00:00:00:03 – 00:00:22:16
Chad
And I’ve started to say recently. Especially with current events, every community has a gimmicky. And that doesn’t mean it’s a tourist attraction. That means it’s personality, it’s identity, it’s thing that gives it a quirk. People like quirks. Yeah, people don’t want generic. People don’t want rubber stamp. People want something that has personality. And you can’t get to that unless you understand where you came from and where your origin is.

00:00:22:17 – 00:00:34:18
Chad
And frankly, that hesitation that maybe someone won’t like me. To me, that’s what you lean into. That is your identity. That is your differentiator.

00:00:34:20 – 00:00:55:20
Jen
Hello and welcome to Think Fresh, a podcast brought to you by Donovan Marketing’s collective creative coming to you from our Ideas Institute and here to talk about all things marketing insights on new trends, innovative ideas and marketing tools you can use in your day to day life and whatever else we deem relevant. I’m Jen Newman, de novo CEO and your host.

00:00:56:00 – 00:00:59:11
Chad
Today we’re going to talk all about drama.

00:00:59:12 – 00:01:01:01
Jen
Drama. Well, speaking.

00:01:01:01 – 00:01:21:17
Jen
Of drama, we kicked Ryan off the podcast this week. Get him out. He gets he gets a month off. He is locked in a closet downstairs trying to control himself right now since he’s not, you know, front and center on the camera. But today I have Chad Cooper and Annie Sexton Stuart here with me today, and I am super excited to talk about this topic with you.

00:01:21:18 – 00:01:22:19
Jen
Drama. Drama.

00:01:22:20 – 00:01:32:22
Chad
Did you notice I used my most dramatic voice when I did a lead in as well? You got to full announcer. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. First time on the actual visual podcast for me to.

00:01:32:23 – 00:01:36:07
Jen
Yeah. And showed up with your crocheted sweater.

00:01:36:10 – 00:01:39:11
Chad
Ryan’s absence. I think someone’s got to make up the razzle dazzle.

00:01:39:12 – 00:01:40:23
Annie
The razzle dazzle? You got it.

00:01:41:01 – 00:01:47:17
Jen
Yeah. What’s more razzle dazzle than a granny square crocheted shirt, right? Yeah. So.

00:01:47:18 – 00:01:49:15
Annie
Do you know who made it? Where’d you get it?

00:01:49:17 – 00:01:50:15
Chad
This is a thrift find.

00:01:50:17 – 00:01:52:04
Annie
Nice. Okay. We love.

00:01:52:04 – 00:02:08:19
Chad
A thrift. I’m in the early negotiations with the group at roaster Shout Out Roasters here in New Bell of the Knitting Club. I walked in one Friday with this on, and they were so transfixed by it that they had to know where I found it. So I said it’s just refined. And so I’m in early negotiations for that group to knit me a whole line.

00:02:08:21 – 00:02:18:01
Annie
This is a missed opportunity because I know we’re going to go into this being a sports podcast. I almost wore my knit Indiana Fever jersey today, but I didn’t.

00:02:18:04 – 00:02:28:06
Jen
Speaking of fever, just the fact that you had never knit before and you created this jersey and I hope we can somehow get it in the show notes or a link to something with.

00:02:28:06 – 00:02:29:01
Annie
That picture.

00:02:29:01 – 00:02:32:09
Jen
Of it is crazy. Like, first of all, I.

00:02:32:09 – 00:02:34:07
Jen
That’s a good way to describe it.

00:02:34:09 – 00:02:37:13
Jen
I would probably have had carpal tunnel. Well, I do end of it.

00:02:37:16 – 00:02:49:19
Jen
I have tennis elbow or knitting elbow as they say now, and it’s not going away. But we did it. We made the jersey. I’ve worn it to a game. Worth it, worth it. A little pain in my elbow for sure.

00:02:49:20 – 00:03:04:16
Jen
You know, whenever I do like I love to make cakes and I only do them for people I love. And people are like, you should do this for a living. And I always think I would have to charge $5,000 for a cake because it takes me so long and I screw things up so much with it.

00:03:04:16 – 00:03:10:18
Jen
So yeah, I think I’m finally at the point realizing, like, your hobbies can be hobbies and that’s okay. You don’t have to go.

00:03:10:18 – 00:03:18:06
Chad
Beyond reminded of that Larry Wilmore quote. He said, people always say, make your passion your job. And he was like, why do I want to hate both things?

00:03:18:08 – 00:03:19:04
Jen
There you go.

00:03:19:05 – 00:03:33:02
Jen
So true, so true. Well, you know, Ryan always wants to make this a sports cast. So this is your time. I can’t really contribute anything because I seriously don’t care about sports very much. But do you got anything to say about your fever?

00:03:33:03 – 00:03:37:21
Chad
I mean, any and I happen to be two of the biggest fever fans. Maybe in the state, maybe in the region, maybe in the.

00:03:38:02 – 00:03:39:00
Jen
In the world, maybe.

00:03:39:04 – 00:03:40:12
Jen
Definitely in the office.

00:03:40:18 – 00:04:01:22
Chad
Definitely in the office for sure. So I mean, we’re coming down the playoff stretch. We’re almost in postseason play. Right? I three years ago personal anecdote, personal story, my girlfriend, significant other life partner, whatever. Whatever’s appropriate. When you’ve been together 13 plus years, we chose we made the decision. We’re going all in. We’re buying Indiana Fever season tickets.

00:04:01:22 – 00:04:22:05
Chad
So we bought a mini plan. We make the drive 4 to 5 times each summer, five and a half, six hours, and we get to Indianapolis. We share on the fever. You only get one opportunity in Iowa to have someone as big as Caitlin Clark. So yeah, I mean, we’re hyped. This is postseason. This is as good as they’ve been in the last, what, five, ten years in terms of a franchise.

00:04:22:05 – 00:04:23:21
Chad
So yeah, I’m hyped. I’m looking forward to it.

