Why presence beats planning in storytelling
One of the pieces of content I can’t stop watching this month isn’t coming from a sport brand. It’s Joe Daymond touring south of the US and it’s made me rethink what we usually label as “good” content.
At first glance, it feels like it skips the usual storytelling work. There’s no setup or background. But that absence creates presence; you’re not being told the story, you’re experiencing it.
Most videos open with a simple human hook rather than a polished setup "I was told I had to try this, someone sent me here, I met this person, and they brought me along". From there, Joe moves through parts of the South that don’t usually show up in feeds - small towns, everyday places - and the encounters are allowed to carry the story.
The content is built around unscripted human interaction. People stop him. Talk with him. Laugh. Share stories. Recognise something familiar. That recognition keeps surfacing in the comments, not framed as “great content”, but as a feeling; home, family, reunion.
It’s become so consistent that people are openly calling for this to become a full-blown show, tagging Netflix and TVNZ. Not because it resembles conventional reality television, but because it doesn’t. It feels observed, not engineered.
What’s also easy to miss is how intentionally the content moves between formats across the feed without losing trust. Some moments are more highly produced and shaped by Endivisons, while others are raw phone footage filmed by Joe himself. Alongside that, you get reflective voice-overs that add context or history, and in-the-moment conversations with locals that are largely left alone. It’s not one style pretending to be everything. It’s different modes of storytelling living side by side comfortably. The feed feels coherent without feeling controlled. The polished moments don’t overpower the human ones, and the raw moments aren’t treated as gimmicks. Craft is present, but it’s there to support the interaction, not polish it away.
✨This is where, in my view, the real opportunity for sport sits.
The lesson here isn’t about copying the format or chasing a particular version of “authentic” content. It’s about what this work consistently does before the camera ever comes out - prioritising presence over planning, and interaction over output.
That shift reframes the work. It moves the focus away from endlessly refining strategy and towards reconsidering where stories are allowed to begin. Letting people and communities lead, rather than asking every moment to serve a pre-set message.
For sport, that could mean spending more time in places and communities that aren’t usually centred. Letting stories be shaped by who turns up, not what was briefed. Using storytelling and production to respond to moments, rather than trying to control them in advance.
While it may make some managers uncomfortable, authenticity and connection can’t be forced. Once that space exists, connection tends to follow on its own terms