DESCRIPTION
What‑if is a creative spark technique Pixar uses to open storytelling possibilities. It’s often applied in business storytelling during ideation or brand/marketing strategy workshops where teams explore “what if” scenarios to reframe a product, audience, or market with emotional creativity to answer audience/customer questions before they even ask them. It breaks down logic barriers, ignites imagination, and reframes ordinary business realities into emotionally engaging narratives by asking a powerful open‑ended question several times: “what if…”.
Origins:
Story artists and writers at Pixar mid‑2010s (around when Pixar shared “what if…” in their public storytelling courses, ~2016–2018). Real origin: Do you remember when kids do not stop ask you the question “Why?”? This is an adaption to it… 😉
USED BY
Storytellers, facilitators and story coaches, client representatives, designers and slide builders in strategic marketing, brand positioning, content creation workshops, innovation labs, and pitch development and especially when teams need disruptive, emotionally resonant story angles that break out of conventional pitches.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 1.5 hours
- Step 2: 1 hours
- Step 3: 2 hours
- Step 4: 2 hours
- Step 5: 1.5 hours
- TOTAL: 8 hours
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: whatever is available in a creative workshop environment.
STAKEHOLDER GOOD TO KNOW: Audience group you want to reach, core creative/marketing team, possible external facilitator to push neutrality, marketing lead, brand strategist, storytelling consultant, strategist, UX persona expert, copywriter, brand storyteller, internal reviewer, sample customers, internal review panel, marketing team.
STEPS
WHAT-IF?: shut down your logical filter and open imaginative possibilities.
Participants list “What if” statements of your already drafted or created story, wild, bold, emotional, absurd, regarding products, audience, brand essence. For example: “What if our office chairs could feel employee stress?” or “What if our product was alive and talked?”
Supporting methods: Brainstorming methods like “SCAMPER”, “Crazy 8s”, mind‑mapping, “5 whys”.
Example: (In a storytelling brand workshop) “What if our service could speak directly to customer fears?” leads to narrative about empathy embodied.”
FILTER & SELECT: narrow many what‑ifs to those aligned with strategic value, feasibility, or emotional resonance.
Evaluate ideas using criteria: brand alignment, emotional potential, audience fit, feasibility. Select top 3–5 most matching questions and work with them.
Supporting methods: Impact‑effort matrix, value‑feasibility scoring cards.
Example: From 10 what‑ifs, choose the “one” that emotionally ties to transformation: “What if our tool became a trusted advisor?”
LET’S GET EMOTIONAL: turn the abstract idea into a character-, product- or emotion‑based core.
For those “What-if”‘s you’ve selected, define the persona (e.g. product as advisor), primary emotion (e.g. reassurance), conflict (customer pain) and craft an emotional and logical journey.
Supporting methods: Pixar pitch six‑sentence structure, empathy mapping, persona creation.
Example: “customers feel lost → advisor speaks → trust grows → stress falls.”
BUILD THE NARRATIVES: create a compact story framework for pitches, presentations, or campaigns.
Write the first draft of a “new” mini‑story: beginning/context (“Once there was…”), conflict (“then one day…”), solution and impact. Use simplified pitch approach tailored to business style (drop fairy tale wording).
Supporting methods: Pixar pitch
Example: Small businesses felt overwhelmed. They lost time. That’s why our tool became a smart advisor. It guided them step by step. Now they reclaim hours to grow.
TEST & ITERATE: refine emotional impact, clarity, and engagement.
Present the prototype story to stakeholders or sample audience. Collect feedback and tweak phrasing, tone, structure and emotional hook.
Supporting methods: Usability testing, Story circles, A/B messaging tests.
Example:Present story to 5 customers. 3 of them say “advisor” felt too cold or unreliable. Change to “trusted partner” and reframe emotional tone.
ANECDOTE
When Pixar developed The Good Dinosaur, the original pitch began with “What if the asteroid that killed dinosaurs missed Earth?” That kernel clarified conflict and led to iteration, eventhough the final film required extensive reworking before emotional clarity returned.
PROMINENT BRANDS USING IT
Many brands, especially in tech, use “what‑if” scenarios in marketing: e.g. Apple ads: “What if your devices anticipate your needs?”, Nike campaigns: “What if running changed your life?”, IKEA: “What if small spaces felt bigger?” While not labeled “Pixar what‑if” internally, they use the principle of imaginative scenario to frame their product’s emotional appeal.