00:04:23:21 – 00:04:26:23
Jen
So this is post-season. Almost almost.

00:04:27:01 – 00:04:45:13
Jen
Oh okay. But they have lunch the spot. So they will be in the playoffs. And I would be remiss if I didn’t give it a little shout out to my husband and Cedar Ridge, our wonderful client. They actually just did a partnership with the fever to release a special bourbon. So yeah, you can get that at the distillery.

00:04:45:13 – 00:04:50:20
Jen
Or if you go on a trek like Chad, you can get it at the field House in Indiana. So I’m really proud of him.

00:04:50:20 – 00:04:56:04
Jen
Is that two places that’s available? That’s it. All right, all right. You heard it here first. Great ball, probably.

00:04:56:05 – 00:04:56:15
Chad
Great bottle.

00:04:56:16 – 00:05:15:15
Jen
Great label. Well the fever, it’s a great story. Which leads us into our topic today. And before we we get into this, I just want to share what happened this morning at rotary. We had a great speaker and well, we had a great speaker lined up. He just wrote a book. I was really excited to hear his story.

00:05:15:17 – 00:05:43:09
Jen
And I’ve been through a number of public speaking trainings, and I’ve learned how you build that drama, how you build suspense, how you how you deliver a speech. So this gentleman, he has a really dramatic story of how he lost his almost his entire family in one night. At the end of it. It was so scattered. I still don’t know who died.

00:05:43:11 – 00:06:03:22
Annie
I’m probably going to have to buy the book, honestly. But the delivery of that story, it really made me think about the timeliness of this podcast today and how much not just the core of the story matters, but how you structure the story and how you deliver that, and how you bring your audience along with you on a journey.

00:06:03:22 – 00:06:26:09
Jen
And I just thought, this is perfect timing. I’ve never seen anything illustrate it quite like that this morning. So like, I think we just dig into it. So let’s, let’s talk about finding the story and why, whether you’re a business or a community or an organization or just a human being, why the story matters.

00:06:26:11 – 00:06:48:02
Chad
Well, here’s what I’ve found in terms of story. Whether you’re talking to an individual, whether you’re talking to a company, business organization, and it probably is regional, it probably is inherent to the Midwest. There seems to be this hesitation to be able to talk about yourself, talk about ourselves. And I would say, get over it, get over that feeling of talking about yourself or having that false modesty.

00:06:48:02 – 00:07:12:10
Chad
At the end of the day, what you’re doing is actually helping that end person, that end user, that community, that larger topic that you’re involved in. And people tend to think that, well, if I talk about myself, that seems narcissistic, it seems egotistical. But really, in reality, when you’re that self consumed that you don’t want to talk about yourself, that seems to me, to me, more egotistical than anything.

00:07:12:11 – 00:07:13:19
Jen
Or a disservice, at any rate.

00:07:13:20 – 00:07:21:09
Chad
Yeah, it’s a disservice to the broader mission, whatever that is. So break out of that. And that really gets to this idea of like, origin story.

00:07:21:11 – 00:07:35:16
Jen
Have you ever heard the joke about, like, how do you know if you get two Midwesterners talking? How do you know which ones? The extrovert. He’s the one looking at the other guy’s shoes, right? Yeah. It’s just it really is. I don’t think it’s just the Midwest.

00:07:35:17 – 00:07:56:12
Chad
It isn’t, but it’s it comes to life here more often. You see it. And I do call it false modesty, because when we talk about people, organizations, companies, it’s not that they don’t aren’t proud of it or not proud of something, don’t have something to talk about. But it’s that hesitation. And what I find most often is there seems to be this lack of getting back to where it all started.

00:07:56:12 – 00:08:17:13
Chad
And if you think about an origin story, you know, I put in our show notes that there’s a reason why every superhero has won. It’s because people care about origin stories, but origin stories are as much about whatever problem you were there to solve as they are about the initial company or the service. And every origin story is about the actual people itself, which is more powerful than anything.

00:08:17:16 – 00:08:32:22
Annie
I think it’s interesting to like the types of clients that we tend to work with, like there. So in the work a lot of the time, and so in the day to day that oftentimes they just they have it that story, they just don’t know how to tell it and they don’t know how to frame it in the right way.

00:08:32:22 – 00:08:44:06
Annie
But definitely like in the nonprofit world, you see that a lot where it’s just there. So in the work every single day. And that’s a beautiful story in itself. And sometimes, you know, they just need a little help of how to structure that and tell it.

00:08:44:07 – 00:09:06:11
Chad
And there’s an inclination of we’re here whether it’s ten, 15, 20 years down the line, why would we go back and talk about what happened when we started, when it all started, we’ve had innovation, we’ve had new products, we’ve had new services, whatever. But it had to start somewhere. People care about where things started, whether they be communities, hometowns or larger corporations.

00:09:06:11 – 00:09:14:18
Chad
You have to be able to get to that to delve into the larger story, and then that feeds into everything else you’ve done in the ensuing years. Yeah.

00:09:14:20 – 00:09:43:17
Jen
When I think this happens a lot, you know, as you said, with nonprofits, communities, and certainly especially, I’d say sometimes with businesses where they’re not just that, that humility of we don’t really talk about ourselves that way, but they don’t necessarily see the same stories. You know, when I’ve spoken to community sometimes about this, I think, you know, when you’re when you’re thinking about what’s a good story in your community, somebody might come up with, we put in a dog park.

00:09:43:18 – 00:10:04:21
Jen
I’m like, that’s a that’s a news release, right? That’s not a story. You know, two people met at a dog park, fell in love and, you know, started a business and started a family. That’s a story, right? Like it’s they’re not necessarily trained to see it. And that’s that’s what we do, right? We come in and we see those stories sometimes before they even do.

