When he launched his company IT MOVES IT in 2011, Pascal Wiscour-Conter did not realize that he would end up combining traditional consulting services with a revolutionary approach based on storytelling. Adapting narrative tools and strategies from movies and TV shows, he started to offer business development models that foster an immersive connection between a brand and its audience. The idea of Corporate Storytelling was born and creativity was both the premise and the key to his company’s success.
IT MOVES IT is serving small to medium-sized businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and individuals in a variety of fields. Today, founder and CEO Pascal Wiscour-Conter is active in business development consulting, screenwriting, and real estate. His wife and director of events Ana Wiscour-Conter coordinates the company’s engagements, promoting its ethos and venturing into new fields such as event catering with a narrative twist: “Story-Catering”. As a couple, they draw on their entrepreneurial experience and visions for sustainable business models. LACC has met with them in their new offices in Midtown Manhattan to discuss their careers, the mission of IT MOVES IT, as well the difference between American and European business development and storytelling.
LACC: You have moved from Luxembourg to Monaco and pursued professional activities in different fields – from luxury retail and yachting to real estate management and storytelling. In 2012 you came to the United States and after five years in California you have now settled in New York. How would you describe your career path and the role of IT MOVES IT at this exciting new stage of your life?
Pascal: My career has been eclectic in every sense of the word – cultivating an open mind and interest in a number of professional activities that still keep me busy today. Over the past decades, however, I have learned how to channel my passions as an entrepreneur into one business concept. Through creative storytelling IT MOVES IT allows me to stay involved in different fields while following a consistent method for strong and meaningful business development.
Ana: We have indeed moved from a touch and go mindset to a more focused approach. While keeping the lightheartedness of our former activities, it is mostly our experience from yacht management and luxury retail that sets the parameters for the success of IT MOVES IT. Not to forget the American drive for innovation that we first encountered in California.
Pascal: All in all, IT MOVES IT can be seen as the sum of our previous experiences, in a condensed and very focused way. It is a platform geared towards helping individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses in a variety of ways.
LACC: Basing its services on storytelling strategies, IT MOVES IT is a pioneering consulting firm. What does storytelling mean for you? What is its innovative potential?
Pascal: Storytelling provides a methodology for us to successfully lead business development projects and make the target audience responsive to the marketing efforts of our client’s brand or product. Why storytelling? We believe that every brand has a purpose we would like to express and share through stories – to make it more appealing to the customer. Once you define your purpose it becomes easier to promote your product.
Ana: Exactly! IT MOVES IT is asking about the purpose, the raison d’être of our clients’ products. An efficient marketing campaign addresses not only the customer’s needs but also the reasons of the product’s very existence. Why does it exist, what purpose does it serve? We feel that storytelling methods allow us to facilitate communication…
Pascal: …and help companies gain a better understanding of themselves.
LACC: The signature slogan of IT MOVES IT reads: “Every business is a story. Not every story engages.” Can you explain the daily routine at IT MOVES IT?
Ana: In short, there is no routine. Every day holds a new story and every client has different needs.
Pascal: The parameters constantly change – there are, however, two types of clients requiring either a short-term consulting service or long-term engagements that in the past have led to close collaborations with real estate companies, for instance, or the Permanent Writers Room from ScreenPower. Through our involvement as consultants, Ana and I were introduced to the team of Didier Ernotte and decided to take on their US Business Development plan. Today, we are working on screenplays for international movies and TV programs, as well as an upcoming Broadway show.
Ana: The same happened with general contractors that we are involved with as a developer, facilitator, and customer care representative. IT MOVES IT gives us the chance to pursue eclectic careers and to assist others through our consulting services and storytelling approach.
LACC: The narrative commitment of IT MOVES IT as part of a consulting strategy seems to be applicable to a variety of fields.
Pascal: That’s the beauty of our work – and the appeal of our method. We learned that 74% of all customers buy a product because of what it stands for. Our two-step scheme provides the tools to identify the purpose that will become the foundation for every storytelling concept we build. This scheme is called evolve and engage. The first step consists in creating authenticity – like an aura that surrounds the product. Secondly, our creative room develops strong narrative and visual strategies to implement an efficient promotion campaign. Storytelling is ubiquitous – you find it on social media, podcasting, in advertising, and even catering events that Ana has been working on.
Ana: I organized the reception and catering part for the Luxembourg National Day in New York and came up with very specific ideas on how to host a Luxembourg-themed event.
LACC: The idea of storytelling derives from classical media like movies and literature. Where do you find examples of successful storytelling?
Ana: The entertainment world is a primary source for narrative and visual inspiration that is easily translatable to forms of corporate storytelling, such as marketing and advertising or even social media plans. On the other hand, our life and job experience in different countries helps us with the technical aspects of leading a team and a company like IT MOVES IT. When we came to California, Pascal was active as a so-called Evangelist in the tech hub of Silicon Valley and gained his own perspective on how to sell his software company’s products. I believe that this high-pressure environment prepared us for our tasks now.
Pascal: Let me illustrate Ana’s point with an example from everyday life. There are two famous brands – I am not giving names – that promote their coffee in well-composed advertisement spots with American actors. However, one is more successful than the other because it relies on storytelling strategies and creates a short, albeit efficient narrative situation that brings the audience to connect. As a basic formula, I might say that successful storytelling is based on a conflict – and conflicts create interests and empathy.
LACC: Is there a difference between American and European storytelling?
Pascal: Experience has taught us that American storytelling tends to be more focused on the outcome of a narrative process whereas European narration is more method-based. Both models have their advantages and we try to strike the best possible balance between the two. We call that cross-cultural storytelling.
Ana: Since we are working with a multinational team, our background allows us to identify the best of both worlds. It is a multicultural dialogue that lies at the heart of IT MOVES IT and growing up in the cosmopolitan environment of Luxembourg certainly stimulates our open-mindedness and ability to adapt different ways of thinking. This is a typically Luxembourgish advantage.
LACC: What are your projects for the future of IT MOVES IT?
Pascal: Every day holds new challenges and opportunities. As far as the immediate future is concerned, we would like to be early adopters and keep track of technological, financial, and social changes to stay innovative and help our clients in the best possible way.
Ana: We would like to contribute to the community of New York, sharing our expertise and assisting companies to achieve their goals. Eventually, we are planning to use Luxembourg as a gateway and bring our US experience to the Grand Duchy. That way, we could be cross-cultural ambassadors that bridge the gap between the European and American mindsets – on either side of the Atlantic.
Pascal: Most of all, we are having fun and IT MOVES IT is a catalyst for our drive to help and provide sustainable business solutions. And we are preparing to move even further!
LACC: Thank you for this conversation!
Bob Dieschburg, LACC