LIVING THE

BRAND
BY STORYTEGIC

N.1 / 14 FEBRUARY, 2014
Storytegic
LIVING THE BRAND 2
Dear Friend,
Welcome to the rst edition of Living the Brand by Storytegic.
We love the conversations we have with you. You make us think and get curious and get
creative and get excited all at the same time. Every day. Honest. So, thank you.
Every day, without fail, and in rain, snow, sleet and hail, and through the fog of jet lag or the
bliss of a few days of, we blog and we post and we tweet. We realize that you might not get a
chance to read everything we create and so we decided to put together a quarterly archive of
some of what we believe are the more thought-provoking posts the ones that generated the
most conversation and clearly got our friends feeling pretty red up.
Were going to do this on a quarterly basis. Read at your leisure. And enjoy!
Wed LOVE to hear from you! Tell us what you think. Ask us questions. Disagree with us. Tell us
were full of baloney. Its all good and its all okay :) Something you would like us to write about?
Something youre wondering about? Tell us! Were here.
You can follow us on Twitter (@Storytegic), Facebook (Storytegic) or via our website, www.
storytegic.com. Our blog comes out every Monday. Please join us!
Amy & Cornelis
Co-Founders, Storytegic
LIVING THE BRAND 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vhy oo #branos mattr?
Vhat is in a nam? / lot, as it turns out.
2C4 is th Yar o Un-Fuss-incation.
Lik most popl, w try to liv in th prsnt tns.
l you want maningul oback...
Our top six logistics or knock it outta oa park prsntations.
Vant ngagmnt?
Vanna har a rally intrsting statistic?
"Plas DO NOT turn o your phon, laptop or tablt!"
Our slios ar NOT our prsntation.
Can /NYONE bcom a grat prsntr?
Giv us a brak, woulo ya?
Vhat i l los my plac partway through th prsntation?
"Pay no attntion to that man bhino th curtain!"
lnormation is usul. #lnsight is invaluabl.
Lt's talk Mission Statmnt.
Lt's talk |argon.
Vhat can w larn rom scinc about prsntations ano storytlling?
Tak ustions ouring th prsntation or atr?
/ prsntation is a chanc to shar what you bliv to b tru about a VERY spcinc
thing.
You vrsus us.
lnvolv m ano l'll unorstano.
"F- O, V'r 5C"
/r brano guiolins or sissis?!
Prano is a rlationship. So oon't you oar chat!
Dar _____________, l lov my brano bcaus ________________!
Ys, plas DO us that ton o voic with m!
Susi, markting, brano ano Jo Stuomun, th innatabl ooll!
LIVING THE BRAND 4
determined to address. They partner with non-prots like
VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a
second pair is distributed to someone in need.
One equals two. It's in the business model of this brand.
Why? Because Warby Parker "....believes that everyone has
the right to see."
This is NOT about charity. This is NOT about cutting a check.
This is NOT about a separate department responsible for
community outreach.
This is about a brand that is living its mission. Doing business.
When it comes to making a choice about whose business to
support the mission is a key driver.
This is why #brands matter. Not because we want some
designer's name plastered on our ass, demonstrating to the
world that we, too, can blow $250 on a pair of jeans. But
because we believe in putting our money where our mouth is
and voting with our hearts and our humanity.
Brands. So much more than a logo.
Something to ponder: What would it be like for your
organization to embrace Triple Bottom Line thinking? What
are you doing to help your community? Our world? What
makes your brand matter, really?
Why do #brands matter?
Seriously. Why should we care? In the more existential
moments of the day, it wouldn't be unreasonable in the
slightest to ask such a question. Is it all about prot, perhaps?
The stronger the brand, the stronger the business, and the
stronger the business, the greater the likelihood of nancial
success right? Do brands matter because they drive the
bottom line?
No. Not exactly. That's truly only part of the story. And only
ONE of the bottom lines that matter in a world of triple
bottom line accounting (nancial, social and environmental
success measures, or sometimes phrased as Prot, People,
Planet).
Brands matter because they determine our choices. What we
buy, what/who we support and elect or fund, how we treat
one another and our planet.
Brands make companies compete not only to be the best IN
the world, but also the best FOR the world. Moving beyond
the prot motive (without throwing it out the window
because that would be ridiculous -- the goal can never be
nancial ruin leading to job loss and economic hardship...!).
Rather, committing to prot AND sustainability.
This redenes success in business!
Take the example of Warby Parker.
Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a
lofty objective: to create boutique-quality, classically crafted
eyewear at a revolutionary price point.
The brand was created to be eyewear with a purpose.
Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses.
This means that 15% of the global population cannot
efectively learn or work - a problem that Warby Parker is
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LIVING THE BRAND 5
Nog Latte. (You swear this will be the last one of the season,
of course, since the jeans are feeling more than a wee bit
tight....) The barista takes your order and asks you for your
rst name. When your gorgeously creamy and delicious
Egg Nog Latte is ready, your order is called out. NOT by the
product name. No. By YOUR name.
"Cornelis"
You're not just a customer. You're Cornelis. A friend. A
member of the community. A person with whom the brand
interacts on a rst name basis.
We're not suggesting this is some sort of one-size-ts-all
marketing "trick". Of course not. It works for Starbucks
because cozy connection -- cofee with friends -- is what the
brand is all about. It is therefore an #authentic behavior. And,
as we know, being authentic is what it's all about, baby!
Something to ponder: What might you change in your
customer interactions that would bring your brand to life in a
way that is meaningful and relevant to the customer? Hmmm.
The possibilities are amazing!
What is in a name? A lot, as it
turns out
This is a little story about living brand values. With cofee.
You've possibly heard of a brand called #Starbucks? Our
guess is that if you've been on this planet for at least nine
minutes, you know exactly who we're talking about.
(And notice we said "who" and not "what". You know
why? Because Starbucks is a brand that really and truly
understands the need to behave like a person. If people are
becoming brands, it is equally true that brands are becoming
people! Yes, with human characteristics and human values.)
Anyway, back to Starbucks. They serve 60m people per
week in 55 countries (and growing). They see each and every
transaction as an opportunity to give 60m people a great
Starbucks experience. Interesting, right? The CMO doesn't
say, Hey, that's 60m Vanilla Spice Lattes. She says, That's
60m experiences.
"We truly believe that when we deliver an amazing
experience, we can have a positive impact on someone's day,
and they in turn can pass on the positive momentum, starting
a ripple efect that can potentially start a movement," says
CMO Annie Young-Scrivner. (Source: "The Edge", by Allen P.
Adamson)
So what does all of this mean? How do they actually deliver
on this?
Not surprisingly (no, not surprising AT ALL), one of the top
ideas for turning a transaction into "cofee with friends"
came from within the company itself. Ask the staf and you'll
get GREAT ideas! Never fails. This particular idea involved
cofee ordering.
You walk into a Starbucks. You place your order for an Egg
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We truly believe
that when we
deliver an amazing
experience,
we can have a
positive impact on
someone's day...
LIVING THE BRAND 6
YouTube, etc. -- we mentally click on the le for that brand.
When it opens, we experience an association, either positive
or negative. What we want for our brands is to have them
cause very very very positive associations. To touch an
emotional core that matters. To do that, the brand must
be diferentiated (unique, special, unlike any other in the
consumers' mind) and highly relevant. In other words, the
brand is worth "saving as", to go back to our folder idea. The
gut feeling is positive, warm and lovely.
So what is #branding, then?
Branding is a process. It is how we go about establishing the
brand's diferentiated meaning in peoples' minds. Branding
is about signals -- the signals people use to determine
and be reminded of what the brand stands for and why it
is important. These signals are also called #touchpoints:
logos, website, signage, retail store design, posters, pens,
packaging, conferences, events, etc.
For a strong brand, every signal or touchpoint will cause
us to reopen that brand folder and immediately (and
subsconsciously) experience an association. A positive one!
So in keeping with the spirit of the Year of Un-fuss-ication,
let's think of the brand as the mental desktop folder that
gets bigger and more important as our brand becomes
more diferentiated and more relevant, (and the associations
get more and more positive) and branding as the process
of communicating that diference and relevance (and
maintaining that positive feeling).
The branding can only be as good as the brand itself. If you
have a shitty product, no amount of branding is going to
change that sow's ear into a silk purse!
Simple, right? (Please feel free to copy and paste this, put in
the Storytegic folder...and "Save as"....!)
Something to ponder: Who makes decisions in your
organizations about the branding for your brand? (Hint: It
should be everybody! We are all brand ambassadors.) Does
your branding truly reect your brand?
2014 is the Year of
Un-Fuss-ication
Or, put more clearly, the Year of Simplication.
So let's start the year out right with some simplied Brand
Talk!
What's a #brand? What's #branding? What's the diference?
A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product or service.
It's a mental association that gets stirred up when we hear
about a particular handbag, pair of jeans, variety of goat
cheese, boy band, hotel chain, presidential candidate,
automobile, smartphone, snow tire, airline, wedding
photographer, online dating service....and on and on.
We read an interesting analogy a couple of days ago. It's
from Landor Associates, a big global brand agency. Think of
your head as a computer desktop. When you know enough
about a brand you create a special folder (le) for it on your
desktop. The more you know about a brand, the bigger the
mental le.
Let's give an example. Take two huge companies: Apple and
Pratt & Whitney. How might our brains treat those brands?
Because you have a MacBook Air and an iPhone and an
iPad Mini, you are super familiar with Apple (and you
looooove it....!). So Apple gets a big big big le. On the other
hand, Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies is
unknown to you because you are not specically involved
in the purchase of, say, PW4062 engines for KC-46 tankers.
So you give it a minuscule little folder. Or no folder at all. See
how it works?
Now. Back to our desktop...
When we hear a brand name -- in conversation, on TV, on
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LIVING THE BRAND 7
It's the same for brands. Brands require human values.
Because in order for the brand to come alive, the people
behind that brand must live to the values. We can only live
to what is human. (If you're in a room with someone who is
trying to make Quality one of your organization's values, do
what we do. Suggest that we put two words on a ip chart:
Quality and Excellence. Under each one, ask people to give
ideas about how your employees might live each of those
concepts. It will quickly be clear that quality doesn't work
and excellence is what you're going for....Free tip! Happy
holidays!)
So let's go back to that gold dust. To that one value that
pulled us through the darkest time of the year.
That is Constructive Time Travel. Buckle up, prepare for take
of!
Something to ponder: Whats the number one value for your
brand? How will you live that value even more powerfully this
year? How will you really bring it?
Like most people, we try to live in
the present tense
We leave yesterday behind and we try not to over-manage
and over-fantasize about what is going to happen tomorrow,
good or bad. Having said that, however, we believe there are
some real benets to Constructive Time Travel. For example,
setting a goal implies the future, right? And learning from
experience requires us to look at the past from time to time.
So as we join the throngs waving farewell to 2013 we have an
exercise we'd love to share with you.
Think back over the last 12 months. (And, please, for this to
work, it has to be just the last year. Not back to 1981 when
that person you were so in love with dumped you for the
much blonder English major from Amsterdam....!)
In less than 15 seconds, complete the following sentence: For
me, the most difcult and challenging experience of this last
year was __________________________.
(Don't worry. This is NOT the exercise. We're not going to just
leave you sitting there thinking about a real low point!)
Thinking about that situation, answer just one more question:
What was the value that pulled you through that situation?
This is the gold dust. This is what makes us who we are, gives
us strength, denes our brand, shapes our purpose. It is the
value we dial waaaaaay up when the chips are down. It might
be respect. Or honesty. Or erce intelligence. Compassion.
Empathy. Boldness. Unwavering commitment. You get the
idea....
Our values are human values. They dene how we live our
lives. They are not things like Quality or Performance or
Sales-Driven. How do you live Performance? Quality?
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This is what makes
us who we are,
gives us strength,
denes our
brand, shapes our
purpose.
LIVING THE BRAND 8
the presentation today? Why do you think that will stay with
you?
2. What if I could make just ONE improvement to my
presentation to make it more inspiring. What should that be?
3. I am going to give a presentation next week on the same
idea. I want to do an amazing job. What is ONE piece of
advice you would give?
There is almost always one person who completes the
feedback and writes things like, "This presentation sucked.
You suck." Ignore it. That person has failed to understand the
ne but denitive line between feedback and throw-up.
Concentrate, instead, on the meaningful comments and see
them for what they are: great ideas on how to take a 5.0 and
move it to a 20!
Something to ponder: How does your organization typically
gather feedback? How might you make that process
and the resulting comments more contextual and more
meaningful?
If you want meaningful
feedback...
...that you can actually use and learn from, you have to ask
meaningful questions!
So, after your presentation or meeting or brainstorming
session, you want some feedback.
What's the best way to get the kinds of comments and
suggestions you can actually USE?
The most common way to gather feedback is to ask people
to rate your presentation/idea/workshop/whatever on a
scale from 1 to 5 (or 1 to 10, etc.). But is that really useful?
What do you get? A number. That's it. So you learn that your
presentation was deemed a 3.5 out of 5.0. Okay, great. Now
what?
If you're insistent on quantitative analysis, then ask for
meaningful data! So ask it this way:
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 as POOR and 5 as EXCELLENT, how
would you rate today's presentation?
What would it take to move this presentation to a 10? Or a
20? What would make this presentation rock your world?
And then leave some open space for people to respond.
What you're really doing when you ask that question is