00:10:04:21 – 00:10:39:12
Jen
But getting them past that, that hesitation of is that interesting? Is it self-serving? Does anybody care? I do think part of the hesitancy that we see, especially when it comes to personal stories, is I think it’s not so much will people care. It’s will I be rejected? Will people maybe not care? And, you know, roll their eyes at me if I tell my story and I, you know, I certainly feel like that sometimes to even just being on this podcast, I really struggle sometimes with that.

00:10:39:13 – 00:10:43:10
Jen
Like, will somebody care? But yeah, people care and people want to hear stories.

00:10:43:10 – 00:11:05:20
Chad
And I’ve started to say recently, especially with current events, every community has a gym. And that doesn’t mean it’s a tourist attraction. That means it’s personality, it’s identity, its thing that gives it a quirk. People like quirks. Yeah, people don’t want generic. People don’t want rubber stamp. People want something that has personality. And you can’t get to that unless you understand where you came from and where your origin is.

00:11:05:21 – 00:11:14:02
Chad
And frankly, that hesitation that maybe someone won’t like me. To me, that’s what you lean into. That is your identity. That is your differentiator.

00:11:14:03 – 00:11:36:06
Annie
Yeah, I think there’s in specificity and like talking about and leaning in on the thing that really does stand apart and instead of like, I think people are inclined to be like, well, it has this feature and this feature, and we do this at like everybody else. And that generalization just makes you part of the crowd. Right? So we’re.

00:11:36:06 – 00:11:46:10
Jen
Sharing a little sharing statistics. That’s my favorite one. I’m like, no we’re not we’re not going to do that. We’re going to illustrate the story around the statistics and not put a bunch of numbers up on a screen. So it.

00:11:46:10 – 00:11:52:15
Annie
Can be a little vulnerable to like, lean into the gym of it all, you know? But I think that’s where the magic is.

00:11:52:16 – 00:12:00:22
Jen
All right. In case my husband is listening to this, he’s generally unaware of what’s happening culturally in the world. Who’s Jim?

00:12:00:23 – 00:12:24:10
Chad
Jim is the country’s the maybe the world’s favorite raccoon, and he has some sort of deformity where he essentially does not have his back of his spine. So he walks. He almost walks like upright. Most of the time he’s in Seattle, but he’s really become the nation’s sweetheart. He’s. Everyone loves Jimmy and Jim because Jimmy looks like Jimmy.

00:12:24:12 – 00:12:48:01
Chad
Jim, if he does not look like the millions of other raccoons that are running around your neighborhood, probably right now, Jim is one of one as of right now. And that’s why people love him. And so that might be the greatest analogy to use is, you know, be a little more like Jim, if you find that thing that does set you apart, that might be vulnerable to Andy’s point, might not be easy to share, but that gives you a pathway to really talk about something that you can own.

00:12:48:02 – 00:12:49:10
Chad
That’s yours truly.

00:12:49:11 – 00:13:14:07
Jen
And and in our business, that’s what it is about. It is about differentiation. It’s not about making the same video as your competitor or telling the same story as your competitor, but just putting your name on it. It’s it’s so hard for for companies, communities and organizations to kind of see that and understand that because the instinct, I believe is to fit in rather than stand out.

00:13:14:07 – 00:13:29:14
Jen
So, you know, standing out like like Jim, which is, you know, a completely I was going to say wholly organic, but let’s say also wholesome, organic story that that, you know, I’m sure somebody out there profiting off of it in one way, shape or form.

00:13:29:14 – 00:13:31:00
Jen
But the Mariners.

00:13:31:01 – 00:13:48:07
Jen
The Mariners are. Yes, they are, but for for an organization or a person, let’s talk a little bit about how they find that story and what what you can the tools you can utilize to do that.

00:13:48:12 – 00:14:05:01
Chad
I would go back to the origin once again, it’s the easiest way to think about how you started something. And typically what it is is it’s either you meaning an individual or a group of people in a room, probably at least with 1 or 2 unhinged ideas at the time that someone hadn’t tried or that someone hadn’t thought of.

00:14:05:02 – 00:14:23:19
Chad
And you run with it. And that’s what creates your nonprofit organization that, for a community, may not have served a certain population up until that time. It may be your business that provides a product or service that, up until that point, hadn’t been done or hadn’t been done as well, or up to that standard. Or maybe it’s a community.

00:14:23:19 – 00:14:48:14
Chad
It’s a town that ceased to exist, right? It didn’t have buildings, it didn’t have infrastructure. Someone saw it. I’m I’m very fond of talking about Osgood, Shepherd and Cedar Rapids. I won’t miss an opportunity. If this gets cut, I will cry. But Cedar Rapids, a lot of people talk about kind of the formal origins of Cedar Rapids. Boring, very boring, very governmental, very landscape, whatnot.

00:14:48:15 – 00:15:11:11
Chad
Truly Cedar Rapids first real, actual person that inhabited the land in terms of, well, indigenous people. Obviously. But a guy who came along was Osgood Shepherd, horse thief, near do well, staked a tent, literally stick to tent on one side of the river. And as people came by, he’d essentially tried to charge them to live in and around his place.

00:15:11:11 – 00:15:37:15
Chad
Well, that stopped when the first person that actually had a firearm came up. So that was it was a short business model. But he essentially founded what we know as Cedar Rapids. Do you want to hear that story, or do you want to hear the story about land grants and infrastructure and governmental policy? That’s all needed eventually. But to me, those are the features, the benefits, the stuff that companies tend to kind of fall into when in reality, I want more.

00:15:37:16 – 00:15:54:03
Chad
Osgood. Shepherd how how was this founded? And if it gets a little messy, all the better for it. History’s messy stories are messy, and frankly, some of your origin story can be messy. People understand that collaborating, that building anything takes a lot of push and pull.

00:15:54:05 – 00:16:16:10
Annie
And the thing about it is it’s just telling the truth. You know, like, I think marketing can sometimes get a bad rap when you get into that sometimes can be more icky tactics of like the spin and the cell and with stuff like this, if you’re if you’re really telling a story the right way, you’re just finding the truth and finding a creative way to tell it.

