Monthly Archives: July 2013

True Story

Posted on by

My adventures as a Visiting Professor here in Copenhagen are coming to an end. Teaching at the Business School here has been a fabulous experience – even more so by the realization that I don’t have to explain the importance of storytelling in Denmark. Nor to the international students or faculty who are in attendance. As I found in the Middle East, storytelling is considered foundational to insightful  communication.  It signifies sophistication.  So keeping up with my reading in this area was a double delight.

I have a newly released offering for you. Ty Montague has supplied a welcome addition to the field of storytelling.  Taking the telling into actionable results.  He starts from the premise that all of us have a personal story or metastory. From there, he makes the move towards interpretation of these metastories, as a shortcut to understanding the people around us.  He drives home the point that our stories are about meaning, what we value.

Montague then moves towards brands – also emphasizing meaning over product and the corporate cultures that drive the brands. He speaks of “story doing” and claims this is the new landscape for brands.  He asks an interesting question for consideration: What if you built a process around first understanding the story that needed to be told, and then used that story to inform every aspect of the company? The emphasis to be placed not on the telling – but on the doing. He offers an action map that can be used to drive this process. Everything stems from the metastory – any new products or serves, new experiences, new team structures, new processes and new communication. This new approach? Social innovation by design.

It’s an interesting lens on a powerful proven method. It follows the same logic that Roberto Verganti gave us in his  “Design-Driven Innovation” with a few additional twists. Bottom line is narrative communicates meaning. Narrative is here to stay and for any business that doesn’t realize its potential well – survival is optional.

True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business

Ctrl Alt Delete

Posted on by

OK the title got me.  I spent years hitting those keys.  Needing a little break from summer school, this book called my name. Yes, fun reading – but big message.  The new true marketing imperative is telling a great brand narrative. One word? Storytelling. Mitch Joel takes us on a journey that will open your eyes to the future that is already here.  He maintains the true opportunity for business going forward to to create and maintain a direct relationship with consumers. To look forward with the eyes of a consumer and not as a business person.  Consumers are social – more than they have ever been before. Consumers are more hands on – because they can be.  A great example used by Joel is “Kickstarter” – a New York startup founded in April 2009 and has raised more than $275 million for more than sixty-five thousand projects since it started. Can’t get the attention of venture capitalists because you are too small (or too whatever)?  Kickstarter may be the vehicle for you. Driven by consumers. Supported by consumers. A great example of crowdsourcing – if your public supports you, who needs VCC’s?

Some simple rules:

1. Deliver value first.

2. Be open.

3.  Be clear and consistent.

4. Create a mutally beneficial world.

5. Find your true fans – your evangelists.

Start looking at media as one platform – text, images, audio and video. Once your delivery platform becomes one digital pipeline – you can put it anywhere.   The biggest challenge will be to figuring out exactly where that ‘where’ is. Our world now entails the exponential growth of new media.  What does that mean? Think fast and agile AND slow build.  Responding to market forces or even better, staying ahead of the trends while at the same time, a slow build with your customers – relationships take time.  That relationship gives you insight – not just data. And then he turns to rebooting your life. A very interesting read!

Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It.