moving them away from nitpicker mode ("You were ve
minutes behind schedule") to constructive mode ("To get to
a 10 you would have stuck to the schedule and created more
time for Q&A!"). See the diference?
Consider qualitative follow up questions, as well. Here are a
few of our favorites:
1. What is the ONE thing you will remember most clearly from
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If you're insistent
on quantitative
analysis, then ask
for meaningful
data!
LIVING THE BRAND 9
excluding your text color. Text should be in black, grey or
white unless there is an amazing reason to make it otherwise.
6. Cutesy is a brand killer.
If you like to punctuate your optimism with photos of kittens,
playful puppies or animated suns or moons, please back
away from the computer before somebody gets hurt.
Something to ponder: All of the above!
Our top six logistics for knock it
outta da park presentations
Well, 2013 is nearly behind us. As we here at Storytegic gear
up for the new year (cue the Whoo HOO chorus), we wanted
to share our top six logistics for knock it outta da park
presentations.
1. Less is more.
People need to absorb what you've got on the slide AND
what they're hearing you say. Keep the text to a minimum.
Use more slides if you need to make complex points. It is NOT
a sin to use more slides. And it does not take longer, contrary
to popular opinion! It may even take less because less is more
forces you to focus.
2. Less is more with fonts, too. Go sans serif.
Sans-serif fonts (like Helvetica) are easier to read at a
distance than serif fonts (like Times New Roman).
3. Font size is not an optional consideration.
Your text should be large enough to be legible to the person
sitting farthest from the stage.
4. Simple is sophisticated. Trust us on this one.
Use a simple background. If you use a black (or dark)
background, be sure to bold your text. And never ever ever
think about things like images swooshing in from the side.
Banish that thought right now!
5. Two colors, period.
Multicolored text does not make a presentation more
exciting. It makes it more distracting. Same for all kinds of
backgrounds and shapes. Stick to two colors, maximum,
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Multicolored text
does not make a
presentation more
exciting.
LIVING THE BRAND 10
The conversation is spreading and the input and engagement
goes beyond the connes of the room.
You know what we noticed and so did our client? Engaging
people in this way focuses the audience on contributing to
the presentation, rather than criticizing it. It's waaaaaay more
constructive!
#RockOn!
Something to ponder: How do you turn a presentation into a
conversation? How do you keep the conversation going long
after someone has turned of the projector?
Want engagement?
Create a #hashtag for your presentation!
Suddenly the room -- and the Twitterverse in the big wide
world beyond the conference room -- is talking, responding,
challenging, joking, ENGAGING with your idea.
When we do presentations now we almost always create a
hashtag. (Exceptions are for private, condential meetings.
But those don't happen very often anymore. Whoo HOO. Fist
pump open management processes....) We put the hashtag
on our opening slide. We proactively invite people to join the
convo.
We recently worked with a client on a new business idea.
He wanted to present it to a group of about 500 peers from
the industry. We helped him frame the idea and create a few
scenarios for development and launch. And then we helped
him with the concept for his presentation.
What started of -- in his mind, anyway -- as an hour-long
presentation with loads of slides about his vision for a new
initiative transformed itself into four slides about a partially
developed concept. Our client presented the idea and then
led an open brainstorming session on the concept: how to
improve it, how to overcome obstacles, how to engage the
industry and get people to really care about this particular
concept.
On the screen, both at the beginning and the end, he showed
a hashtag and asked people to tweet thoughts, questions,
etc. He used Twitterfall to follow the conversation...on the big
screen. And he let it go without moderation. He was willing
to take the good with the bad. (Guess what? There wasnt
one bad comment!)
Our client continues to use that hashtag (just checked it
-- there was activity on it yesterday, nearly ve weeks after
his presentation) to hone his thinking, test out solutions, etc.
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Engaging people
in this way focuses
the audience on
contributing to the
presentation, rather
than criticizing it.
LIVING THE BRAND 11
(And keep this one in mind, too. Over 50% of consumers
who write about brand online do so to criticize or complain...
Whoa!)
So here are the three things we believe are critical to keep in
mind:
1. New reality: Word of mouth is going to happen with or
without us. So why not make it "with us"? Be social. Find
out what people are saying about our brands. Let's not get
defensive. Let's listen. And let's learn from the feedback --
the good, the bad and the ugly!
2. Brands are emotional. Communicating at the emotional
level -- rather than the cerebral or overly corporate level --
will make the message meaningful. TALK to customers. With
full respect for their intelligence and their humanity. And for
god's sake, lose the jargon and gobbledygook.
3. Be proactive in making it easy for consumers to share
information and talk about your brand and share your brand
#story. Give them a platform or a destination for doing so.
And stop worrying about controlling the conversation.
Someone might say something negative. Okay. You just
saved a bundle on market research! Take the feedback and
USE IT!
(And for that person who uses your page or your forum to
promote his agenda or to slag of Beyonce or to nd a date
for Valentine's Day, ignore it until it's aggravating to other
readers and then block him. You know why we point this
out? Because it means you have to be active in keeping up
with your page! Launch is not enough. Remember -- NASA
had to launch the space craft...and guide it home. And not
everybody is lucky enough to have Tom Hanks at the helm,
right?)
Something to ponder: Who are your brand advocates? What
platforms do you give them for sharing ideas and giving
feedback? Do you listen? How do they know?
Wanna hear a really interesting
statistic?
Seventy-three percent of #millenials (aka Gen Y -- people
born between 1983 and 1997) feel it is their responsibility to
help others make smart buying decisions.
We are entering the Age of #Advocacy. Chief Marketing
Ofcers (CMOs) see customer loyalty and advocacy as
their top priority in the digital era. Why? Because advocacy
-- word of mouth "advertising" -- is driving purchasing
decisions. Plain and simple.
According to Branderati, consumer-to-consumer word
of mouth generates more than TWICE the sales of paid
advertising.
Brand advocates, in fact, are 70% more likely to be seen as a
good source of information by the people around them.
Seriously.
So let's think about that. (We do. A lot! and we LOVE it.)
Talk value, or word of mouth, in building a #brand is
Signicant. With a capital S. As in Supersize That One, Babe.
The Internet and every device with an app put the power of
#branding into the hands of anyone with a digital connection.
Remember that campaign "Got Milk?" Well, this is like "Got
WiFi?" If the answer is yes, the fate of a brand may well rest
in your hands. And if you're a member of the millenial #tribe,
chances are you are VERY connected, FULLY wired and
MORALLY committed to sharing your views about products
and services. You are there, as we now know, to help others
make smart buying decisions. How you feel about a brand is
going to directly inuence whether you advocate. Or not.
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LIVING THE BRAND 12
The next time you give a presentation take the audience by
surprise by giving them permission at the very beginning.
Say something like, "I'd like to ask you to please have your
phones, laptops and tablets out and ready. Be sure to turn
'em on! I am perfectly happy for you to tweet or post or take
pictures. And here is my Twitter handle (show Twitter handle
on the screen) if you want to include me in your tweet!"
Try it! The atmosphere in the room will change immediately.
And the conversation you're about to have with your
audience just got widened!
Something to ponder: Are you capitalizing on the benets of
living in a wired and connected world? How powerful (and
surprising) might it be to open your next presentation with
an invitation to your audience to please power up?
"Please DO NOT turn of your
phone, laptop or tablet!"
Yes, you read that correctly. Think back to a time (and a
galaxy....) far, far away. Like, say, the year 2005. What's the
magic in that number? It's the year before Twitter launched...
In those days, it would have been completely appropriate to
ask people to turn of their cell phones. Tablets didn't exist,
so it might have seemed very odd to ask people to turn them
ofOdd, but prescient, that is.
Great news! Times have changed!
Now people tweet the awesome quotes you produce or take
notes on their iPads. They check-in on FB. They take a picture
of you and tweet it or post it to Instagram.
Or, truth be told, they answer email. Play solitaire. Order last
minute holiday gifts. In which case the problem isn't that
they're preoccupied; it's that your presentation has failed to
engage them!
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The next time you
give a presentation
take the audience
by surprise by
giving them
permission at the
very beginning.
LIVING THE BRAND 13
slides? What might that be like for you? Is there a safe way to
try it out or even try incorporating the slide-less life into part
of a presentation?
Our slides are NOT our
presentation.
Our slides are just what they say they are: they are slides. And
we might use them during our presentation. Or we might not.
We hear it all the time. People ask, "Can you send me your
presentation?" The answer is, No, I can't. But I can send you
the slides I'm going to use during my presentation!
Being clear about the diference between our presentation
and the slides we use to illustrate and road map our
presentation helps us remember something vital: our
presentation is an experience. It is a conversation between us
and the audience. It is a dual carriageway with trafc going in
both directions.
Once we get ourselves past believing that our slides are the
presentation, we begin to entertain possibilities for opening
up the conversation, making it more interactive and more
meaningful. For connecting with and inspiring our audience.
If slides do not equal presentation, then it's perfectly possible
to do a presentation without slides! To sit at the end of the
desk or roam around the room. Or to write our key thoughts
in marker on recycled thick cardboard.
Thinking beyond slides pushes us to be more creative and
also more strategic. Because it makes us spend time thinking
about and focusing on the key message. What are we
trying to communicate (rather than how)? What is our call
to adventure for the audience? What would we like to see
happen as a result of this presentation?
Then, when we have made those key decisions, we can think
about slides. And whether or not we need 'em!
Something to ponder: How comfortable are you with the idea
of going naked? In other words, doing a presentation without
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Thinking beyond
slides pushes us to
be more creative
and also more
strategic.
LIVING THE BRAND 14
3. Limiting the amount of text to a bare minimum and using
lots of compelling, interesting visuals. This lets the audience
focus on what youre saying rather than whats written on the
screen.
4. Having no more than three -- and we mean three -- key
messages and not only sticking to them but hammering them
home.
5. Leaving lots of allotted time for questions, interaction with
the audience.
6. Practicing. A lot! Not memorizing. Just practicing.
Knowing the story you are telling.
If you do all six, you'll have a great presentation. You will.
Will you rival Meryl Streep for performance of the year? No,
more than likely not. That is the wrong way to see it. This isn't
about making you a great presenter. It's about enabling you
to tell your story (your idea, your project results, etc.) in the
very best way possible. And thereby giving a knockout of a
presentation.
Something to ponder: How many of these rules do you
currently follow? Feeling brave? Commit to trying it out in
your next presentation. Cmon.you can do it!
Can ANYONE become a great
presenter?
Raise your hand if you think we're going to enthusiastically
and optimistically say yes.
Hands up so we can see you....
Okay, put your hands down. It's a trick question. Because,
surprisingly, the answer is no.
That's right. You heard it here: Not everyone can become a
great presenter. In fact, let's go one step further and just say
what we suspect we already know: MOST people will never
be great presenters.
AND, it doesn't matter. It's irrelevant. You know why?
Because the question isn't about becoming a great presenter.
It is about giving a great presentation. Those are two very
diferent propositions!
ANYONE can give a great presentation. That is a true
statement.
A great presentation is one that is clear, has meaning, issues a
call to adventure or a call to action, involves and/or engages
the audiences, claries something.
How you get to a great presentation is by:
1. Bringing your real self to the presentation and delivering
that presentation in words that you believe and that feel
right. Don't fake it. Don't try and sound extra-smart or over-
condent or supremely funny. Be yourself. And for gods
sake dont try to imitate someone elses style. It wont work!
2. Telling a story with your presentation. A beginning, a
middle and an end. Creating a narrative arc.
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...the question isn't
about becoming
a great presenter.
It is about giving a
great presentation.
LIVING THE BRAND 15
important thoughts like whether the car needs a good
vacuuming or if the cheesecake should come out of the
'fridge 20 minutes before serving.
Remember that feeling when planning your presentation!
And then give us a break, okay?
Something to ponder: Breaks are incredibly important to
both the presenter and the audience because they allow us
to reset our attention spans. How are you doing that now?
How might that very short break allow you to keep focused
and keep driving home your presentations key messages?
Give us a break, would ya?
Yes, we're serious. About breaks. In a presentation, that is.
(We love vacations, too, but that's another story.)
We mean breaks and segues in a presentation. A chance for
you and your audience to take a breath, shift in your seats,
cough, relax. Most important, breaks are the mechanism we
use to reset attention spans.
So, here's the best way to approach breaks.
First, send a visual cue to the audience that signals the break,
even before you utter words like, "Okay, let's shift gears
here a bit" or "So that was the background on widget sales
in Scandinavia. Now let's look at what the situation is like in
Japan."
The visual cue we use is a simple black screen. You've been
lling the screen in your content slides with full-bleed visuals
and just a couple of words here and there, right? The efect of
that full black screen is immediate: the audience knows it is
time to shift gears and time to refocus.
Use a few words in white text to introduce your next topic.
So, for example, with the example above, you would have a
full black screen with "What about Japan?" in white type. No
need to make it 72-point or BOLD CAPS. It's a break, not a
test of the emergency broadcasting system.