00:16:16:10 – 00:16:28:20
Annie
And so that does not feel icky to me. That feels productive and helpful and a way to connect with your audience or your customer. You’re just telling the truth.

00:16:29:02 – 00:16:48:10
Chad
And connected to the idea of truth. One of the things you were talking about Andy the other day were buzzwords. Buzzwords seemed to creep up not only in our industry, but across all industries in these companies, communities, organizations. I read an article the other day from the New York Times about intentional intentionality. That’s become the new buzzword. Everyone uses it influencers all the way down.

00:16:48:10 – 00:17:15:22
Chad
Now to your corporate America. And the idea there is that they’ve kind of co-opted a word that really meant, we’re going to pay attention to this, and we’re going to curate based off of it. But when you use it and overuse it, it strips all the identity out of it. And that’s what’s happening across the board in a lot of these communities as they go on to 1 or 2 things and they say this worked for someone else, let’s do it, let’s use it, let’s overuse it, and then let’s get lost in the proverbial mix that happens afterward.

00:17:15:22 – 00:17:32:16
Chad
And so even a word like that, you know, if you’re working with an internal team or if you’re working with an agency on your brand or on your positioning, you want people on your side who are thinking like that, who are going, you know, this word or this idea or this concept has been absolutely beaten into the ground.

00:17:32:16 – 00:17:34:00
Chad
It’s lost all work.

00:17:34:00 – 00:17:34:09
Jen
Play.

00:17:34:10 – 00:17:46:15
Chad
Yes, it’s been lost. Its lost all meaning. How do we bring it? How do we find something different? How do we do it in a different way? Or how do we at least realize that frankly, that’s BS. Like that’s what’s turned into now at this point.

00:17:46:16 – 00:18:17:06
Annie
I remember when I first started, that was the case with the word storytelling. I feel like there was a little pushback at the time with everybody was saying that. Everybody was saying they were doing it. And I remember very vividly at the beginning you being like, we’re not leaning into that because everybody’s saying it. And, and I think it’s having this comeback because we’ve learned to sort of approach it in a different way and really lead with that, instead of saying that we’re doing it after the fact.

00:18:17:08 – 00:18:20:20
Annie
So I like that it’s kind of having a little comeback. The word storytelling as well.

00:18:20:21 – 00:18:47:03
Jen
I like that it’s having a comeback. And I think you do have to speak the language of your clients or who you’re doing business with, and we want them to understand what we’re talking about. But there’s a difference between storytelling that, again, puts you in a category and there’s storytelling that puts that creates categories. Right. And and I think that’s the the really interesting piece of it.

00:18:47:03 – 00:19:12:11
Jen
So you know, when we were talking about this in our in our document, we talked about our first job is to unearth that differentiation and bring it to light. So you talked about sitting around the table with a couple unhinged ideas. That’s that’s kind of where it starts. You know, I love a good crap think session where we get all the bad ideas on the table, and then we kind of start to move the pieces around and say, you know what actually makes sense here?

00:19:12:12 – 00:19:23:18
Jen
Like great things come from that. But talk about some of the ways that that we dig into that and find that that white space for our clients where, where they can talk about themselves.

00:19:23:20 – 00:19:41:21
Chad
Part of it is understanding yourself, meaning your brand, whatever you are, you have to delve into that first and foremost to have a gut check. And it does help to have some outsider, whether that’s your citizenry, whether that’s working with an outside agency or whether that’s just kind of crowdsourcing what people’s feelings are about you. It starts with that.

00:19:41:22 – 00:20:01:21
Chad
Then it starts with what do people actually expect and want from you? And then it and then it’s also what’s everyone else around you doing. And unfortunately, I think the the knee jerk reaction is let’s find what everyone else around us is doing. Let’s find the stuff that seems to be working that’s successful. Let’s co-opt that. Let’s use that.

00:20:01:22 – 00:20:25:15
Chad
We don’t have to think as hard about it, and it’ll probably work for us to. But Jen, I think you’ve kind of coined it it this term. That’s category work, which means unless you’re the category leader, great for you if you’re the Nike of your category, well, not Nike anymore, unfortunately. There slipping by the day. But if you’re the proverbial Nike of your category, that works great for you, but you’re doing someone else’s work for them at that point, essentially.

00:20:25:16 – 00:20:46:07
Chad
And so the finding the clear space is you have to understand what your audience, people around you want, and only a way that you can provide it or not. Every company has that. If we’re going to be completely honest, not everyone has proprietary philosophy or approach or a product, but then it has to be the way you talk about what you provide needs to be different than other people.

00:20:46:07 – 00:20:54:22
Chad
That’s where the messaging comes into into effect. And then how does it come to life? Through video, through photography, through the visual representation of your brand, of who you are?

00:20:55:00 – 00:21:00:13
Annie
And that’s where you can go back to the origin story, because that’s the thing that’s not going to be the same for everybody.

00:21:00:15 – 00:21:29:16
Jen
Well, the origin story and you talked about whether you’re talking to your citizenry or you’re talking to your target audience, whoever that is, you know, their perceptions are going to be so different than yours. And I think about the work that we did with downtown Urbandale in the city of Urbandale, and what that listening session with their community brought to us that fed into, you know, our process of developing that brand and how that community talks about itself.

00:21:29:18 – 00:21:38:14
Jen
There are people out there that would, you know, slap a new version of live, work and play on it and be like, yep, that’s that’s good to go.

00:21:38:16 – 00:21:54:12
Chad
Yeah. And another great example of being able to kind of get away from something that seems so obvious and then find something that’s completely different is our work with the city of Dyersville as well. You talk about city work, Jen, the field of dreams. Everyone knows that you don’t have to like baseball. You don’t have to like sports.

00:21:54:12 – 00:21:56:17
Chad
You don’t even have to like movies to know about the field.

