Pay attention to your side hustles. Sometimes that’s where your BIG STORY is waiting!

Hi, I’m Shlomi Ron, CEO of the Visual Storytelling Institute, based in Miami, FL. We help brands better connect with their audiences through visual storytelling consulting, training, and thought leadership.

Over twenty years, I worked in various digital marketing roles on the agency and largely on the brand side, with Fortune 100/500 brands such as IBM, Nokia, and American Express.

All along, I was nursing my side passion for visual stories with interests in classic Italian cinema ,writing film reviews and curating film festivals, and managing the estate of video art pioneer, Buky Schwartz.

Along the journey, I kept wondering: How can businesses rise above the growing information overload – that costs the US economy over $900 billion a year – riding on such decreasing attention spans?

Therefore, with my combined experience in marketing, and my passion for visual stories I started the Visual Storytelling Institute (VSI)– the primary think tank that brings the gospel of visual storytelling from the world of art into a more human and purposeful marketing.

I am a nascent bread baker, The Moth fan, and longtime fedora wearer likely to jive with my classic Italian cinema interest.

Since 65% of us our visual learners, I believe people respond better when they can see their problem mirrored in a personally relevant visual story.

At VSI, I help business leaders at mid to enterprise level organizations:

– CMOs and VPs of Corporate Training & Development interested in empowering their teams with custom visual storytelling workshops to drive a stronger customer engagement and growth.

– University marketing chairs and directors of training organizations who are looking to revamp their curriculums with visual storytelling courses.

– VPs of Customer Experience, and founders interested in bringing to life their brand experiences with VSI’s consulting with a full stack production studio featuring: animated videos, visual journeys, presentations, AI-based videos, and interactive experiences.

We have provided training, production, and consulting for La Mer, Microsoft, RTI International, Cable & Wireless, Pearson Education, and University of Miami – to name a few.

Our thought leadership programs cover multiple channels: VSI Blog, public talks, published the book: Total Acuity: Tales with Marketing Morals to Help You Create Richer Visual Brand Stories. and the Visual Storytelling Today podcast (ranks in the top 1o business storytelling podcasts on the Web) – have all placed VSI at the #1 position on all search engines. For brand partnership opportunities, check our Media Kit.

And to train future marketers, these days, I also teach the first Brand Storytelling course at the University of Miami’s Business School.

What makes a good story? I always say:

“The magic happens the moment your brand story mirrors your customer’s personal story.”