Now here's something that might surprise you: we
recommend having a break slide at least every 5-6 slides.
Seriously! Attention spans rarely go past 90 seconds.
Yes, you read that correctly: attention spans rarely exceed 90
seconds!
If you don't believe us, try meditating. See how many
seconds pass before your mind begins to drift toward
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We recommend
having a break
slide at least every
5-6 slides.
LIVING THE BRAND 16
And RECAPPING will help. Simply acknowledge what is
happening. As always, authenticity trumps everything else.
Consider something like, "That was a great question. Thank
you. Before we go on to the next concept, let's just quickly
recap! We began by looking at widget sales in the last
quarter. And we moved from there to look at a particular
issue: how to keep widget sales up during winter months
when, let's face it, fewer widgets are in use. And we looked
at a couple of options for addressing that issue. We've just
started talking about the Internet and the opportunities
available through an online presence. Now I'd like to talk
about Engagement. What is it?"
Whew! High ves! You made it over that hump. And now
you are putting yourself back on track. Chances are, after all
that practicing, you'll nd the groove and get right back in
there. But if you don't -- if this memory lapse really threw you
for a loop -- don't worry. Use the slides as prompts to talk
about what you know. And what you want to know from the
audience.
Above all, don't panic. You're telling a story. If you get thrown
of or you step of the path for some reason, take heart: you
can get right back on!
Something to ponder: What do you do when you lose your
place? Have you tried recapping?
What if I lose my place partway
through the presentation?
"What if I lose my place partway through the presentation? I
get really ustered when I forget my lines!"
(A question from an interested FB Friend of Storytegic. Great
question!)
First thing to remember is that this is a presentation, not
a memorized recitation of The Gettysburg Address. Or a
production of "Macbeth"! So there is absolutely NO SUCH
THING as forgetting your lines. Never, ever, ever approach a
presentation as memorized theater. Hey, guess what? Actors
improvise all the time! They forget a line, they say what
comes naturally to the character. It's true. Here at Storytegic,
one of the partners has a fair bit of acting experience!
Okay. So let's say you don't memorize but, as can often
happen, you lose your place. What to do?
The BEST action (as in the one that causes the least stress
and is least likely to throw you of your game for the rest of
the time you're on stage or at the front of the room) is to
RECAP.
So let's say you've done 10 slides so far. You've been on
target and you've taken time out to answer a question
from the audience. Now you look at your slide and it says,
"Internet". Hmmmmm. Not quite sure how you got there. And
even though you have practiced a lot you are starting to feel
that slight panic. You peek at the next slide coming up and it
says "Engagement".
"Damn", you think. "I can't remember how I got from here to
there."
It's okay. It's normal. It happens a lot.
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First thing to
remember is that
this is a presentation,
not a memorized
recitation...
LIVING THE BRAND 17
That is the whole point. If all a brand is doing is writing
a check, that does NOT count as good citizenship. No
way. Good citizenship is about putting #sustainability
into the brand. Some call this #triple #bottom #line: a
measure of sustainability that includes nancial, social and
environmental performance measures.
And, no, it is not just for that goat cheese farm in Rutland.
Here is a really great example of brand citizenship. It's used
a lot because it involves one of the planet's biggest brands:
Coca-Cola.
"The key ingredient in Coca-Cola is water, so that's our
number one priority. With regard to reducing our footprint
and expanding our handprint, we are making clean water
available to the communities we serve through partnerships,"
said Neville Isdell, the Chairman of the Board of Coca-Cola.
He further noted that those partnerships include the World
Wildlife Fund, USAID and the Gates Foundation.
So what's going on here? Is Coke getting out of the soft drink
business? Is Coke going earthy-crunchy? Maybe moving into
goat cheese? Relocating to Vermont? Should we alert CNN?
NO. The company has made a strategic business decision
to link what it makes to making the world a better place.
That decision is now part of the brand identity -- who
the company is -- and what it wants to be known for.
Sustainability is becoming part of the brand DNA.
Here's the key point. We're borrowing it from Allen Adamson
of Landor, from his excellent new book, "The Edge":
"The objective of this alignment of philanthropy and business
is to help consumers diferentiate the brand from the others
in the beverage aisle."
There are other examples, of course. And the number of
brands committing to brand citizenship (also called good
"Pay no attention to that man
behind the curtain!"
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Remember that? Turns out the Wizard of Oz wasn't such
a wizard, after all. And all Dorothy Gale and her pals the
Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion had to do was
peek behind the velvet drapery to discover the disappointing
truth: the Wizard was a charlatan who just happened to be
good at marketing and who owned a hot air balloon.
News alert: Consumers can -- and will -- see behind the
curtain. And we will ignore exhortations to ignore what we
see.
Increasingly, we all want to align ourselves with #brands that
make the world a better place. (Or, at a bare minimum, that
do no harm. But, honestly, that's setting the bar awfully low.
Speaking for #Storytegic, we want to rock 'n roll, not just
shufe our feet.)
And this fact is just as true in bad times (economic recession,
times of high ination and low employment) as in good.
Good citizenship has now become a key -- and vital --
dimension in brand strategy. Why? Because people -- like us
and like you -- will choose good over bad every time.
One of the questions we are frequently asked when we
speak about this with clients or at conferences, etc., is some
variation on the following:
"Sure, this makes sense. And for that artisan goat cheese
maker in Rutland, Vermont (st pump Vermont!), this is cool.
But isn't it all a crock of you know what for big business? Like,
write a check and feel okay about what you're doing? and
keep on wrecking the environment in pursuit of prot?"
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LIVING THE BRAND 18
citizenry) is growing every day.
The days of hiding behind the curtain are over. WHOO HOO!
That means business, a massive and powerful and dynamic
conuence of resources, talent and capital, will increase
its commitment and role in helping to solve the world's
problems.
We'll say it again. #Brand: Way more than a logo!
Something to ponder: Is your organization thinking about
brand citizenship? What is one meaningful way you might
create radical diferentiation for your brand AND help solve
the worlds problems?
LIVING THE BRAND 19
questions.
We have some questions we like to use to move clients
beyond information into insight:
Why are we in business beyond making money?
What makes employees passionate about their work?
What excites our customers?
What are the ideas that drive our company?
Why are we doing this? Are we adding value?
How will this help the community?
Where is the path forward? Where are we going?
None of these questions can be answered "factually". They all
require insight.
We're not suggesting that information isnt useful. Oh,
heaven's no! What we are saying is that information is made
innitely more useful when it is turned into an ingredient,
rather than an end game. Take the information and add it to
the discussion.
Probe, ponder, wonder, imagine. Those verbs are made
possible only through insight. Ask the big questions. Change
the brand. Change the world.
Quoting Marty Neumeier (yes, yes....again!): "The discipline
of asking bigger questions can lead to profound changes for
brands." (The Brand Gap)
YES!
Something to ponder: How might your organization move
from information to insight? How can you tap into the
wisdom and knowledge of the people working in your
organization to achieve this? Are you stuck in a top-down
model or are you involving the entire organization in getting
smartand becoming wise?
Information is useful. #Insight is
invaluable.
Let's look at the diference.
Information is factual. It is gathered via research -- both
informally and formally. Information tells us, for example,
what percentage of staf favor switching from BlackBerry
to iPhone. (Uh, that one is easy. That's ONE HUNDRED
PERCENT! Hahaha!) Or the cost per square foot for ofce
space in Shanghai. Numbers of people who speak Spanish.
Market share trend statistics for Uggs brand footwear in
India. Comparable sales gures for split-level ranch homes in
the Cleveland suburbs. Et cetera.
Information is data.
Insight comes from a far more personal and #intuitive place.
It gives us understanding, perspective and context. It raises
more questions and opens up dialogue.
Using our examples from above, we might learn that Uggs
has a 0.2% share of the overall footwear market in Mumbai.
Okay. Good to know, we 'spose.
Insight, on the other hand, would help us understand
WHY. And that, in turn, would help us target our #brand
#messaging, plus help us think about possible product
development or actions we want to take.
Insight is knowledge.
See the diference? So important!
Insight allows us to observe the world and listen without
judgment to what others believe. This opens up huge
possibilities.
The path to insight is achieved by asking bigger and bigger
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LIVING THE BRAND 20
2. Grammar matters
OMG. Can you believe we even have to say this? But we do.
Yes, sadly, we do.
Let's look at McDonald's. You know the brand, right? Golden
Arches and a Big Mac?
"McDonald's brand mission is to be our customers' favorite
place and way to eat and drink. Our worldwide operations
are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win,
which center on an exceptional customer experience--People,
Products, Place, Price and Promotion."
Whoopsie. Alert the grammar police. "Worldwide operations
are aligned around a global strategy called the Plan to Win,
which CENTERS on an exceptional customer experience...."
Subject-verb agreement is important, gang.
3. Meanwhile back on planet earth....
Last but not least, there is the issue of authenticity. Being
based in (and on) reality.
Let's look at Avery Dennison, a worldwide leader in labels
and packaging materials. Listen to how they describe their
mission:
"At Avery Dennison, our businesses are unied by the shared
vision of making brands more inspiring and the world more
intelligent."
REALLY??? Making the world more intelligent? With
labels? Dial it down a bit and bring this one in for a landing
somewhere on planet earth!
The keys are obvious, right? As with presentations, Mission
Statements (and, in fact, all brand communications) require
simplication, clarity, authenticity and accuracy.
Come to think of it....that describes Storytegic's mission!
Something to ponder: What is your organizations mission?
How is that captured in your Mission Statement? How
might one of your customers feel after reading your Mission
Statement? Would they say, Right on, sistuh or would they
shake their head in bewilderment or grief?
Let's talk Mission Statement
Huh? You were thinking we only talk about presentations,
right? Surprise! At Storytegic, we work with clients on brand
strategy and #brandstorytelling. Presentations are a part of
that work because they are often a (hidden) treasure trove for
brand communication, as are emails, out-of-ofce messages,
brochures, corporate videos, company bulletin boards,
reception areas, holiday gifts, season's greetings cards, you
name it.
All of these are what we call touchpoints. In other words,
ANYTHING a customer or potential customer or member
of staf might touch -- come into contact with -- as an
opportunity to underscore your brand message.
Your Mission Statement is a big part of your brand. It tells
people what you're about, where you're heading and what you
are looking to achieve.
Think about Amazon. Its Mission Statement reads: "To be the
Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers
can nd and discover anything they might want to buy online."
Even when the company only sold books, this vision helped
guide it where it wanted to go. Whoosh! Look where it is
today!
The Mission Statement is also a potential mineeld. Be careful!
Here are three things sure to kill even the most amazing of
Mission Statements. Not coincidentally, they are also three
things certain to kill of a great presentation. Or a great email,
blog post, brochure, whatever. In short, these are Brand Killers:
they come after your brand communications and wreak havoc.
Think of them as the Hurricane Sandy of Brand Comms.
1. It is long and complicated.
Consider the case of Avon, the multinational cosmetics and
consumer goods brand. Here is what the company says about
itself: "Avon's mission is focused on six core aspirations the
company continually strives to achieve." Then it goes on.
And on. It weighs in at 249 words that cover everything from
surpassing competitors to increasing shareholder value to
ghting breast cancer.
Remedy? Get it down to 1-2 sentences. SIMPLIFY. CLARIFY.
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LIVING THE BRAND 21
Core competency
it is accurately noted that aspiring to mere competence,
rather than excellence, is extolling the virtues of
underachievement and mediocrity.
Buy-in
As noted in Forbes, "Asking for someones buy-in says,
I have an idea. I didnt involve you because I didnt value
you enough to discuss it with you. I want you to embrace
it as if you were in on it from the beginning, because that
would make me feel really good and spare me having to do
anymore work.
Best practice
Oh yeah? According to whom? Who says???
Ecosystem
This is now used to represent the vast, interlinked collection
of designers, vendors, manufacturers, customers that denes
a particular industry. But that is not correct! Unless your
business is aquaculture, stop using this expression.
Vertical
A specic area of expertise. If you make project-management
software for the manufacturing industry (as opposed to the
retail industry), you might say, We serve the manufacturing
vertical. In so saying, you would make everyone around you
ee the conversation.
We could go on and on. The point is this: when we take the
time to be precise in your language and when we speak in
our own words rather than in the trendy expressions of the
day we communicate our authenticity. Jargon is for fakes. It's
the linguistic equivalent of the $25 Louis Vuitton bag sold
on a street corner. Forget it. Like all fakes it gets discovered
and is all the more disappointing because of the attempted
deception.
Stay real. Stay away from jargon. Speak from the heart.
Something to ponder: Are you using jargon? (Hey, its okay.
Let's talk jargon
There's no easy way to say this so we'll just give it to you
straight: jargon is a spectacularly bad idea.
It's not just that the expressions or words often sound so silly.
And it also isn't only the fact that jargon is very difcult for
the non-native speaker, so that if you are addressing a more
global audience your mention of "the sweet spot" or "having
enough bandwidth for that project" may very well confuse or,
more likely, lose 'em.
Here's the other reason jargon is to be avoided: Use of jargon
identies the presenter as being part of a crowd that mimics
