Human Centric Media produced a multi-character narrative short exploring this athletic product’s transformative impact on people’s lives — providing an athletic performance company with the narrative infrastructure to speak to their core motivations, anchor their website, and turn viewers into believers.
Behind every motivated entrepreneur is a profound source of inspiration: a family tradition they’re upholding, vibrant cultural celebrations, or a traumatic event they don’t want other people to experience.
For Kirk Whiteman, the co-founder of DIALED[IN], it was watching Nelson Vails win the gold medal at the 1984 Pan Am Games. Seeing the former bike messenger and fellow Black man cross that finish line inspired Kirk to pursue athletic excellence, and when an injury sidelined that pursuit, to enable it in others.
Grounded Characterizations
Audiences are tired of tightly scripted commercial narratives and crave the emotional intimacy and directness of authentic stories. This is why Human Centric Media roots all of its narrative campaigns in genuine experience — bringing a trauma-informed, journalistic methodology to every production.
For DIALED[IN], this required identifying core messengers in pre-production who could speak to the effectiveness of the muscle cream from multiple angles: a dancer who uses movement to express herself, a world champion cyclist who was practically born on their bike, and Kirk himself.
It was paramount to the effectiveness of the story that each of them was enabled to speak truthfully and from the heart. Video is a powerful medium for authenticity, allowing subtle body language, facial cues and vocal tonality to connote that the testimonials are rooted in the truth.
Finding Their “Why”
The best way to draw these authentic accounts out of subjects is to explore their core motivations — what drives Paloma to dance, McKenna to train towards better times, and Kirk to run his own business.
Finding that motivation is a fundamental human experience and basing commercial narratives on people’s “why” is the best shortcut to audience engagement. Being relatable and real builds long-term trust, brand equity and deeper engagement: not just views and likes but purchases, subscriptions and loyalty.
Evergreen Storytelling
As DIALED[IN] prepared to attend national conferences and pitch university athletic departments on the benefits of their product, they needed a captivating narrative to sell not just their muscle cream, but the relatability of the people behind it.
By focusing the story on their deepest human motivations, we produced a narrative that can stand the test of time — anchoring the company’s website and helping them grow their core business.
When Human Centric Media builds foundational narrative infrastructure for entrepreneurs and small businesses, we come in searching for that “why.” Before we shoot a single frame or ask a single question, we get to know the people behind the business, their goals and personality.
Letting these elements shine is not just good sales strategy, it’s how entrepreneurs build legacy.
What are you working to build? We want to hear about it.
