A good night time story

To have a successful marketing strategy, I believe you need a good story.  With a start up, the story is how and why the business was started. With a new product line, the story is the reason how and why the product was develop.

Marketing gurus call this the Narrative Theory.

I met with one of the owners of a great new venture called Benjamin and Squeek, who are taking on the giants in the rubber footware industry – the thong (for my American readers, the Flip-Flop).  His brand name revolves around a pet Jack Russel called Bejamin and his favourite squeeky toy.  The logo is even a silhouette of his pet.  The business is heavily focussed on giving back to the community and they’re planning on giving generously to animal related charities.  I believe this is a fantastic way to tie in the branding, marketing and of course give something back.

AutoCarLog was started when a good friend of mine was being frustrated with keeping his mileage logbook up to date.

My premium SMS “ask any question” business 199QUERY (which I sold in 2009) was started when I was having an argument with a mate over who was the Australian actor who played James Bond (this was before Daniel Craig).  The “discussion” grew into a $50 bet.  The problem was we had no way of finding out the answer, so I sent a quick text to my girlfriend who looked up the answer and sent it back.  I lost the bet – but I did get the inspiration to build 199QUERY.
Do you have a good start-up or product story?

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One Comment to “A good night time story”

  1. Ian Harris 19 February 2010 at 9:23 am #

    And of course there is the old adage that “big problems disguise big opportunities”.

    These ,as we have discovered, are a rich source of start-up possibilities.And they are often wrapped in stories, whinges and complaints.

    Opportunities abound —– but they are often hidden by negative emotions and frustration.


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