The Remarkable Project

In this weeks Remarkable Conversation we speak with Ben Johnston from Evocative. Ben and I look at the importance of doing a yearly performance review on your brand to ensure it is still telling the right story.
 
Evocative is a brand design company based in Brisbane, Australia that work organisations to invent or reinvent brands to not only allow their clients to think and act more deliberately but also inspire a sense of forward progression that can drive growth and attract more of the right type of clients.

In this episode we cover:

- Why it is important to complete a performance review on your brand yearly.
- The three questions you should ask of your business.
- How consistency is key to the delivery of your brand and how that can wane over time.
- How brand is about the graphics as well as behaviours of the company and how they connect.

Get in touch with Ben & Evocative:

www.evocative.cc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/inbenjohnston/

How do you use creativity and storytelling to design client and customer experiences which will connect and make memories? 

Theron Skees is a master story-teller and former Imagineering creative executive for the Walt Disney Company, where he oversaw design of their soon to be unveiled private island, a fleet of ships and new theme park lands and attractions around the world.

Growing up in a family of builders, Theron quickly came to appreciate the joy of stepping back and seeing what you’ve created.  Fast forward to today and although he has a 30 year career in Themed Entertainment under his belt, where managing complex projects with multi-million dollar budgets concurrently has become his normal, he still loves seeing his creative vision come to life in physical and experiential form above all else.

The Designer’s Creative Studio is Theron’s latest venture, a company focused on using storytelling solutions and experience design to drive business uplift and brand equity for clients, as well as on providing big thinking consultancy and mentoring.

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Theron discusses how we can draw upon some of the approaches used to successfully plan, design and deliver physical environments, to help our brand or business build experiences which will be memorable, regardless of the form they take.  He also makes a case for getting under the skin of clients, talks shareable storytelling and explains the importance of making ‘why’ central to a narrative.

Five Key Takeaways

• Innovation should be part of company culture, not an external input  Seeing things from a different perspective pushes refinement of ideas, especially when considered risk taking across teams and ‘fast failing’ is encouraged.  
• The concept of ‘narrative experience design’ involves understanding a client’s brand, their audience and their business objectives.  
• “Swimming upstream” when collaborating with clients or vendors is the process of questioning assumptions and validating asks at the outset, so that briefs and programs can proceed safe in the knowledge that there is a shared understanding between all parties.  
• People relate to authentic, real and actionable stories that they can place themselves within – it pays to take control of and champion why you do things, because it adds a layer of believability to the what you do.  
• Studies have shown that humans are wired to catalogue memories in a story format and that all five senses can contribute to the richness of this process.  Impactful stories bring together insight and escapism to trigger an emotional response which makes them memorable.

Remarkable Quotes

[09:51] “...[innovation should be] less a service that should be purchased and more a culture that should be instituted.“

[14:47] “…good design should deliver on brand, it should grow your audience and it should deliver your business goals.”

[17:15] “…if you’re in a rocket ship and you’re aiming for Mars, but you only get to the Moon, you’ve still gone farther than most people on Earth…I believe in idealism because it sets the bar high and allows you to prepare to do impossible things.”

[39:11] “…no element is too small to represent your brand…doesn’t mean it has to be expensive, but everything should be looked at through that lens.”

Relevant References

‘Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek [2009]

‘The Experience Economy’ by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore [1999]

Connect with Theron

Reach out via LinkedIn or follow him on Instagram 

Learn more about Theron’s company The Designers Creative Studio here

In this weeks Remarkable Conversation we speak with Peter McKeon from Salesmasters International. Peter and I unpack what it takes to create a truly remarkable sales presentation.
 
Salesmasters International takes a client-by-client approach to designing innovative sales training programs that help businesses grow their revenue and in turn their business.  Peter's years of experience both in sales training, sales. strategy and also business give him to craft the requisite strategic vision to ensure that all organisational sales objectives are realised.

In this episode we cover:
 
- The importance of planning, research and clarity before starting the presentation.
 - How to begin to cultivate a trusted relationship in your presentation
 - Permission-based questioning.
 - Using story (and story cards) in your sales presentation instead of PowerPoint.
 - How to close off a sales presentation to ensure the outcome you are looking for.
 
 Get in touch with Peter:

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermckeon1/

www.salesmasters.com.au

How can you effectively and efficiently scale quality engagement with your brand or business at pace, whilst ensuring that the essence of what you’re trying to achieve and why doesn’t get lost along the way?