00:21:56:22 – 00:21:58:05
Jen
It is a really good movie, though.

00:21:58:06 – 00:22:12:00
Chad
It’s a great movie, and it plays into all these ideas of majesty and magic and whimsy and all those things that as people, whether we know it or not, believe me, everyone loves whimsy. If you don’t, don’t invite me to any party or any any gathering. You’re having.

00:22:12:00 – 00:22:12:14
Jen
A drink.

00:22:12:16 – 00:22:32:10
Chad
So, I mean, look at what I’m wearing. But what happened there is we said, well, the tourist attraction is the obvious. That’s the pole. That’s the one hit. Wonder, if you will, of why people come to Dyersville. But there’s so much more in this community that took work, that took research, that took discussions with their citizenry, with their leadership.

00:22:32:10 – 00:22:48:19
Chad
But what we found is that the real magic in Dyersville is in the middle, the literal middle, in their case, their downtown. The fact that look around the country at main streets, a lot of them don’t even exist anymore in the way that we like to think about them, kind of a romanticized way in Dyersville. That still does exist.

00:22:48:19 – 00:23:09:12
Chad
And what’s great about it is if other communities would take that kind of approach, I think we could revive more main streets, right, that it’s going to take policy and governmental decisions. But what you can control at this stage, especially if you’re a community, is how you talk about yourself. And the same applies to businesses and products to and nonprofits.

00:23:09:12 – 00:23:26:18
Chad
But being able to not get so fixated on that one thing tourist attraction, one product, one service, and instead look at the broader picture of why you matter to a community. That’s where the real differentiation happens. That’s how you that’s how you get a distinction.

00:23:26:19 – 00:23:46:08
Jen
Talk about the drama part of it. You know, a lot of times when we’re unearthing a story with a client, what what they bring us in to talk about is often different than what we end up producing. Right. So, so how do you you find that story, then you you dramatize it. Right. Give us some examples of that.

00:23:46:12 – 00:24:08:16
Chad
I would start right away with Dyersville. Go right back to that. What we did is we took the we took the essence of the Field of Dreams, and we said, we can apply that to the broader city itself. You’re not going to talk to every community in Iowa, and they’re going to be comfortable using words like whimsical magic, even something like, you know, like a magical thinking.

00:24:08:16 – 00:24:27:18
Chad
Any of that, is it going to come to mind through a common city or a town? But Dyersville was open to it because we realized that we could pull in some of the aspects of essentially what makes the Field of Dreams so special and apply that to the broader city of Dyersville, because magic happens every day and every storefront in every avenue you go down.

00:24:27:18 – 00:24:43:19
Chad
That’s one way to delve that up, is people tend to come to you with something that’s safe. But we like to do is think about how do we stretch the rubber band. I’ve become fond of saying that because we’re not necessarily trying to break anything. I’m not huge on. Let’s strip everything back to the studs and start from there.

00:24:43:19 – 00:24:53:00
Chad
Sometimes it’s needed, but it’s trying to find a comfort zone because they need to be able to be comfortable talking about it, and we need to be able to be comfortable displaying it to the rest of the world.

00:24:53:01 – 00:25:14:12
Annie
Yeah, and with Dyersville, it was kind of lucky throughout the process of, you know, reading surveys and doing research that a lot of it all came back to this magical feeling almost, that just kind of was sprinkled throughout the community and that applied to everything that applied to the Field of Dreams. It applied to downtown, it applied to just the way that people viewed living there.

00:25:14:12 – 00:25:40:07
Annie
And so that made for a very easy transition to a really great script, a really great video and things like that. And so for them, I feel like it was lucky that it was more of this vibe that basically we could turn any of that into something cinematic and beautiful. And but it was still true, right? It all rang true because of the way that the people talked about the town themselves, the way that visitors talk about the town.

00:25:40:12 – 00:25:58:16
Annie
So that one was was really interesting and really fun because it was very it was just based on this feeling and this almost something that you really couldn’t describe. But ultimately, in the script and video work we produced, we were able to to kind of put a voice to that. But yeah.

00:25:58:17 – 00:26:24:15
Chad
And how do you get there? Is the probably the larger question out of this is you have to start with that conceptual work and that science sounds high minded, but it’s pretty in the weeds and actually pretty standard to what if you’re going to get great work? I used to work with a person that said you’re positioning is your strategy, and that’s stuck with me for years because if you think about it, even literally, you can’t make a move anywhere unless you know where you’re actually grounded at.

00:26:24:15 – 00:26:48:14
Chad
And if more people thought about their brand and their messaging and their storytelling, that way they do a better job at it. And to Annie’s point, having a concept, having a feeling in mind is what made the script easier to draft. It made the storyboarding easier, and then it made the actual production more seamless, and it made it come together because we started with a core idea that we were able to then run with.

00:26:48:18 – 00:27:02:17
Chad
A lot of people don’t take the time to do that work, because really, that’s most of the actual brain power work. That’s what keeps you up at night. That’s what strains. But that’s also the beauty of it. When you do land on something that you feel like is truly original.

00:27:02:18 – 00:27:23:00
Jen
Yeah. And sometimes organizations or companies have an idea of what that special thing may be, but I think they are often too close to it to see it. I think that had let’s take Dyersville for example, had they just said, we’re just going to do a video. My guess is it would have been like, here’s a few things about our community.

00:27:23:00 – 00:27:51:21
Jen
It’s great. You should you should check it out. Right. There was I remember when we presented the initial concepts and using the words magic and whimsy, and I was nervous, especially in front of a city council that, you know, are kind of looking at a final result at that point in time. The buy in was like that because it was true and they felt it, but they didn’t necessarily have the words to come up with that themselves.

