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

168 Pages·2013·2.76 MB·English

by  Ty Montague

TRUE STORY
TRUE STORY
How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business
Ty Montague
Harvard Business Review Press,
Boston,
Massachusetts
Copyright 2013 Ty Montague All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to
[email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard
Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the book’s publication but
may be subject to change.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Montague, Ty.
True story : how to combine story and action to transform your business / Ty Montague.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-42217068-7 (alk. paper) 1. Branding (Marketing) 2. Customer relations. 3. Success in
business. I. Title.
HF5415.1255.M655 2013
658.8—dc23
2012051719
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for
Permanence of Paper for Publications and Documents in Libraries and Archives Z39.48-1992.
ISBN: 9781422170687
eISBN: 9781422187562
I’d like to dedicate this book to the most inspiring people I know—my partner in
life, Dany Lennon-Montague, and my partners in business, Rosemarie Ryan,
Neil Parker, Richard Schatzberger, Conrad Lisco, and Tiffany Rolfe.
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Your True Story
2. Storydoing and the Four Truths
3. The Participants
4. The Protagonist
5. The Stage
6. The Quest
7. Your Metastory and Action Map
Conclusion
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Our story begins somewhat unremarkably in a European airport in 1982.
Dietrich Mateschitz, a thirty-six-year-old Austrian toothpaste salesman, boards a
plane for a routine business trip to Thailand. In fairness, Mateschitz was a fairly
industrious and successful toothpaste salesman, having risen to the position of
international marketing director for a German toothpaste manufacturer called
Blendax. But there was nothing about Mateschitz at this moment that would
have tipped you off to the fact that he was about to discover something that
would make him one of the world’s wealthiest men and that he would create a
company that, if you had to pick just one, is today’s best example of a company
built on the concepts explored in this book. It’s a new kind of company that tells
its story in a new way—through actions and experiences.
The odd fact is that if Mateschitz hadn’t arrived in Thailand suffering from
terrible jet lag, he might still be a toothpaste salesman today. But as luck would
have it, Mateschitz did arrive jet lagged. Some locals took pity on him and
directed him to a store where he was told to ask for an exotic-sounding tonic
called Krating Daeng. Mateschitz learned that in addition to being an excellent
jet lag treatment, Krating Daeng was also prized by locals for its ability to
increase physical endurance and mental concentration, making it popular with
laborers and long-distance truck drivers. Now, by this time, hundreds of
thousands of westerners had already passed through Thailand and presumably
some of them had already discovered the restorative powers of Krating Daeng
for themselves. There was really only one difference between them and Dietrich
Mateschitz: where others had seen a drink for laborers and truck drivers,
Mateschitz saw a gold mine. Are you still having trouble guessing the identity of
this company? It might help to know that the Thai name Krating Daeng
translates roughly in English to “red bull.”
Upon making his discovery, Mateschitz sought out the manufacturer of
Krating Daeng, a Thai company called TC Pharmaceuticals, and with passion
and persistence convinced the owner, Chaleo Yoovidhya, that there was a vast
market outside Thailand for Red Bull. The two formed a joint venture, Red Bull
GmbH, and set to work on a product formulation that would please the European
palate and a marketing plan to pursue a very different target: young men aged
eighteen to thirty-four who, like Mateschitz, were enthusiasts of a growing
movement—adventure sports. In 1987, the first can of Red Bull energy drink
went on sale in Mateschitz’s native Austria. The main difference in the European
(and today global) formulation is that unlike its Thai forerunner, it is carbonated
and contains the amino acid taurine.
This is where the story could have ended, of course. If Red Bull had been
launched by a traditional packaged-goods company, it would probably have been
treated like a traditional packaged good. Coca-Cola or Unilever, for example,
would in all likelihood have assigned a marketing team who would have hired an
ad agency, created a slogan, negotiated for some shelf space, and turned on the
television advertising. But this is where the story of Red Bull actually starts to
get interesting, because this is the point at which Dietrich Mateschitz reveals his
one true superpower. It turns out that lurking inside the mild-mannered
toothpaste salesman was an extraordinarily talented storyteller and experiential
marketer. Mateschitz didn’t have a massive TV budget. He had something much
more important—a vision. He believed Red Bull could become something far
greater than liquid in a can.
From the very beginning, Mateschitz viewed Red Bull as a lifestyle, a kind of
belief system, a religion in which that can of liquid was necessary and
functional. From the beginning, Red Bull, the belief system, and Red Bull, the
product, were inextricably intertwined. In a rare interview with Fast Company
magazine in 2011, Mateschitz was asked how this vision came to be. Mateschitz
responded, “This is similar to the question ‘What was first, the chicken or the
egg?’ When launching a product that stimulates body and mind, it is a short step
to the roots where Red Bull came from . . . now it’s called adventure sports,
extreme sports, and outdoor sports. Most of the national Austrian champions in
those days were personal friends of mine and we spent all our leisure time
mountain biking, windsurfing, snowboarding, etc.” He explained, “What Red
Bull stands for is that it ‘gives you wings . . .’ which means that it provides
skills, abilities, power, etc., to achieve whatever you want to. It is an invitation as
