The Story Your Audience Is Already Living with Kristian Aloma

What if the biggest mistake brands make isn't saying the wrong thing, but not understanding the story their audience is already living? Oliver Atkinson sits down with Kristian A. Alomá, PhD, Founder & CEO at Threadline, whose work on narrative economy explores what's really being exchanged between brands and the people they serve: not information, not value propositions, but identity, meaning and belonging. Kristian traces his path from pharmaceutical advertising, where a doctor rejected a concept because he hated the model's shoes, to the insight that changed how he thinks about marketing altogether. He breaks down the difference between story and narrative, explains why the audience has to be the hero (not the brand), and shares his STORY framework for understanding what people are genuinely reaching for when they buy something. Along the way there are memorable examples: RadioShack's "You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers" campaign and why a good promise made to the wrong infrastructure falls apart fast; Southwest Airlines and what happens when you trust frontline people to act like humans; and the simple but powerful idea that you're not selling the cake, you're selling the ingredients people use to make it themselves. In a market flooded with AI-generated content and brittle trust, this episode gives marketers, creatives, leaders and internal comms teams a practical way to build loyalty, sharpen positioning and create work people can genuinely see themselves in. Follow Audience Connection Podcast: Website: https://www.casualfilms.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualglobal/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casual-films-international BlueSky: @casualglobal.bsky.social Subscribe now and join the conversation about creating content that truly resonates and storytelling backed by behaviour science.