what it hears. So instead of being seen as an up to date
expert on a topic you appear as:
1. A follower rather than a leader
2. Uncreative
3. Typical -- one of an interchangeable ock of consultants or
suppliers or whatever
Who the hell wants to be seen as THAT? Or, worse yet, all of
the above?
When you stand up in front of an audience -- 10 people or
4,000 people or more -- it is your ability to bring yourself and
all your beliefs and your humanity and your humor and your
vulnerability and your optimism and your bravery and your.....
(ll in the blank)....that captures the collective imagination.
And helps them relate to you. You are their underdog, their
dragon slayer, their hero. The more they relate to you the
more engaged and involved your audience will be.
Jargon negates all of that. Seriously. For each use of business
gobbledygook you lose points (and credibility and relate-
ability) with your audience.
A recent survey identied some of the most annoying
business jargon uses of 2013. Read it and weep. And NEVER
use these phrases!
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LIVING THE BRAND 22
Dont cry. It happens to the best of us. Were here to help.)
Challenge yourself. The next time youre tempted to use a
term like table stakes apply some discipline. What do you
really mean? Do you mean to say This is a prerequisite to
getting in to the market? Or, This is a must-have. Without
this, do not try competing in this market? Then say so!
LIVING THE BRAND 23
Slio osign & olivry must hlp popl organiz ano
integrate information. Think of road maps and highway signs
and ll your presentation with them, plus mini-summaries
and reminders of where you've been and where you're going.
Now go rock that presentation! Tell you story.
Something to ponder: Are you making best use of visuals
in your presentation? Or are you taking the Wheres Waldo
approach to slide design, lling the screen with text?
Remember the brain cannot process text and visuals at the
same time. Or at least not very quickly. Make it easy on your
audience. Make your presentations visual. Give the audience
the cognitive opportunity to actually listen to you!
What can we learn from science
about presentations and
storytelling?
Dr. Richard Mayer, Professor of Psychology, UC-Santa
Barbara (uh, NICE gig!), says there are three important
features we can look at to help us understand how we mere
mortals take in and process information. And this is big stuf
for storytellers.
1. Our brains are dual channel.
What that means is that we process visual material one way
and verbal information another way.
And that leads to the second big nding:
2. Limited capacity.
People can pay attention to only a few pieces of information
in each channel at any given time.
And nally:
3. Active processing.
People understand the presented material when they're able
to pay attention (fair enough, we didn't need the Psych Dept
to tell us that!) and, key point here, when they are able to
organize it into a structure that makes sense to them AND
allows them to integrate it into what they already know.
We can distill it all down into three key points. Well, four.
Prsntations must b both vrbal & visual.
Too much slio inormation ovrloaos popl's cognitiv
systems.
Can your visuals b unorstooo in thr sconos? l not,
redesign them!
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First thing to
remember is that
this is a presentation,
not a memorized
recitation...
LIVING THE BRAND 24
You might think that with a big, wonderful and expansive
topic like this you could open up the Q&A during the
presentation. But actually, this is the same as #2 above. Its
all about the macro and the micro. You want people to fully
comprehend the big picture. THEN open it up.
Maybe you are skeptical on this one. Well, imagine the
following.
Slide 1: Great news!
Slide 2: Stock split!
First question Is this a premium or preferred split? Will we
be taxed on capital gains if we sell shares at this point? What
happens to our stock options in the event of a split?
See what happens? Before you can even get to Slide 3,
where you begin to explain what this means and why it
has happened (because, truly, the good news is that the
company has performed so well that the markets have
rewarded it), youre mired in details.
4. Creative brainstorming session
This one is easy, right? Anything involving the words
CREATIVE and/or BRAINSTORMING automatically implies all
is fair in love and war. In other words, any question, any time,
anybody. Yeah, baby!
5. Strategy-heavy presentations
Now youre in the land of the conceptual. If-then statements.
Market segmentation. Values. Mission. Vision. Stuf thats
sometimes hard to grasp because it is strategic rather than
tangible.
Here, we recommend doing two things. First, create discrete
sections to your presentation. We recommend allowing
questions and interaction at the end of each section. This
lets you check in with your audience and make sure they are
following and they are engaged. And it lets you introduce
a good level of interactivity. At the same time, it keeps you
from getting stuck at every slide. Its a real balance of macro
Take questions during the
presentation or after?
Is there a rule?
Not surprisingly, the answer is No. There is no rule.
Also not surprisingly, we have an opinion on the question of
when to allow the questioning. And, like most things having
to do with storytelling, the answer absolutely depends on the
story you are telling.
So to give some guidance on the issue, weve come up with
ve types of presentations and given some thoughts on
when to allow the Q&A.
1. Data-heavy presentations
If your presentation involves a lot of data (hopefully very
well designed and made very, very clear by honing in on only
those points that REALLY matter), take questions as they
come. Youll lose your audience if they fail to understand the
key data on Slide 6 and you conclude at Slide 54.
2. Difcult topic presentations
This one is at the other end of the scale. Here, you want the
audience to take in the macro rather than the micro. You
want them to understand the full picture before drilling
into details. Say you are describing the new health care
plan for the company. It is both more expensive and less
comprehensive than the previous one. Present everything
rst and allow A LOT of time for the questions. Be sure to
tell the audience at the very beginning of the presentation
that you are going to speak for X minutes and cover all of the
material, and THEN youre going to open up for extensive
Q&A.
3. Wonderful news presentations
Great news! Stock split! Uncle leaves you $3 million in his will!
Market share grows to 97 percent! EUREKA!
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LIVING THE BRAND 25
and micro.
Something to ponder: How are you currently handling the
Q&A? If youre like most people, youre holding it until the
end and then hoping that the room will come alive with
trenchant remarks and incisive questions. Consider what
type of presentation you are giving and plan accordingly.
LIVING THE BRAND 26
Something to ponder: How do you do your time
management when planning a presentation? If youre given
90 minutes, start to nish, how much of that is assumed to be
presentation time? (Answer in the back of the book: It should
be 45 minutes.)
A presentation is a chance to
share what you believe to be true
about a VERY specic thing.
It is NOT a chance to share everything you have ever learned
in your life!.
You have been given a 60-minute slot for your presentation.
There are two ways to plan for this.
Traditional school of thought: Create a presentation that
runs 60 minutes in length. Then start cutting, trimming and
editing to allow for 5 minutes' worth of Q&A.
Non-traditional school of thought: Map out a story that takes
only HALF of the allotted time. Yes, just half. So, in this case,
that would be 30 minutes.
With your remaining time, you can open up the conversation
for questions. Or take questions in the middle of your
presentation and still bring it all in on time. Or you can ask the
participants to actually DO something -- interactive voting,
maybe, or a short task where they turn to their neighbor and
brainstorm an issue.
With the luxury of time, you create natural openings for
engagement.
The worst situation is to nd yourself racing through your
nal 712 slides at Usain Bolt-speed, skipping content and
disappointing people along the way as they feel that,
somehow, the presentation they were supposed to see is not
available to them due to poor time management.
Be brave. Cut your allotted time in half and commit to
audience engagement of some sort. You will feel the
diference. More importantly, your audience will feel the
diference.
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With the luxury of
time, you create
natural openings for
engagement.
LIVING THE BRAND 27
thanks see our blog this week at http://www.storytegic.
com/170119/blog for more on that --- but if you want to
acknowledge a company-wide achievement, then make
it collective. Say something like, The Widget team, in
particular, did an outstanding job with this product launch.
We should all be especially proud because were now
developing the safest widgets in the world. And weve
reduced our carbon footprint by x percent because of the
work of our Technology Team.")
This isn't about claiming credit for someone else's work. It's
about giving real purpose to the credit for the heroic work
someone did, for example, and showing how the brand
benets overall.
Find ways to be inclusive. Find ways to underscore team and
common purpose. This doesnt mean ignore the individual. Of
course not. But the really powerful way of living the brand is
by honoring the individual and valuing his or her contribution
to the overall collective vision of the organization. Make the
whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Think in terms of purpose and you will automatically start
being more inclusive. And powerful! And, yes, this can start
with something as simple as an email!
Something to ponder: How inclusive are YOUR emails? How
often do you use the we the collective rather than the
you?
You versus us.
Talk about a world of diference. One (you) automatically
implies a state of separation while the other (us) creates a
bond, a community, a union.
And which do you think builds a shared sense of brand
purpose and mission? If you said YOU, well, YOU would be
wrong! Hahaha. Of course the more inclusive you can be the
better. Because that makes your brand story be just that
your collective brand story. And it turns everyone into a
possible brand hero as well as a brand champion.
So why are we bringing this up? Its obvious, right?
Uh, no.
We have done a lot of work with senior executives and
CEOs who struggle with this one. In a drive to ensure theyre
adopting what they believe is a sufcient level of authority,
they erect barriers where none is needed. And they create
a strong sense of hierarchy in the process of doing so. YOU
think this but WE (or I) think something else. Or, more to the
point, YOU need to do this. Here are some real life examples
(edited to protect the innocent.):
You need to adhere to these brand guidelines. (Really?
Dont we all? How about YOU, Mr. CEO?)
From this point forward, you will need to book only coach
class travel. (Okay. And how about YOU, Ms. Managing
Director? Are you seated in 1A or 52C for that ight to
Singapore? In other words, is there one policy for us and
another for you? Lots to chew on with this one.)
And a particular variation on a theme: the positive message
that fails to maximize the sense of team:
You did an excellent job with that product launch. (Sure,
this makes sense if you are sending a personal note of
It's about giving real
purpose to the credit
for the heroic work
someone did...
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system but we could just as easily have used paper and pen.
In the latter case, we would have suggested asking meeting
participants to break into teams of two or three and discuss.
Then, all our client would have had to do was get one team
talking and it was of and running.
We suggested he have a ip chart at the front of the room.
We called this his "Stuf" board. Write down questions, ideas,
comments from the brainstorming.
The result? FOURTEEN pages of ideas and concepts. Yes,
really.
At the end of the meeting, our client was able to stand up in
front of the room and pledge to include all of these ideas in
the nal report. He asked for volunteers. And got them!
Talk about a diference!
Something to ponder: When planning your presentation,
start with the ideal result. What do you want to achieve?
What will make this a success? And therefore what is the best
way to handle the presentation?
Involve me and I'll understand
"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may not remember.
Involve me and I'll understand." Native American proverb.
We were recently engaged to help a very senior industry
leader present interim ndings to a group of his peers from
global media companies.
His plan was to show them the results of the work so far. And
then "open it up for questions."
Sounds pretty standard, right?
So we asked our client, "What is your ideal outcome from this
presentation?"
And he said, "Well, I really want their ideas on where to go
next. And I want them to become more actively involved in
this project. I guess I want their buy-in, too."
Ah, so there's the wish list.
What is the likelihood that an update was ever going to
produce that particular outcome? Or, asked another way,
what's a likelihood smaller than 0.00007%?
So we coached our client into handling this a diferent way.
We coached him to do an open brainstorming session instead
of a presentation. Here is what we did:
1. Together, we created three opening slides. Each slide
contained a question. A challenge. A call to adventure.
2. We worked with our client to help him with brainstorming
skills. He agreed NOT to stand on the stage but to walk
amongst the audience. With the lights on.
3. We worked up a series of ve very difcult, thought-
provoking questions. We had access to an interactive voting
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We coached him
to do an open
brainstorming
session instead of a
presentation.
LIVING THE BRAND 29
Consistency does not mean stasis, however. Being consistent
means knowing your values and living by them. Sticking to
them. Underscoring the values and the mission and the vision
at each possible turn. That is not the same thing as standing
still or stubbornly refusing to adapt to changing market
conditions. Instead, what it means is nding ways to adapt
the values and the vision and the mission so they remain
relevant. For example, we have a client for whom Community
is the most powerful value. How Community is translated
in 2014 may well be diferent from how Community was
expressed back in 2001. But the value itself does not change.
And the brand behavior is consistent. Everything that
brand does is about fostering and respecting and building
Community.
So it's just like The Rolling Stones. They are about rock 'n roll.
They are about sex and satisfaction. They are about pushing
boundaries. That never changes. Maybe they're making a few
wee changes to reect the fact that they're now grandfathers
in their seventies (Cue the Holy Shit Chorus!). But they will
never, ever, EVER be about peace and love and harmony for
the knit-your-own-yoghurt crowd! Not The Rolling Stones.
With that, we sign of for 2013. Peace, love and health from
all of us here at Storytegic. And in keeping with the spirit of
today's post, Rock on, baby. Rock on!
Something to ponder: Take a look at some of your favorite
rock bands. What are the values that held through the years?
How has consistency powered that brand? How will your
brand adapt in 2014 -- what will change and what will remain
the same?
"F Of, Were 50"

