Six Reasons Why Storytelling Works
Date: October 20, 2025
Author: Natalie Pastuszak
When we want to ensure messaging is well understood and memorable, “storytelling” is part of the strategy. While it’s often overused, we also can’t underestimate its impact. So, we thought we’d break down why storytelling works.
Storytelling is especially powerful when you’re describing something that doesn’t yet exist: a future neighbourhood, a new destination or a reimagined community.
When you’re asking people to see potential, story becomes the picture that captures emotion. It brings imagination to the forefront and gives meaning to plans, renderings and building models. It connects the present with a desired future.
Here is one prominent example of a story I’ve helped shape –
The Soap Factory
First Gulf, 2019 planned project
Once home to the production of iconic brands like Sunlight and Dove, this early-1900s industrial landmark along the Don River stood as a symbol of Toronto’s manufacturing ingenuity. As part of the First Gulf team, we saw an opportunity to honour that legacy while writing its next chapter: reimagining the former Unilever soap works as The Soap Factory, a 600,000-square-foot modern office building.
The vision was rooted in adaptive reuse: preserving the site’s brick-and-beam authenticity and the faint scent of its past, while transforming it into a space designed for innovation, commerce and collaboration.
During early presentations, we greeted visitors next to displays of vintage soap bottles and stories of the people who once worked there — an immediate, sensory connection to the past that made the vision for its future come alive. The same place that produced essentials for everyday life will now continue to live through a place that produces ideas and opportunity. What once supported Toronto’s industrial economy will now anchor its knowledge economy. This story set the tone for continuity and renewal tapping into history and emotion.
When you bring in a story that connects past, present and future, you’re creating cohesion, trust and belonging. Humans have relied on shared narratives to survive, make sense of change and move forward together.
Here’s why storytelling works — in real estate, and in every kind of communication.
1. It invites two-way participation
A good story doesn’t just tell, it transports. People visualize, connect and start to see themselves in the picture. Their attention deepens; their resistance drops. They are no longer being told something; they are co-creating it in their minds. That sense of shared authorship builds emotional investment.
2. It strengthens memory and comprehension
Stories give facts a structure to stick to. They create hooks, patterns and meaning. Research from Stanford University shows that stories make information up to 22 times more memorable than data alone. Why? Because our brains remember the journey from beginning to the end far better than isolated points.
3. It bridges different ways of learning
Some people absorb information best by hearing, others by seeing or doing. While the “learning styles” theory isn’t scientifically proven, it is a popular one. Storytelling naturally weaves all modes together: visual imagery, spoken rhythm, emotional feeling. It engages multiple senses at once, which helps people process and retain what they hear.
4. It sparks emotion and emotion drives action
We rarely move because of facts alone. We move because something feels right. Storytelling connects logic and emotion, helping people not only understand but also care. That’s what turns awareness into advocacy and interest into investment.
5. It builds trust and cohesion
Shared stories help align people around purpose. They make abstract concepts tangible and create common language across teams, partners and communities. In development projects, this alignment can turn complex planning into a shared vision.
6. It connects past and future
Every place has a story. When we uncover and build on that story, we create continuity and character. It’s what transforms a project from a parcel into a place.
Storytelling guides understanding, invites participation and makes new ideas feel familiar.