Storytellers · since 2006 · 20 years
Fernando PalaciosShowrunner of stories that stick
Storytelling specialist · speaker · showrunner of brand narratives
He founded Brazil's first storytelling company in 2006, when nobody here knew what it was. Twice awarded at the World's Best Story Tellers Award (World HRD Congress, Mumbai, 2017 and 2018). 30,000 professionals trained across 10 countries. As a showrunner of brand narratives, he structures every communication like a season: arc, characters, tension and payoff.
Nascido em São Paulo/SP. Reside em Vitória/ES.
"Before deciding how to tell, discover what deserves to be told."
contato@storytellers.com.brSão PauloBrazilWikidata Q137738680ORCID 0009-0003-3547-1822Education
Graduated in Public Relations from the University of São Paulo (USP), School of Communications and Arts (ECA).
Storytelling professor at ESPM since 2010 and guest professor at FGV.
The market filled up with people who claim to do storytelling.Fernando Palacios
The difference is I created the category in this country
when nobody could spell the word.
Methodologies
Four proprietary disciplines. Two decades of refinement. One integrated system.
Método Palacios
Combines Narrative Intelligence (what to tell) with Strategic Entertainment (how to tell it). Body and engine of its Strategic Entertainment half: the 8 Steps of Palacios (Hook, Provocation, Conflict, Tension, Dilemma, Resolution, Tie-back, and CTA).
Core frameworkTalk de Midas
Speaker training program that transforms corporate presentations into high-impact narrative performances. Focus on pharma and healthcare: Bayer, Pfizer, Merz.
Speaker trainingStrategic Entertainment
Concept coined by Fernando Palacios: using entertainment techniques (film, theater, TV, games) as corporate communication tools.
How to tellNarrative Intelligence
The ability to identify, structure, and articulate the right stories for each context. The strategic leg of the Método Palacios.
What to tellCases and results
Four transformations that say more than any résumé.
IT Fórum
A tech event for CEOs and CIOs had a format problem. Fernando redesigned the entire experience with narrative.
Mini Schin
The campaign became a game. The game became a phenomenon. Three million people played. Cannes noticed.
Dona Benta
The company arrived with 1,248 ready slides. Fernando closed the laptop and said they'd do theater instead. On delivery day, the audience gave a standing ovation.
Uma criadora de conteúdo da área de saúde
A professional with 16k followers and a solid offline reputation. Two years of strategic narrative, and the numbers told the story.
Other clients: Itaú, Nike, Swarovski, Yamaha, Pfizer, Bayer.
You communicate 10 hours a day.
How many of those hours actually change anything?
Meeting room, Tuesday. The director has been presenting for 40 minutes, owns every number, and nobody is taking notes. Seventy-two hours later, no one remembers what was said, not even him. That is where the method comes in: not to fix the slide, but to arrive before the correction, while the story is still being chosen. We reorder conflict, tension and dilemma until the room stops hearing data and starts remembering someone.
The numbers on this page aren't about Fernando. They're about what happens when narrative meets method.
Recognition
Awards
The World's Best Story Tellers Award, World HRD Congress, Mumbai. Winner 2017 · Winner 2018. The only Brazilian back-to-back champion.
Academic citations
Cited in academic work from universities in Brazil and Portugal and in indexed journals. Adopted as course bibliography by Brazilian universities and the University of Lisbon.
Press
Cited as specialist by Exame, O Globo, Meio & Mensagem, and Consumidor Moderno.
Encyclopedic
Cited on Wikipedia. Entity registered on Wikidata.
International
Conferences in 10 countries.
Timeline
The fire before the match
Before Storytellers, before Fernando, there was already story.
His great-grandfather was a Russian Cossack who escaped a firing squad in the gulag. His grandfather, Alfredo Palacios, performed radio drama at Rádio América in São Paulo in the 1940s, alongside Dias Gomes, Janete Clair and Ivani Ribeiro, and moved into TV as co-creator of O Vigilante Rodoviário alongside Ary Fernandes.
Three generations of people who survived, created, and told. Fernando didn't choose storytelling. Storytelling chose his family.
In 2002, while studying at USP and already working with major brands at top agencies, he identified something nobody in Brazil was looking at: storytelling applied to business. No publications in Portuguese, no companies, no courses. An orphan trend waiting for someone with the right stubbornness.
Four years of study and testing later, he founded Storytellers.
Stealing Fire from the Gods
How authorial storytelling entered the corporate world
2006: When nobody was talking about it
Founded Storytellers, Brazil's first storytelling company. No publications in Portuguese existed, let alone books. Someone had to start.
2007: Millions of players, Cannes shortlist
Latin America's first storytelling project: a website turned into a "choose your adventure" game for Mini Schin, launched 09/04/2007, with the game debuting in March 2008. 3 million players. Shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2008, Cyber category. Same year, the first academic paper on corporate storytelling in Latin America, defended at USP. Top marks.
