For Atreyee, effective storytelling goes beyond flashy visuals and clever taglines. It’s about rethinking strategic communications – asking the right questions that reveal context, shape perception, and drive impact. In this Team Speak, Atreyee reflects on her insights and shares the most underrated aspect of communications.
Read on to discover how asking the right questions can transform data into stories that truly resonate.
Atreyee (A): Content is key, and storytelling is the only way to capture attention—true. But the insight that has made the most difference to the way I approach communications, and branding is utilising the power of simplicity.
Simplicity does not imply oversimplification. Whether it’s the for-profit or the non-profit sector, whether it’s an investor or donor, a customer or a policy maker, everyone is looking to find the ‘what’s in it for me?’ in every piece of content. It doesn’t matter if it’s a video or a recipe or a human-interest story or a report. Unless the piece of content evokes an emotion or curiosity or a different perspective to a challenge, the visuals, words, colours and the production fall flat.
Simplicity in communications is about conveying that point clearly. It means looking past the technicality, the jargon, and the complexity. It answers the ‘why’ behind a process, a product, a service, or a project, in the most compelling manner, so that no one is left questioning – how does this matter?
A: The ability to ask the right questions, to bring out the nuance that matters.
I won’t go into the debate of communications and branding being viewed as only an output – making the result ‘look better.’ However, due to this approach we tend to miss that how a product (in this case anything from a publication to an audio-visual) is developed, depends largely on shaping how we discover its journey and frame its progress.
Communications and branding ask the questions that matter.
Who is this product for? How do we intend for them to perceive it? What is the message we want them to take away? Why does it matter for them? How does it change their lives? Which challenge does it address?
Depending on which questions apply to the product at hand and how we answer them, the same dataset can tell multiple stories. Communications probes, observes, and contextualizes what makes Person A’s story different from Person B’s by figuring out the nuance, the lens through which we interpret impact. And that’s because real impact is specific, lived, and multi-dimensional.
A: Athena is actively working towards enhancing impact storytelling—moving beyond traditional reporting to craft narratives that better capture the depth and significance of our work. While we already have a strong foundation in data-driven insights, we are now focusing on integrating them with data storytelling to ensure our messaging is both evidence-based and engaging.
This next phase is something we are excited for, as a team.
We are exploring ways to bring impact to life through design, with the help of compelling infographics, interactive dashboards, or innovative data visualizations that make information more accessible. We are also refining how we communicate outcomes, ensuring we don’t just present numbers but also unpack the stories behind them—showing not just what was done, but what changed and why it matters.
The aim is to position Athena as not just a social impact consultant, but as a strategic communications partner that helps organizations translate their work into narratives that inform, inspire, and drive action.