We didn't come up with that one, although it sure would be
cool if we had! In truth, that particular #brand #story is the
genius of rock icon Mick Jagger, talking about The Rolling
Stones' latest world tour -- said to be the 41st in the 50 years
the band has been together. In the end, The Stones went
with the slightly less provocative "One More Shot". But we
love the original idea because it says so much about the
brand and how the baddest boys of rock 'n roll have dened
themselves and remained "market leaders" since what feels
like time immemorial and certainly pre-dates the peace sign.
The fact is, there is SO much we can learn from pop culture. It
is the ultimate breeding ground for brands and brand stories.
And it illustrates some critically important concepts in clear
and often pretty groovy ways.
So, as we prepare to bring 2013 in for the proverbial landing,
let's take a stroll down Memory Lane and take a look at The
Rolling Stones and what they teach us about brand strategy!
In a word, it's about consistency. Consistency drives brand
(and band....!) success.

As was recently suggested in an articles in Forbes (and
isn't it funny that a business magazine like Forbes would
choose to write about The Rolling Stones? Think pop culture
isn't business culture? Ha! Guess again!), management
consultants from McKinsey would swear on a stack of bibles
the law of the brand jungle is Innovate or Die. But what
we see from the example of Mick and Keith and the boys
is that consistency trumps innovation for brand staying
power. It isn't about change for change's sake. Quite the
opposite! Brands succeed because they consistently keep
their promise to customers. Innovation may be part of that
promise. But it's the consistency that matters the most. As
the article in Forbes noted, "The Stones branding strategy is
to be the best at who and what they are, and then stick with it
forever. And it works."