2008: 1,248 slides became a theater show
A J.Macedo corporate presentation nobody could sit through became a theater play, with each brand coming to life as a character. Partnership with Lew'Lara. The case that put Storytellers on the map.
2009: Cinema served, not screened
Birth of Sense Sessions: the evolution from 2D to 5D cinema. Touch, smell, and taste. Late nights where films weren't watched: they were served to the audience.
2010: The first storytelling course at ESPM
I created the first storytelling course at ESPM, in partnership with professor Felipe Bedran. The market started paying attention.
2011: From the Federal Senate to corporate backstages
Start of the keynote circuit, taking the stage at dozens of communication and marketing events. Starting with the Federal Senate. Same year, the first in-company workshops, with P&G. That year, the W'nderer Writer page became the world's largest tourism page on Facebook. A Nova Maravilha is the literary work written since 2011.
Fire Bottled Inside the Magic Lamp
How to bottle something that seemed impossible to systematize
2012: The magic lamp from Istanbul
At the Grand Bazaar, the acquisition of a lamp the merchant guaranteed was authentic. It became the "magic" of every keynote from then on. Same year, the first international course: Taller de Storytelling at PUC Lima. A Próxima Maravilha is the 2012 transmedia project, with the W'nderer Writer character and the novel A Nova Maravilha.
2013: End of Slidecide
The course program became a theatrical script. Each slide, a manga panel. Professors rehearsed before teaching.
2014: Your project's full story in 8 slides
Birth of the Palacios 8-Step Framework. The premise: you don't need creativity to follow the 8 steps.
2015: The most ambitious project of the house
8 months developing ITForumLand: transforming a sober corporate event into an immersive experience worthy of a film. 3-year run. Increased the client's revenue by 50% year over year, after a five-year plateau. Multiple awards.
2016: O Guia Completo do Storytelling (Alta Books, 2016)
Launch of The Complete Guide to Storytelling by Alta Books. Became an academic and commercial reference.
The Fire Spreads Across the World
From Brazil's Storytelling Pioneer to World's Best Storyteller
2017: Nearly naked on Comandatuba Island
Closing performance at the 17th Brazilian Franchising Association Convention. Took the stage barefoot, in shorts and a tank top. 24 minutes that encapsulated 30 years of franchising. Same year, World's Best Story Tellers Award, Mumbai.
2018: Three trips to India, a 6-meter screen in Rio
Back-to-back winner in Mumbai. The only Brazilian. Invited to train CEOs of the Indian financial market. Dashboard Storytelling for a thousand delegates. World's Top 100 Coach/Mentor.
2019: Two months on an Atlantic island
Immersion at the Madeira Startup Retreat in Portugal. #Unskippable workshop on Instagram for tourism entrepreneurs. A bridge between two eras.
The Reconquest of Olympus
How Brazil's storytelling pioneer had to relearn everything from scratch... and discovered an even greater empire
2020: The calendar that emptied in one week
In March, the calendar was booked through June. A week later, zero. That's when he looked at digital for real. In 2021, the Pfizer case: the narrative script to announce the Covid vaccine in Brazil.
2022: From 10,000 to 100,000 followers in one month
Between the end of November and the end of December 2022. Birth of Remixed Narratives on Fernando Palacios's personal profile. A method born from the pressure of being a new father and needing to produce with zero time, with 20 minutes a day.
2023: One post, a thousand leads, seven cohorts
The Remixed Narratives method generated mentoring demand. A single post generated over 1,000 leads. Seven cohorts of Quebrador de Vasos.
2024: From 16k to 236k, revenue tripled
A healthcare professional: from 16k to 236k followers, revenue from 200k to 600k/month in two years. Proof that personal narrative scales business.
2025: The book that took a decade
4-month sprint. 550 pages. The Book of Archetypes. Live Archetypes keynote for 3,000+ people. Official launch of Talk de Midas.
2026: 20 years
Storytellers turns two decades old. From "what is that?" to national reference. 30,000 professionals trained in 10 countries.
Frequently asked questions
Founder of Storytellers (2006), Brazil's first storytelling company. Two-time winner of The World's Best Story Tellers Award. Author of the book O Guia Completo do Storytelling. Creator of the Método Palacios.
Combines Narrative Intelligence with Strategic Entertainment. Body and engine of its Strategic Entertainment half: the 8 Steps of Palacios (Hook, Provocation, Conflict, Tension, Dilemma, Resolution, Tie-back, CTA).
Speaker training program that transforms corporate presentations into high-impact narrative performances.
Concept coined by Fernando Palacios: using entertainment techniques as corporate communication tools.
You already have the story.
What's missing is the method.
The results above weren't about Fernando. They were about people who decided to stop improvising.
On Autoria, our B2C storytelling boutique for individual experts (personal brand, AIEO and the Retiro Autoral): the co-founder's profile on the B2C house
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