well as a request to be active, performance-oriented, alert, and to take
challenges. When you work or study, do your very best. When you do sports, go
for your limits. When you have fun or just relax, be aware of it and appreciate
it.”1
Mateschitz believed from the beginning that he needed to find ways to embed
Red Bull in the lives and lifestyles of his audience. Like many entrepreneurs
before him, he had the vision clearly in his head, but he didn’t find the right
execution on day one. The breakout moment for Red Bull came in 1990, when
Mateschitz, dreaming of experiences that would engage and amuse his
adrenalized friends, came up with an event he called the Red Bull Flugtag.
Flugtag translates from German to roughly “flight day” or “air show.” It features
homemade aircraft built by self-taught “pilots” who launch off a platform three
stories above a body of water that serves as the landing surface. The main rule is
that a craft must be powered by muscle, gravity, and imagination. Judging from
the results, also apparently a large dose of insanity.
The first Red Bull Flugtag competition was held in 1991 in Vienna. It was an
instant hit. Local newscasts picked it up, and videos of the event were passed
from person to person around the world. Ripples from the first Flugtag spread
globally, giving Red Bull its first taste of the power of story combined with the
power of innovative action.
Flugtag was such a success that it has been held every year since in over
thirty-five cities globally, from Dublin to San Francisco, attracting up to 300,000
spectators per event. The success of Flugtag was a seminal moment for the
young company, and it codified a core philosophy: don’t rent space at other
people’s events—create (and own) your own. Thirty years later, Red Bull has
become a company that is hard to describe in conventional terms. Is it a
packaged-goods company? Yes. Is it a media company? Yes. Is it an events
company? Yes. Is it an adventure sports lifestyle company? Yes. So what exactly
is the business that Red Bull is in again?
Mateschitz explained: “Since the beginning, it has been a brand philosophy
and how to look upon the world, rather than pure marketing for consumer goods.
In both areas we are talking about content distribution as a way to tell our
consumers and friends what is new about our approximately six hundred athletes
worldwide, their achievements and next projects; another band launch or song
hit from Red Bull Records; what is going on regarding nightlife, people, events,
culture, Formula 1, etc. So it is both ways: the brand is supporting the sports and
culture community, as well as the other way round.”2
Red Bull has become perhaps the premier global example of a business that
combines story and action—something I call a storydoing company. Red Bull
tells its story through the creation of compelling experiences, all carefully
crafted to “give you wings.” These events and experiences result in huge
amounts of documentary content, which it distributes globally to the Red Bull
faithful on platforms it owns, like Red Bull-it magazine and RedBull.com, and
through partnerships like the new “Red Bull TV” on YouTube. In addition to the
Flugtag and countless local grassroots events, Red Bull now owns a global,
professional airplane-racing series that it not only conceived, but for which it
also invented and manufactured much of the unique technology that makes the
races possible. It owns two Formula 1 racing teams, as well as professional
football/soccer teams in England, Austria, Brazil, and the United States. It owns
a movie and television production company that is producing content of, by, and
for the Red Bull faithful. Much of that content consists of world-record attempts
or human firsts, many of them conceived of and funded by Red Bull itself. These
tend to be the kind of activities that keep mothers up at night: activities like the
highest BASE jump ever; the longest human flight with a detachable jet-
powered wing; and Red Bull Stratos, the highest ever HALO (high altitude, low
opening) jump, in a pressure suit, from a platform twenty miles above the
Earth’s surface—the edge of space.
Red Bull is also breaking new ground with the quality and expense of the
content it is creating. Its film, The Art of Flight, released in late 2011 took two
years and cost several million dollars to make. It takes the snowboarding movie
(traditionally a pretty scruffy and handheld affair) and raises the production
polish to new levels. Unlike a sponsor, Red Bull financed 100 percent of the
production, and so it also received 100 percent of the benefit when The Art of
Flight set records for downloads on iTunes at $10 each.
The Rise of Storydoing
What makes Red Bull such an interesting company today isn’t that it is unique. It
is that, increasingly, it isn’t unique at all. Red Bull may be one of the first of its
kind, but today there are numerous companies in multiple sectors that are
building large businesses by pursuing the principles of storydoing—from start-
ups that are beginning with a new idea and a clean slate, to large multinational
corporations that are beginning to do the difficult but necessary work of
restructuring themselves to behave in this new way. It’s easy to see why: when it
is done correctly, storydoing is simply better business. For instance, the best
storydoing companies can reduce their cost of paid media dramatically—
sometimes to zero.
But there are other benefits. One of the other core attributes of storydoing
companies is that they have a more clearly defined purpose than other
companies, something that transcends creating shareholder value or maximizing
profits. This attribute often creates intense loyalty among customers and
employees alike. Storydoing companies don’t just practice what they preach—
they actually preach by practicing. JetBlue, for instance, is a story doing airline
in a business sector full of long-established storytelling competitors. JetBlue’s
higher purpose is “to bring humanity back to air travel.”3 JetBlue tells that story
by creating a better customer experience at every possible point of contact. Its