Brendan Kane has been described as an outside the box thinker who empowers brands to scale, expand and accelerate their business and influence.  He has acted as an innovation strategist for Fortune 500 corporations, brands, and celebrities including Taylor Swift, Rhianna, MTV and Yahoo!, helping them to unlock value and transform their businesses via his strategic approach and global network.

Through a deep understanding of client needs and goals, Brendan tailors strategies, tools and intelligence to help them capture opportunities and add value.  He has shared some of his most powerful insights within a pair of books – One Million Followers and Hook Point.  The former focuses on how to grow an entity at pace, and its follow-up talks about how to stand out and create a compelling brand in today’s micro-attention world. 

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Brendan discusses the foundations of successful social media scaling, how to encourage content shareability and why understanding what keeps clients and consumers up at night is key to crafting solutions that they will truly value and talk about.

Five Key Takeaways

Without understanding the underlying business goal for using a platform, it can be difficult to benchmark success and hold ourselves and our partners accountable for their efforts and outcomes.  

With nearly four billion content creators active globally, it’s fundamental to realise that we’re not just competing against direct industry competitors, we’re competing for attention against everyone else who is also sharing content, full stop.  

Not only do we need to be creative in how we get audiences to stop and take notice within the first three seconds, but we need to act authentically, so that we encourage on-sharing but avoid becoming click-bait.  

Taking time to understand who we’re talking to is crucial, but so is figuring out who it is talking to them – who are we, or who do we want to be in this intimate interaction?  

We’re more emotionally connected to what we ‘want’ than what we ‘need’, so it makes sense to create a hook which talks to the former first.  Once we’ve grabbed attention by cutting through the clutter, we can proceed to engage the ‘thinking brain’ by laying out how to fulfil the needs that will unlock the want.  

Remarkable Quotes

[09:51] “...if you’re not stopping the scroll when people are going through their social feeds, they’re never going to get to your story.“

[14:47] “…one of the biggest mistakes people make on social media is that they’re designing their content as though it’s a one-to-many platform, but in reality it’s a one-to-one platform.”

[17:21] “…people will get on and they’ll say “hey everybody, how’s everybody doing?” – and it’s like “I’m on my phone, who is everybody, who are you talking to?!”” 

[23:45] “…the businesses that thrive and survive are the ones who can constantly adapt and innovate." 

[25:25] “…all the attention in the world doesn’t mean anything without any substance to it.”

Relevant References

‘Hook Point’ by Brendan Kane [2021]

‘One Million Followers’ by Brendan Kane [2018]

Connect with Brendan

Understand what he and his team do to help create Hook Points and how to talk to them here

Learn more about his books Hook Point and One Million Followers

Connect on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/brendankane/

In this weeks Remarkable Conversation we speak with Glenn Fawcett from Insight Social Media. I ask Glenn to give us 3 ways in which we can improve the amount of engagement on our next social media post.

Insight Social are a digital marketing agency based in Noosa QLD that work with national and international clients to leverage the power of social media to not only grow their business but to also think about business differently. Insight Social Media specialise in social media strategy and management. Facebook advertising, content creation and community management.
 
In this episode we cover:

- The importance of understanding your customer.
- Tone of voice and how both the speaker and listener needs to be considered.
- What platforms perform well for different types of content.
- How to think about social media and its place in business.

** Sorry about the audio - we had a bit of interference in some parts **

Get in touch with Glenn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenndfawcett/

www.insightsocialmedia.com.au

How do you get your team to feel as passionately about your business as you do? So they become the front-line in spreading the word? 

Today on the Remarkable Project, I am honoured to bring you a conversation with the CEO of Pacific National - Paul Scurrah. Paul was the CEO of Virgin Australia when the pandemic hit and before that was CEO at Queensland Rail and also had Non-executive Director roles at the Queensland Suns, AWH and Australia Post.

Paul Scurrah is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Pacific National, a role he was appointed to earlier this year. As Australia’s largest private rail freight company, Pacific National are integral in keeping Australia’s economy moving, and have been supporting the country’s supply chain since 1855. 

In this episode of The Remarkable Project Paul talks about why acting authentically in line with your values, and communicating on a personal, human level, are both key to mobilising people towards positive sentiment and a shared purpose.  He also shines a light on why the way an organisation deals with complications or crises can be even more important than how it behaves when all is well and good.