00:27:51:23 – 00:28:27:08
Jen
And so many times when we finish a story, whether it’s video or we’re helping them prepare for or to tell their story, you know, at an event where, however, we’re helping our clients, a lot of times they say, thank you. You framed that in a way that we couldn’t have come up with, but it was spot on. And I think that’s that’s that piece that’s really important is finding that that nugget of truth and and then bringing it to light, unearthing it, you know, dramatizing it, romanticizing it is really that’s where the art comes in.

00:28:27:08 – 00:28:28:06
Jen
I think.

00:28:28:07 – 00:28:45:05
Annie
I like that you said your positioning is your strategy, but in this case, for the purposes of this episode, I feel like we could say your story is your strategy, right? Because it’s more than just a tool that you use to make a video. Like it can then become a lens if you do the work at the beginning.

00:28:45:05 – 00:29:04:11
Annie
If you start with this and get everybody’s by in and make sure it’s true, then it becomes this lens through which you can make other decisions and you can always ask the question, does this fit our story? Does this go back to who we are? Does it align? So I love leading with that and everything else from there.

00:29:04:13 – 00:29:29:13
Jen
That’s that’s exactly what happened with the video we created for Cedar Ridge. You know, with and the, the theme of that being never blended, which, which I think was a stroke of genius, but that fits their ethos so well. And everything just fell into place once concepts were determined. The creative follows naturally. If it’s not following naturally, then something’s missing, right?

00:29:29:14 – 00:29:49:09
Jen
Like you haven’t actually stumbled on the core concept of it. I think about, and I really enjoy keynote speaking. When I went through some various training on that, just learning how to deliver. It’s like you come up with a concept, you write the concept, you refine your story, you keep polishing it, you get it to where you want.

00:29:49:10 – 00:30:17:05
Jen
But then the delivery of that story is so important. Learning cadence and learning how to build that anticipation of the story. I mean, Chad, I’ve heard you you start some of the times I’ve heard you publicly speak. You’ve talked about the story of your car blowing up on the highway, essentially, and the way you bring the audience along with you in that story is it’s it’s a hook.

00:30:17:06 – 00:30:22:10
Jen
They need to hear the ending of the story. Obviously, you’re still alive. You didn’t die on the highway, and.

00:30:22:10 – 00:30:24:17
Chad
You’re some of the suspense out of it.

00:30:24:18 – 00:30:26:00
Jen
With that, some of the suspense.

00:30:26:02 – 00:30:47:19
Jen
He lives everybody. But the way, the way you build that suspense, that dramatization, which I think some people might shy away from, like, oh, I don’t want to make this bigger than it is that that’s ego too, in a way. Right? It is to say, I don’t want to make the story more than it is, make the story what it is, but tell it in a really compelling way.

00:30:47:21 – 00:31:09:15
Chad
And when you look at it that way, through that ethos, that your story is your strategy, what ends up happening gives storytelling meaning. And storytelling has become a very generic term. We’ve already talked about that, but when you give it that meaning and your story is your strategy, then it actually informs all the tangible work you do, like filming and production and the actual video work or whatever you’re creating.

00:31:09:15 – 00:31:11:05
Chad
Is that final deliverable?

00:31:11:09 – 00:31:31:11
Annie
Yeah, it’s actually it’s kind of a shift for me because I getting into video was very and still am. We love doing like documentary style work. And so that is kind of a different approach where you kind of know the general story, but really it emerges, I would say when you’re filming and when you’re editing, specifically when you’re editing.

00:31:31:11 – 00:32:06:00
Annie
And so to be able to work with you and kind of have the concept and that story lead instead for some of our more highly produced work or like planned out work has been really interesting because my mind is oftentimes in that documentary world. So I’m talking about the Cedar Ridge Project. Like I’ll talk about my approach, but what about your approach when you’re coming up with the concepts and the scripts and how you visualize how the things can then be connected?

00:32:06:01 – 00:32:23:18
Chad
My idea for Cedar Ridge, ironically enough, happened when it’s I was drinking a beer, so I just happened to see all these people around me and everyone had these glasses. Everyone’s drinking beer, everyone’s drinking their cocktail of choice, and nothing ever really stands out when you’re in a bar environment other than if you have bottles or something around that way.

00:32:23:18 – 00:32:46:14
Chad
And I thought, well, what does Cedar Ridge do that’s different than everyone else? And there’s something about their origin story of where they’re from, and they’ve decided to make a specific product in a specific place. That’s what gave them originality. And I thought, well, how do we put that together with a bigger idea of blending? Why don’t we go against conventional ideas here and say, never blend in because that means something bigger.

00:32:46:14 – 00:33:07:04
Chad
It speaks to their process because they’re really are they really are kind of like scientists in terms of what they make. But also it’s a broader call to the public of if you don’t want to blend in, drinking Cedar Ridge might say something about you as a person. It’s the same way that we think about the way someone dresses, the way someone looks, the way someone expresses themselves.

00:33:07:04 – 00:33:22:19
Chad
What you choose to drink is, is an extension of that too. And so that became kind of the visual component of it. And then I knew this was going to be so much about people, place and then the product eventually. But we had to have people in place before we got to that, that final P, if you will.

00:33:22:20 – 00:33:24:12
Jen
Yeah.

00:33:24:14 – 00:33:46:15
Annie
Yeah, it was fun and interesting process, planning out the shots for that. But we started with such a solid foundation with the script and that enabled us to just, I guess, play around a little more because we knew the goal, we knew what we were trying to say. We knew the message. But how can we translate that visually in the most beautiful way possible?

00:33:46:15 – 00:34:10:22
Annie
And so we were able to do some really fun shots that demonstrated those things. People place product, of course, but so much of it was about all three of those things, not just one. And another technique that we thought would be valuable is it was a story that we didn’t think should be told by just some, some voice of God, like narrating that you don’t know who this guy is.

00:34:10:22 – 00:34:39:01
Annie
So we had the staff and the founders split the script, and each one of them had a section of the voiceover and that felt really authentic and real for and true for their brand, because they’re people. And that foundation is so important. So starting with a solid concept and a solid script like that just allowed us to utilize so many different techniques that just enhance the idea even further.