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Being consistent
means knowing
your values and
living by them.
LIVING THE BRAND 30
exciting!"
Agency: "I understand the desire to give as much energy as
possible to your product. Absolutely. You have choices in
the color palette that will really give you the differentiation
you're seeking."
LC: "No, you don't understand." (Smug smile here.) "I
understand my particular product. And while these brand
guidelines are fine for the others, I'd like to ask you to trust
me on this. I mean, hell, they're just guidelines, right? Not
laws! And we have to be practical here, even if it means going
'off-brand' (insert air quotes here). Besides, I check with the
CEO and she's fine with me doing this."
Agency: "In order for your organization to make a memorable
impact in this loud world, all elements of a brand identity and
guidelines must be followed and must be consistent with
who you are as an organization."
Awkward silence.
Agency: "Maybe this will make things a little easier in terms
of seeing the importance of brand guidelines. The guidelines
exist to ensure that the organization is always consistent in
messaging. Always sending out the same message about
values and vision and mission. About who you are. So, let's
just take an example. You said you want glitz and pizzazz and
oomph. One of your brand values -- developed by the entire
staff as well as key stakeholders -- is Quiet Confidence. Can
you see how rhinestones and glitter might not support that
value?"
Stubborn shrug.
LC: "I don't like our brand guidelines."
And this is where THE Conversation always lands. We explain
-- because this is really, really, really important -- that it's
not about liking or not liking the identity choices. It's about
understanding them. It's about knowing your brand story
and believing it (because you helped create it and you are
living it), and then expressing it consistently to the world. To
Are brand guidelines for sissies?!
Independent. Free as a bird. Rebellious. Creative genius. Oh
yeah. When god and/or DNA made you, they broke the mold.
You're that one in a million. And rules do not apply. Not really.
Right?
Be honest. Isn't that how you see yourself? How you'd like
others to see you? Something of a brilliant crusader, out
to save the world and have a shit-ton of fun while you're
at it. That's how we all like to see ourselves. (Imagine the
alternative...company man/woman, corporate drone, just
following orders. No thanks.)
So what about distinctly uncomfortable things like brand
guidelines? Regulations? How do you square your natural
talent, exquisite taste and creative brilliance -- the very
things that make you YOU and allow you to push back the
boundaries set out for other mere mortals -- with intractable
laws for fonts, color palette, tag line use, photography
guidelines, etc.?
This is a tension we see all the time. Nearly every
engagement involves what we call THE Conversation. It
normally takes place about nine months after the launch
of the new brand (or rebrand). The guidelines have been
delivered and everyone has been happily (or not so happily,
but you certainly can't please everybody all the time....)
following the rules and beavering away at brand consistency.
And then, suddenly, the lone crusader from above decides
it's time to push the envelope.... The conversation goes
something like this:
LC (lone crusader): "The guidelines are great. I think they
work most of the projects around here. But in MY case I'm
afraid we're going to have to make an exception!"
Agency: "Oh, really? Why is that?"
LC: "I need something with more pizzazz, frankly. Something
sexier. More oomph. I want bling. Glitter. Something super
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LIVING THE BRAND 31
underscore your key messages. To tell your story.
It sometimes takes a couple of tries at this. But you know
what? If you just keep coming back to the brand story and
to the role of the individual in creating and living that brand
story, it will make sense. Sticking to the fonts and the color
palette, for example, or answering the phone before the
second ring or serving with a smile or infusing the meal
with love, etc., becomes about bringing that story to life
rather than a test of wills over who is most creative and
independent and therefore gets to set the direction.
Even Steve Jobs lived by brand guidelines. (Okay. It's true. He
set them!)
Brand guidelines -- not for sissies. Pas du tout!
Something to ponder: How strictly does your organization
stick to the guidelines? Do you allow exceptions? Under what
circumstances? And why?
LIVING THE BRAND 32

