“So, what’s your story?” - Maarten Schäfer



In 2002 I started interviewing brands and my first question was, “So, what’s your story?” 


The vast majority of interviewees started giving me a long official account or even showing me PowerPoint presentations. Which for me with my dyslexia and short attention span was of course hard to process.


Maarten Schäfer - Author 'Around the World in 80 Brands'
A few years later it struck me: brand representatives have trouble telling their story for two reasons. 


One, they know too much. They want to show you all aspects of the brand and therefore can’t distinguish between want to be complete and do not want to leave anything out.



Second, they aren’t dyslexic. They assume everybody has an attention span of 45 minutes or more, so they keep talking and think the information is being absorbed.

“Haven’t they ever heard of information overload?” I asked myself. “People
don’t want more information, they want your story!”
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer on the Great Wall in China

 And besides, most people have a genuine distrust of top-down messages and corporate jargon. People trust information from friends and family. Something like 70 or 80% of all purchases are influenced by peer-to-peer communication.
In 2009, I decided to stop interviewing brands and go into third-party storytelling. I will tell the story for the brand. The tone of voice is horizontal, like in peer-to-peer communication.

The story is written in a narrative way in which I engineer the main message. The stories are fun to read, easy tounderstand and easy to transmit.
Ready for word-of-mouth.
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer - Cave diving in a 'cenote' in Yucatan
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer in Wadi Rum (Jordan)
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer in the Forbidden City in Beijing
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer - Playboy night
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer riding the Route 66
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer with Masaai warriors.
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer riding the Route 66
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer riding the Route 66
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer for CoolTravel in the West Sahara
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer on the Coconut coast in Brazil
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer in Dubai - UAE
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer in Avignon - France
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer in Lyon - France
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer in Dijon - France
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer - Storyteller for CoolBrands
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer and Anouk Pappers - Cool Nomads in São Paulo
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer - Storyteller for CoolBrands
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer - Storyteller for CoolBrands
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer and Ken Egbas in Lagos Nigeria
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer at Ipanema beach
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer at Fashion Rio
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer and Superman for CoolBrands
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer - "Street Art in Ipanema"
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer - "Running the Lagoa in Rio"
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer in Rio de Janeiro
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer jumping Sugar loaf
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.
Maarten Schäfer Creative Mind and Storyteller CoolBrands and CoolTravel Around the World in 80 Brands
Maarten Schäfer - Storyteller for CoolTravel
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer at Fashion Rio
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer in Niteroi
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer in Rio de Janeiro "Street Art in Rio"
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.  
Maarten Schäfer and Aline Santos
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.
Maarten Schäfer and Paulo Borges
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories. 
Maarten Schäfer and Lenny Niemeyer
Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.






































Maarten Schäfer and Lenny Niemeyer

Maarten Schäfer - Creative mind and storyteller for CoolBrands and CoolTravel. Traveling the planet meeting people, experiencing cultures, taking pictures and writing stories.

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