00:34:39:02 – 00:34:56:02
Chad
Well, and what I like about what you did, Annie, Andrew, have the larger video team here, and I’m going to go against what I started off with. I’m actually not going to brag about myself. I’m going to brag about something else that’s very Midwestern of me. But I feel like whether they know it or not, they approach everything with this idea of Mizen Scene.

00:34:56:03 – 00:35:07:00
Chad
Wouldn’t be me, wouldn’t be a Chad podcast if I didn’t throw out a word or pretentious. But so Mizen Scene basically means I learned this when I went to Kirkwood. I was completely I had never heard this term in my life.

00:35:07:00 – 00:35:08:04
Jen
And might say it again.

00:35:08:05 – 00:35:11:06
Chad
Mizen scene. It’s French, so it means essentially.

00:35:11:07 – 00:35:12:11
Chad
It’s French.

00:35:12:12 – 00:35:13:10
Annie
Mise en scene.

00:35:13:12 – 00:35:14:08
Chad
Is it me since then?

00:35:14:09 – 00:35:16:07
Chad
Yeah. Oh, shit, I don’t know.

00:35:16:08 – 00:35:16:22
Annie
Somebody.

00:35:16:23 – 00:35:19:19
Annie
Somebody will have a producer.

00:35:19:21 – 00:35:24:04
Chad
My Midwestern professor at Kirkwood said Byzantine. So I’m just going to. I’ll do it that way.

00:35:24:05 – 00:35:26:17
Jen
But it doesn’t sound champion.

00:35:26:18 – 00:35:27:13
Annie
I have read it in.

00:35:27:18 – 00:35:29:18
Chad
No. Well, you.

00:35:29:20 – 00:35:33:15
Chad
Know, you’ve said it correctly. Probably, but see, so now my pretentiousness is completely.

00:35:33:15 – 00:35:35:18
Chad
Oh, yeah, I know I sound now I really.

00:35:35:20 – 00:35:40:05
Jen
Miss e n c n e right. Okay. Correct. Correct.

00:35:40:05 – 00:35:40:12
Chad
Yes.

00:35:40:12 – 00:36:03:13
Chad
So essentially it means the way things are placed upon the stage. It started with theater production, but then it expanded to cinema and movies and essentially the broader idea or how she explained it in the way that resonated with me was that you could stop a great film at any scene, frame it, put it on your wall with a work of art and the director, the cinematographer, the production team has thought about all of that.

00:36:03:13 – 00:36:18:10
Chad
They thought about the placement of the actors, they’ve thought about where everything is, and they thought about the broader landscape. To me, the video work that we do, Cedar Ridge, is a great example. Every single frame of that video for Cedar Ridge I could frame, I could put on a wall and I, I’d hang it in my house.

00:36:18:12 – 00:36:38:04
Chad
And I don’t say that just because we produced it. I say that because I think that’s our approach and it really matters. And that’s how you take a script or a core concept or something that your writing is hard because unless you’re hearing someone read it, it’s tough for it to really connect with someone. That’s why great writing is so hard to do, because it needs to be able to jump off the page at you.

00:36:38:04 – 00:36:45:11
Chad
But the way it comes to life even more is through the video work, through the production, and how it actually how it reveals itself.

00:36:45:17 – 00:37:08:00
Jen
Talk a little bit about how these things fit into the broader scheme of things. I had a conversation yesterday with an a leader at an organization that’s been producing a lot of content, but the content nobody’s really in charge of saying what the content should say. And so we talked a lot about, you know, what is your your voice of your organization that’s evolved over the years?

00:37:08:00 – 00:37:28:15
Jen
And what are the stories that you want to tell, even though you’re using very short form informal video? So when you’re we talked about the story as the strategy, when you’re when you’re going with that take that story is at the top of the, let’s just say the page of the of the plan. How does that come through in other aspects of storytelling?

00:37:28:15 – 00:37:31:15
Jen
Then how do you how do you stay true to that?

00:37:31:16 – 00:37:52:20
Chad
Really? It’s that early positioning work. Your story is your strategy or your positioning is your strategy also means that you figured out who you are in terms of identity, tone, your voice, how you talk that needs to show up everywhere else. So even if it is something that isn’t nearly as highly produced or as quicker or more off the cuff, it needs to feel like it’s your voice that’s coming from you.

00:37:52:20 – 00:38:13:04
Chad
And some of that means taking from others. I just read this newsletter the other day that said, be Yourself might be the worst, most empty platitude that’s ever been said. People become themselves by grabbing from other things, grabbing from other styles, grabbing from other inspiration points. It’s about bringing several different things together and making it your own eventually.

00:38:13:04 – 00:38:34:20
Chad
And so being yourself is not necessarily just a quick evolution. It takes time. It takes grabbing things here and there, and it takes the idea that just because you figured out your positioning doesn’t mean the work is over. It’s what does that positioning look like in two years? In three years, it’s going to be a little different hopefully, but you’re going to be able to tie it back to that early positioning, that early work.

00:38:34:20 – 00:38:46:09
Chad
If you can do that, you’re in a good spot. If you can’t, you’re either completely devoid of your identity or you’re chasing every trend that’s coming around, and that’s a recipe for disaster anyway.

00:38:46:10 – 00:39:10:06
Annie
Yeah, and I think people can pick up on that. They something feels more memorable and authentic. If it feels like it’s coming from a single source where everyone is bought in. And so getting your team in on this process at the beginning, or at least getting everybody on board and again, leading with that story, then it’ll be so much easier to ask, okay, is this short video I’m producing?

00:39:10:07 – 00:39:23:23
Annie
Does that track with what we’re with, who we are, with what we’re trying to do here? And so I think just getting the unified vision in terms of story can help make all those other decisions. And it trickles down.