What happens? Does the world come to an end? Sky fall
down? Plague of locusts arrive? No. It's more insidious
than that. What happens when a brand breaks its promise
(CHEATER, CHEATER) is that trust is broken. There is
suspicion. There is the willingness to entertain the idea that
maybe it's time to break up. End the relationship. Move on.
Or, in customer loyalty terms...try another brand.

Let's take a real-life example. Ever heard of the restaurant
chain Chipotle? Tremendously successful company in the
US, whose brand promise is: Food with Integrity. The whole
brand story has been built on the promise of health and
sustainability.
Says the company: Chipotle is a company that has been
built in a very different way. Most fast food companies use
cheap, heavily processed ingredients. We do not. We use
great ingredients from more sustainable sources. Most
cook all or most of their food offsite using very industrial
methods, and reheat food in the restaurants. We do not.
We cook food in our restaurants using classic cooking
methods.

Great, right? People like us, people who care deeply about
what we put into our bodies and what we do the land on this
planet, felt really good about our relationship with Chipotle.
We started to get serious....maybe not ready for marriage
but definitely thinking about exclusivity and maybe moving
in together!

And then, BOOM! BAM! UH-OH. Guess what? Our brand
cheated on us. Seriously. Here's what happened. We found
out, along with the rest of the world, that one-half of the
restaurants ingredients are GMOs (a.k.a. genetically
modified organisms). In Forbes words, brand promise
made, brand promise broken.

We all know what happens when a relationship is tested
in this way, right? Things change. ("It's me, not you," she
lies....) We become LESS invested. We protect ourselves by
becoming LESS emotionally connected. We start thinking
about other brands.
Brand is a relationship. So don't
you dare cheat!

There are lots of good working definitions for a brand out
there. The one we like the most was coined by the brand
genius Marty Neumeier, who said: "A brand is a person's
gut feeling about a product or service". (If you haven't read
Neumeier's "Brand Gap", RUN, TOTO, RUN! It's a must!)

Lately, however, we've been working with an even bigger
definition of brand that gets us closer to understanding how
things fit together and what happens when a brand story
and brand behaviors clash....

So think about this.

A brand is a relationship. Think of your brand as, say, a
boyfriend. A girl friend. A lover. Your BFF. Your favourite
auntie. You get the idea. Someone/something for whom
there is deep emotional connection.

The relationship is built on trust. The brand promises
something, something that really matters. Like, say, I will
always make your laundry smell like roses and I will use
no harsh chemicals that destroy our oceans. I will be the
longest lasting light bulb in the world and be 10x more
energy efficient than any other light bulb on the market.
I will get you to your destination safely, comfortably and
on time. Whatever that promise is, it is a promise. And
that promise sits at the core of the brand story: Here
is who we are and what we stand for and what we do.
The more consistently a brand proves that the story is
true -- authentic -- the tighter the bond. The better the
relationship. The happier the couple. And, of course, the
stronger the loyalty.

And, as is true in all relationships, when the brand breaks
that promise, well, it's bad. It's adultery. It's betrayal. Oh,
hell, let's call it what it really is: IT IS CHEATING.
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LIVING THE BRAND 33

But that isn't the whole story in this case.

Because at the same time that this information came
out about the GMO fake food in the kitchen, Chipotle
announced it would become the first US restaurant chain
to eliminate GMO foods. AND, to stay true to the brand, it
also announced it would offer a breakdown of the menu on
their website so that consumers could be aware of what we
are eating. The Chipotle website states that the restaurant
plans to move away from using any genetically modified
ingredients in the future and recently switched our fryers
from soybean oil to sunflower oil because commercial
sunflower oil is GMO-free.

If a brand is relationship, here's what we're thinking...This is
NOT a lyin', stinkin', cheatin', no-good dog. No. It's a brand
that tells the truth, even when it's not convenient, and is
working hard (putting its money where its mouth is) to live
its brand promise of Food with Integrity. Net result? We're
lovin' this relationship. We're lovin' this brand. We're stayin'
true blue loyal. (Except we don't eat fast food....but you get
the idea!)

The reason this construct of brand as relationship works
so well -- and our clients agree -- is that it underscores the
two-way relationship between the brand and the customer.
It is not simply a one-way push to the consumer to get him
to buy more. And it is not a one-off brand campaign trotted
out at the holidays to get people to buy more product
for Christmas or Kwanzaa. No, it's an ongoing, organic
experience that continually tests the strength and integrity
of the brand promise sitting at the heart of your brand story.

THAT is a brand. And THAT is why it matters so much.
Because if this is true of a two-dollar taco, it's also true of a
President or Prime Minister. A CEO. An airline. A hospital. A
home entertainment system. A planet....
Something to ponder: Are you a loyal brand? Do you live
your brand values? I mean, do you REALLY live those
values? Do you so in ways that matter to your customers?
Are you sure?
LIVING THE BRAND 34
(And be sure to complete the sentences as honestly as you
can. Extra credit for authenticity....!)
Dear ,
This is a love letter. No, no! Don't get nervous! What I mean
is this is a love letter about my brand. I love my brand. You
know why? Because it is the only brand in the Milky Way that
_________________________________.
Let me tell you a little bit about my brand. We developed
this product/service/organization because we believe
the world needs _________________________. We
have been committed, since our very first day, to
_______________________ and making the world a better
place by _________________________.
I won't lie. There have been some challenges along the way.
Our biggest challenge has been ______________________
_________. Just when it seemed the darkness would never
lift, something extraordinary happened: _________________
______________________!
We have (insert number between 1 and 4) _______ values
that we live by. They are:
_____________, _______________, ______________
and ______________. We live our brand every day by
__________________________.
Okay. This is turning into a long letter. Sorry! Let me end by
saying this. Our mission is __________________________
_________. And we hope you'll be part of that mission. We
hope you'll help us by answering this Call to Adventure. This
idea matters because _______________________________
___!
Yours truly from yours truly :)
See how this works? It's a rigid structure, yes, and it forces
us to be succinct. That is SUCH a good thing! We can craft
glorious prose or create astounding designs later. First we
need the raw elements of the brand story. We do that by
Dear _____________,
I love my brand because
________________!
Who doesn't love a good round of Mad Libs?!
Remember how fun it was to fill in the blanks, especially
when you got to use swear words and selected funny body
parts?
Well, guess what? We can take that experience and apply
it to #brandstorytelling. Minus the funny body parts. Woot
woot.
We heard about this idea from a colleague who was helping
a client write a business plan. (Friend of a friend of a friend....
viral marketing the old-fashioned way....) Our colleague
noticed that the business plan was suffering from a bout
of the three's: it was long, it was drawn-out and it was
unfocused.
The client needed help. So our colleague suggested writing
a pretend letter to potential investors. He gave the client a
template. It looked like a Mad Lib.
"Just fill in the blanks. Once you've done that, call me. I think
this is really going to help."
It did. The business plan kind of wrote itself after that. (And
the cutlery danced....)
Anyway, here's the point. The act of letter writing and the
discipline of the limited scope help the client figure out what
he needs to say. We loved the idea. So we're borrowing it!
(Fist pump knowledge sharing!)
Let's use a pretend letter to a customer as a way of helping to
figure out the key parts of your brand story. Check it out!
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LIVING THE BRAND 35
simplifying, clarifying and unearthing the magic. We love it. It
is so, so, very ____________!
Something to ponder: I love ___________________________
_______! Yes, try it!
LIVING THE BRAND 36
Skype:
Our logo is a very valuable asset.
We must treat it nicely. Never abuse
our logo, it doesnt have arms so it
cant fight back (our lawyers however,
are another story).
01 Print logo
This logo is to be used for all printed collateral
including all printed publications, advertising,
billboards, posters, flyers and product packaging.
02 Screen logo
This is our logo to be used for all screen work,
including websites, banners and presentations.
Please make sure you are using the latest
version as we have made it 17% nicer than
the earlier version."
Great, isn't it? It's informative. It's confident. It's clever. It's
business-like without being business-like. It is Skype.
Now, just to compare and contrast, let's take a look at how a
completely different brand talks about itself. This is from the
Dove Brand Book, in a section about Brand Promise: what
does Dove promise its consumer?
"There is a point when a woman discovers who she is. When
she
stops the frantic search and accepts herself, imperfections
and all.
When she is guided by what feels right to her, not by what
feels
right to others. This understanding comes to some women at
20,
to others at 50, to some, never.
Our target is more mature, more accepting of herself. Thats
not
to say shes perfect, or without her share of insecurities. It just
Yes, please DO use that tone of
voice with me!
"Don't use that tone of voice with me, young lady/young
man...."
Remember hearing that as a kid? We sure do!
Great news. When it comes to your brand, there's no such
thing as getting the tone out of your voice. It's the opposite,
in fact! A major part of living the brand is all about tone --
words, language, even attitude (all hail the 'tude!) that fits
who you are and says something unique about you to your
customers.
You've done all of this work to come up with a great looking
brand identity: a logo, a color palette and a type face (font)
that speaks to your quiet confidence, your authority, your
commitment, your belief in animal rights. It's all there. You've
taken the Pledge of White Space -- the promise NOT to
clutter. And you've sworn off anything even remotely cutesy
or twee for your premiums and gifts (sheepishly admitting
that, yes, you HAD been drinking when you suggested the
buck-toothed Easter Bunny stuffed animal as a corporate
gift....).