Takeaway points:

•  When people feel heard, appreciated, rewarded and secure, they are able to grow. As a leader, be generous with time, be respectful on a human level and offer support on an individual basis, not just a group one. 
• By communicating with people with transparency, timeliness and real leadership, a sense of trust can bring calmness and consideration to even the most critical of situations. Uncertainty is a massive anxiety driver, and it’s well known that an uninformed wait feels longer than an informed one, even if you don’t have much to share. 
• As a leader you have to be the living, breathing embodiment of your purpose and intent, so that your people can believe in it, and you. 
• The closer you can be to the frontline of people delivering the customer experience, to hear them, to empower them, the more likely you are to make decisions that will be embraced by those staff and customers themselves. 
• Effectively articulating value, and personalising it at every turn, means a race to the bottom in terms of cost doesn’t have to be inevitable. There are intangible elements that people are willing to pay more for, including human touch, quality of service, consistency and “feel-good” factor. 
• The optimum way to build deep trust is how you respond to problems or issues and make them ‘right’. Because customers are more engaged with you through that process than when everything goes to plan, there is a real chance to show them that you have their back. 

Remarkable Quotes:

 [05:09] “…the way I like to run companies is to be very clear about the culture statement, about the direction, the vision, the purpose, the priorities and the values and behaviours, and they should be designed to work in the best of times and the worst of times.” 

 [06:15] “…I want to be the boss that I wish I had…would I work for me?” 

 [15:10] “…people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” 

Resources Mentioned

The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore [1999] More Information Here >>  

Get connected with Paul:

 Learn more about Paul and connect with him via LinkedIn

Take a closer look at Pacific National here

In our first Remarkable Conversation I speak with Neil Terry about how to improve your word of mouth this Christmas.

Since moving on from a position as VP of Marketing Services for a leading global brand experiences and partnerships agency (who play primarily in the popular culture, entertainment space), Neil has been working with organisations in the areas of strategic consultancy, concept, campaign and creative development projects.  In the last couple of years he's collaborated directly or via agencies with clients as diverse as Jack Daniel’s, Citibank, Marriott Hotels, The University of Melbourne, ALDI Supermarkets, Single O Coffee, Google and the UFC, plus other big thinking small businesses, with the aim of helping them maximise impact and value in unique ways.

In this episode we cover:

- The importance of identifying your intention
- How to identify a starting advocate list 
- The importance of creating a process around listening to those advocates
- BJ Fogg Behavioural Model - Behaviour = Motivation + Ability + Prompt
- Why not to send Christmas Cards this Christmas
- How to create an experience for your customers

How can you turn the impact you hope to have into an actionable strategy that truly influences your customers in a valuable way? 

 Tim Duggan is a Sydney based author and new media entrepreneur, as well as a firm believer in using the power of business for good. Tim Duggan is a new media entrepreneur who has co-founded several digital media ventures, most notably Junkee Media, the leading digital publisher for young Australians. Tim has created many award-winning media titles including Junkee, Punkee, Same Same and AWOL and is currently Editor-at-Large after selling the company to oOh!media in 2016.

Tim has recently returned to his writing roots with the release of a highly-acclaimed book. Cult Status is an investigation into how to build businesses people adore, filled with insight from years spent at the coalface of his own companies and experience of working closely with leading global brands like Netflix, American Express and Qantas. A follow up, Killer Thinking, is set for release in 2022. 

 In this episode of The Remarkable Project Tim talks about the importance of identifying impact that, although likely born of the boardroom, can consistently unlock real benefit for customers. He goes on to explain why getting the intent of that impact just right, and working hard to stay accountable to it, are both great ways to build strong, connected communities in and around a brand or business.

Takeaway points:

•  Well-crafted impact statements which put consumer ahead of company can provide motivation, clarity, fulfilment and direction across all levels of an organisation. However, unless you have people at the top who recognise the positive value their actions can have on real people’s lives, the potential for true change may go unrealised. 
• In a society that values success by how much you sell a company for or how big your salary is, it’s clear we need a mindset shift – the end goal should be to maximise the number of people we can positively impact. Really purposeful companies who are also increasingly profitable and powerful, such as Airbnb, Who Gives a Crap and Allbirds, prove the days of thinking it’s either profit OR purpose are clearly over – it can be both.
•  Businesses and individuals all have a set of values that when shared have the capacity to start and sustain communities. There are many mediums, online and off, that can act as tools to help nurture these connected groups, including Slack channels, Instagram comment threads, Zoom groups, email comms and real-world events. However, the key is understanding that their role is to amplify the energy of a community’s core reason for being, not to offer an alternative alter. 
•  One of the ultimate ways to mobilise a strong community is to provide them with the opportunity to invest in the business. By putting their own hard-earned money, time or expertise into actively supporting ongoing success, they are confirming exceptional belief in what’s being done and why. Identifying hyper-engaged advocates through this process can make it easier to move forward with the confidence that comes from knowing where your ongoing interactions, incentives and inspiration will be most deserved, and yield the most business benefit to boot. 

