Behind the scenes: Storytelling for public projects
When people think of storytelling, they often picture polished campaigns, finished websites or a beautifully produced video. What they rarely see is the work that happens long before anything goes public: the listening, translation and decision-making that shape the stories that actually resonate with intended audiences.
In public-sector work, storytelling isn’t spin. It’s about helping communities understand what’s happening, why it matters and how they fit into the bigger picture. And more often than not, the most important storytelling happens behind the scenes.
A story starts before the message
Effective storytelling begins well before a single word is written. It starts with understanding the project itself, including constraints, opportunities and real-world impacts. Public projects are complex by nature as they involve funding rules, regulatory requirements, technical details and competing priorities. If that complexity isn’t fully understood, it shows up as confusion later. Trust us.
Behind the scenes, this means asking project leaders a lot of questions:
What problem is this project truly solving?
Who will feel the impact first, and who might feel uncertain now?
What decisions are already made, and where is there room for input?
This early work ensures that your agency's story isn’t reactive. Instead of rushing to explain after confusion sets in, teams can proactively build a narrative that level sets expectations. It also established your agency as the source of truth on a project from the get-go, which can be critically important on long-term or debated projects.
Translating, not simplifying
A common misconception is that public storytelling means “dumbing things down.” In reality, the work is about technical translation, so people can actually understand the "why" behind projects. Residents don’t need every intricate detail, but they do need enough context to understand trade-offs, timelines and benefits. To use a water infrastructure project as an example, do people need to know the diameter of a new pipeline? No. Do they care about long term water reliability? Yes.
Behind the scenes, this often looks like distilling complex information into clear themes:
What does success look like for the community?
What’s changing, and what’s not?
How does this project connect to past commitments or future goals?
Strong storytelling respects the audience’s intelligence while removing unnecessary distractions. When people feel informed (but not overwhelmed), trust has room to grow.
Alignment before amplification
One of the most overlooked parts of public storytelling is internal alignment. If staff, leadership and partners don’t share the same understanding of a project, outreach will not help you. In fact, it could exacerbate misalignments.
Behind the scenes, storytelling work includes:
Aligning leadership on plain-language talking points, without diluting key messages
Equipping frontline staff to answer questions consistently
Making sure visuals, messaging and tone match the project’s intent
This alignment allows organizations to speak with one voice, even across departments. It’s often invisible to the public, but the difference can be felt.
Making room for real voices
Public projects don’t exist in a vacuum. They intersect with lived experiences, history and community sentiment. Behind-the-scenes storytelling means creating space for these perspectives early, not as an afterthought.
This can include listening sessions, interviews, surveys or informal conversations that surface how people actually feel, and not just how a project is supposed to work. These insights help shape messages that are honest, empathetic and grounded in reality.
When storytelling reflects real concerns and aspirations, it becomes a bridge rather than a barrier.
Storytelling in action
JPW put our storytelling skills to work for the City of Tustin's Water Department on a campaign to communicate the agency's water rate adjustment clearly and effectively.
Instead of technical jargon, we used approachable language and infographics to explain the reasons behind the rate adjustment, focusing on what mattered most to the public. This approach led to approval of the new rates, minimal public protest, and strengthened trust in the agency. Click here to read the full case study.
The quiet work that builds trust
The most effective public storytelling often doesn’t call attention to itself. It feels clear. It feels calm. It feels intentional.
That’s because of the behind-the-scenes work—weeks or months of synthesis, collaboration and refinement—that ensures stories aren’t just compelling, but responsible. In the public sector, credibility matters as much as creativity. Storytelling is successful not when it dazzles, but when it helps communities understand, engage and move forward with confidence.
At JPW, we believe this quiet work is where the real impact happens. Because when storytelling is done right behind the scenes, the outcomes speak for themselves.