But wait. You're forgetting something: Your tone of voice.
The language you use says as much about who you are as a
brand as your visual identity. You can't have one without the
other!
Let's take a look at a great brand. Skype. Here's an excerpt
from the Skype Brand Book. Note how Skype talks about
itself. Note the irreverence, the sophistication and the
quirky quality to the language. Note how Skype assumes
its customers are smart enough to understand the sarcasm.
And, most of all, try to imagine how all of this makes youfeel.
(Hint: Think cool!)
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LIVING THE BRAND 37
means she is more centered."
Totally different, right? And completely distinct. HEAR the
difference? FEEL the difference?
Every brand has a voice. It speaks to your values and your
vision. It speaks to your audiences. It rings true because it is
authentic. It is HOW your brand would speak if a brand could
actually open its mouth and say something.
Tone of voice is the area where we see the biggest mistakes
and the most frequent and profound missed opportunities,
to be honest. We see brands spending lots and lots of money
on visual identity but then sacrificing the tone of voice, either
because the CEO thinks it's nice to have but not necessary
or because the understanding of brand is limited to visual
identity.
But where a brand establishes a genuine and distinct tone of
voice, wow. The conversation starts to get really interesting!
And that tone of voice then gets carried through to the
website and to social media. And suddenly the brand is really
talking. And really being heard.
Something to ponder: Does your brand have a distinct tone
of voice? Does everyone in your organization know that? Are
there tools available to help with this like well-written, on-
brand boiler plate language? Is there someone within your
organization who has the final word on tone of voice?
LIVING THE BRAND 38
What is branding? Branding is about who you are. It is
strategic.
What is marketing? Marketing is the active promotion of a
product or service. And it is about what you do. It is tactical.
See the dif?
Um, kinda.....
That's when we bring our secret weapon. Joe Studmufn.
He is THE MAN. (Just ask him. He'll tell you. Well, he would if
he could. 'Cept Joe is an inatable doll, alas. And inatable
dolls, no matter how handsome or how spifly attired, do not
speak. Thank god.)
Let's let Joe Studmufn make the case. To set the scene:
we're in an uber-trendy bar. Cocktails start at 17 bucks and
always feature exotic microbrewed spirits. There are three
pairs of Louboutin shoes per table. Hair products render the
place highly ammable. It's a hot and happenin' scene. Joe
enters the bar. He sidles up to Susie who has put in a long
day at the ofce. She quickly clicks out of her latest game of
Candy Crush and smiles at Joe. Aha.....there's magic in the air.
That's the scene.
Now, in the world of marketing, Joe will speak rst. It will go
like this:
Marketing:
Joe Studmufn: "I am a great lover."
Susie: "Good to know."
(Likely outcome? Susie pretends to see a friend across the
bar and RUNS at a speed rivaling Usain Bolt's 100-meter dash
to get away from Joe. Joe goes home alone.)
And in the world of branding, it will go like this:
Susie, marketing, brand and Joe
Studmufn, the inatable doll!
"You'll be working with Susie. She joined us from a PR
agency, so perfect background. Understands all that
marketing stuf. Plus, She handles our relationship with the
ad agency and keeps those design people on a tight leash.
She's our go-to brand person."
Wow. Talk about a multi-tasker! Notice how we've gone from
PR to marketing to design to brand. Yowzers. Susie is a busy
lady!
Please don't think we're kidding. In lots and lots of
organizations, there is still an assumption that brand is
(exclusively) a marketing activity and it's somehow related to
PR and corporate communications and possibly the training
department, too. Throw it all together and, magically, just
like that, from the mish mash, shall arise a brand strategy
and a band of branding experts who make smart, strategic
decisions about positioning and messaging and establishing
relevance.
YIKES!
So, this is just about the time when we step in and start
clarifying roles and responsibilities, helping the client
understand the key and fundamental diference between
marketing and branding and, just as important, what that
means for how to manage brand going forward.
Remember, a brand is a person's (that is, a customer's)
gut feeling about a product or service. It's the customer's
perceptions that dene the brand. You do all of this work to
tell your brand story and live your brand values and reach
your mission; and it's the customer who ultimately gets to
decide whether you've fullled your promise and delivered
your brand.
P
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LIVING THE BRAND 39
Branding:
Susie: "You are a great lover, Joe Studmufn. A real
studmufn, in fact."
Joe Studmufn: "Great to know!"
(Likely outcome? Well, let's just say they're thrilled to
discover they both love blueberry pancakes for breakfast...)
Okay. Not the most serious example, obviously, but it makes
the point. Brand is who we are. Marketing is what we do.
See the diference? We're not saying branding is "better"
than marketing. We're saying branding is diferent than
marketing. Branding underlies any marketing efort. It is true
and real and relevant. It is more than a come on.
So let's bring this back to Susie and her marketing
experience. It's not to say that Susie shouldn't be involved in
the brand relaunch or that Susie shouldn't be considered for
a larger role in brand management within the business. She
might kick ass and win Brand Manager of the Year. Go, Susie!
But the point is this: Susie should not be the default and de
facto choice to head up the brand efort simply because
she works in marketing! Marketing is not another word for
branding.
We work with clients in assembling strategic teams for brand
management, drawing from many departments. The HR
department, for example, is key: how does living the brand
values factor in to hiring and working practices? Performance
appraisals? And what about the folks from the manufacturing
units? They're making the widgets so we need them
involved. Widgets ARE the brand! And, without exception,
we need the CEO and his or her team involved. Actively
involved, not just approving invoices.
Something to ponder: Who is leading your organizations
brand stewardship? How much authority does that person
have? Is he or she supported by the CEO? Is your entire
organization geared up and rewarded for championing
your brand?
LIVING THE BRAND 40
Amy Selwyn
A native of West Hartford, Connecticut
(US), Amy has lived in New York,
London, Rome and New Hampshire. She
says her nomadic roots are genetic in
nature: her mothers family hailed from
Spain, resettled in Istanbul and ended up
in Lithuania before heading to America.
Amy holds degrees from Cornell
University and New York University, and
she counts some of the most prestigious
news brands among her former
employers, including The New York
Times, The Associated Press and the
BBC. Obsessed with well-told stories,
Amy founded Storytegic in 2004 and is
a frequent speaker on brand storytelling.
She is the proud owner of two amazing
bulldogs and is on the Boards of both
the International News Safety Institute
and The Global Thinkers Forum.
Cornelis Jacobs
Cornelis has worked in/with social
media and marketing for most of his
professional career. He sees it as a
healthy obsession. He is an entrepreneur
at heart. Most people will describe him
as having an entrepreneurial spirit that
translates into a "can-do" attitude.
This attitude has led Cornelis to join
Storytegic after several years spent
working in rst the legal services and
then the software industries, and also in
broadcast media. To our clients Cornelis
brings experience from his work with
social networks, Internet start-ups,
bigger marketing departments and from
the design world.
Storytegic is proud to partner with
photographer Stefano Santucci.
Stefano Santucci
Born in 1983 in Cremona, a little town
in the north of Italy. Now living in
the middle of Tuscany in Florence
(since 2003). Im a professional visual
storytelling photographer. My style --
and my objective -- is simple: every shot
must tell a true story. Nothing less. Im
inspired by love stories, old romantics
movies, forgotten objects. Im curious
and sincere, creative and smiling. I love
my work. In my business I am deliberately
small and I want stay in this way: I prefer
to work for quality rather than quantity
and to keep the artistic control over all
my projects. My clients include EBU,
Bloomberg, CNN and more. I have been
selected as a member of FEARLESS
PHOTOGRAPHERS and WPJA member
and also be part of Associazione
Nazionale Fotogra Matrimonio. In my
room theres also a dusty psychology
degree.
www.stefanosantucci.it
Wanna know more?
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some feedback?
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posts?
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