)
Tell stories candidates care about.
The best thing you can do is transport a candidate into your company, that team, that job… through stories. When candidates can picture themselves there, it’s easier for them to opt in or out.
We like this video because it brings the experience of working on the UX team to life. It’s from the perspective of one of the first members of the team. She doesn’t just list projects—she tells stories about how their teams work and why it matters. That’s when candidates truly connect.
Want to learn more about culture communication, brand activation through stories, and employee storytelling?
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