Resources Mentioned:

Cult Status  by Tim Duggan: www.cultstatus.com  

Get connected with Tim:

Learn about his books and read his blog at: https://cultstatus.com

 Check out The Impact Statement Masterclass: https://impactstatementmasterclass.thinkific.com

Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timduggan

Well today on the Remarkable Project, I, Jay Tinkler review the past 9 episodes! 

As we finish off Season One of The Remarkable Project I wanted to have a look at where we are at with answering the question how you build a business that people feel compelled to talk about.

 In this episode I am going to do my best to summarise some of the key takeaways into path of how you can look at improving your word of mouth and customer advocacy generally.

There we five main pillars spoken about in Season One:

Pillar One - Be Super crystal clear about why you exist from your customers point of view. Find your intent or the transformation for you customer.
 
Pillar Two - Create a process for deep listening.

Pillar Three - Build remarkable moments / experiences for your customer. Be playful with it.

Pillar Four - Search for the pain or friction that your customer might be going through.

Pillar Five - Build a community of advocates and facilitate the connection between your community.

We also talked about what is happening in Season Two:

- We are interviewing some amazing people in the first few episodes. 
- We are also introducing a second episode a week that focuses on the tactical side of building a business that people feel compelled to talk about. 

Lastly, I asked a couple of favours. I want this podcast to get into the ears of as many people as possible so if you don't mind could you:

1. Leave a review on the podcast - it helps get this podcast out to more people and 
2. Could you share it with one friend who would benefit in the same way you may have. 

Thanks a million :)

How can we turn a creative concept into an authentic product that thousands of people are hungry to invest their hard earned money into, months before they get to experience it, and which relies on relatively limited marketing? 

Jess Ducrou is co-CEO of Secret Sounds, a Live Nation partner, and producer of Australia’s premier festivals including Splendour In The Grass and Falls Music and Arts Festival along with its portfolio of companies including Secret Sounds Touring, Secret Service Artist Management, Village Sounds (promotions), Dew Process (record label), Dew Process Publishing and Secret Sounds Connect (brand agency).

 Here Jess talks passion, perseverance and presenting ideas, as she pulls back the curtain on how remarkable experiences are everything when it comes to engaging audiences and nurturing a truly valuable community year after year.

Takeaway points:

• With live experiences especially, energy, aspiration and the unexpected are important traits that can help a consumer transcend functional product benefits and move them towards advocacy and heightened lifetime value. 
• Even with large audiences, the relevance of sub communities shouldn’t be overlooked – the more individuals and groups that feel their unique interests are understood and acted upon, the more value they extract from their interactions, compelling them to share positive stories. 
• If customers can be afforded a space to comfortably and confidently contribute, fertile ground for inspiration can be found, which can birth a suite of ideas to distill into new angles which will maintain relevance and interest over extended cycles. 
• Exposing customers to new things involves some degree of risk, but the potential rewards of uncovering something that really cuts through can outweigh these, especially when innovation is a core component of why customers trust a company. 
• In the partnerships and sponsorship space, brands are becoming increasingly savvy about the need to craft meaningful experiences which go deeper than mass awareness branding in highly stimulating, activity abundant environments. 
• New ways of connecting and communicating fast-tracked by the COVID-19 pandemic will stay with us, both in terms of internal processes and external consumer touchpoints. However, without foresight as to how these can be honed to enhance what went before, rather than implemented ‘just because’, they could prove a distraction in some cases. 

Remarkable Quotes:

[06:15] “I was very aware that to be successful in what you do the books need to balance, you need to be able to make financial sense of what you’re doing. So passion, for sure, as your driver, but having a good understanding of financials…was incredibly important, to understand how money worked, how deals worked, how to cut things in a way that everyone feels good about what the outcome is, bringing people to the table.” 

[33:31] “Even though we’re now feeling positive and certainly working to have a very busy year next year, it’s going to be a long tail to recovery for us. I think probably psychologically, when your job, your industry suddenly disappears, it’s pretty confronting…we couldn’t have been in a worse industry for a pandemic.” 

[47:08] “Create an experience where they’re going to be engaged, where they’re going to get into a space and have the time of their lives. Think about what you want to experience when you go out and try and create that for other people. Create the ultimate festival for ourselves and invite everyone along with us.” 

Get connected with Jess and her team:

Visit their website: www.secretsounds.com.au  

Follow them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/secretsounds