00:39:24:00 – 00:39:50:04
Chad
And a quick question that I would ask yourself, you’re sitting somewhere listening, watching this, and you’re running a nonprofit or a community organization. Is anything you produce? Did the people in the place come before the product, whatever the product is? If the answer is no. I’d revisit. I’d go back. If the product is leading, you’ve done it wrong, is my take on it, because that is what we’ve talked about.

00:39:50:04 – 00:40:13:06
Chad
That’s the devoid of personality, devoid of identity. Lead with people in place. Let those two things tell the story of the product. And unfortunately, with way too many brands, way too many companies regardless. Doesn’t matter the size, they tend to lead with the product over the people, in the places, and even sometimes when they think that people in place are prominent, the product has taken the lead.

00:40:13:06 – 00:40:18:12
Chad
And that isn’t your positioning, that isn’t your story, that isn’t leading your strategy.

00:40:18:12 – 00:40:42:02
Jen
Yeah. And the people in that can also be the people you serve, the people who are your customers as well. And that’s just as important to remember as a part of your story. But you’re right, when you just lead with a product or service or whatever it is that that you create, it is it is devoid. And in today’s world especially, that’s a mess, right?

00:40:42:03 – 00:41:05:20
Jen
You don’t differentiate yourself with a widget. You simply don’t know. It’s time for my favorite segment, Creative Briefs. And I love this section because we get to talk about something we often didn’t create. We have talked a lot about ourselves following our own prescription here. Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself and the stories, but I want to talk about something else we’ve seen out there creatively in the world.

00:41:06:02 – 00:41:30:03
Jen
Chad put it in our in our internal document for us to look at, and I always say, the highest praise I’ll give another agency is that doesn’t suck. And I will say that this video, it’s about Peoria and it’s it’s in our show notes, the link to it, it’s a it’s a campaign promoting Peoria. And I’m going to say sort of and when you watch the video, you’ll know what I mean.

00:41:30:05 – 00:41:43:09
Jen
I just thought it was really well done. And I also loved that it wasn’t super overproduced. So. So tell us a little bit about the spot and what you liked about it. And let’s just kind of dissect it.

00:41:43:10 – 00:41:47:18
Chad
Annie, you should start because you sent it to me. I wasn’t even aware it existed before you sent it my way.

00:41:47:19 – 00:41:48:03
Annie
Yes.

00:41:48:03 – 00:41:58:23
Annie
I it came up in my feet and I thought of Chad because on his tracks, to see the fever games, there’s always pit stops in Peoria. And so it’s become a thing in the office. Like Chad’s a big fan.

00:41:58:23 – 00:41:59:16
Annie
Of Peoria. I love.

00:41:59:16 – 00:42:01:02
Chad
Peoria, Peoria. I love.

00:42:01:02 – 00:42:02:07
Annie
Peoria loves it.

00:42:02:09 – 00:42:24:15
Annie
And so this came up with my feed and I thought it was pretty funny. So I sent it your way. So basically it’s, you know, a representative from Peoria, some cute gals saying like some places promise the most epic weekend of your life. We’re not going to do that. We can promise, like, a perfectly reasonable time in Peoria.

00:42:24:16 – 00:42:25:08
Jen
I thought it was.

00:42:25:08 – 00:42:26:08
Jen
Just so well said.

00:42:26:09 – 00:42:39:22
Annie
You know, you want some food that maybe you want leftovers later. Great. You want to go see some art? Great. Like come on down basically is the vibe. And so I sent it your way. Just because you’re such a huge fan of Peoria.

00:42:39:23 – 00:43:03:11
Chad
I love Peoria and I love the fact that it’s one it’s just a shining example of self-awareness. They understand that if they presented themselves in an epic way or in a really over dramatized way, even though we are talking about drama here. But if they overdid it, they would look like the generic approaches that a lot of other communities have tried where they overhype themselves and then, frankly, they overpromise and under deliver.

00:43:03:13 – 00:43:20:16
Chad
Peoria is taking the opposite approach. They’re going to say, hey, we might even under promise, but you’re going to come here maybe pleasantly surprised by what you find in Peoria. I know I certainly was huge fan now love Peoria, but if it just ended there, I would not have big been as big on this and we might not even be talking about it right now.

00:43:20:17 – 00:43:44:23
Chad
Why I like this is because it does tie back to their identity. And what I would say is their positioning, which is for years little history lesson. Peoria was known as essentially kind of the barometer for what appeal to mainstream America. So on the vaudeville circuit, comedians, singers, theater performers, if it worked in Peoria, Illinois, it likely was going to work across the country.

00:43:44:23 – 00:44:05:14
Chad
And so this sentence, this phrase emerged, which is will it play in Peoria? So whenever some creative or some comedian was developing work, that was kind of the that was like the bring it back to Earth, will this play in Peoria. And so they kind of understand that like what appeals to mainstream, broader America. It’s not always the most exciting, most glamorous thing.

00:44:05:14 – 00:44:22:19
Chad
It’s reasonable. And you’re going to have a reasonably good time here. And if you go to Peoria, one, you know that they’ve lost some of that pretentiousness that other communities have or at least try to front with. But also you might end up having a better time than you expected, which is a better outcome for a community than than the opposite.

00:44:22:20 – 00:44:23:17
Jen
Absolutely.

00:44:23:22 – 00:44:35:22
Annie
And bringing it back to my whole thing, they’re telling the truth. Like, how can you follow them for that? And leaning in on just being honest and being like, hey, man.

00:44:36:00 – 00:44:56:16
Jen
And they also leaned into humor, right? Which I think is is sometimes under appreciated by communities and businesses like the power of human, of humor to connect with people, because that is so much more memorable than, like, this is the best place on earth. Like every place.

00:44:56:18 – 00:45:01:18
Annie
It’s a little bit of vulnerability. It’s like, we know we get it, but like.

00:45:01:20 – 00:45:02:01
Chad
Well.

00:45:02:05 – 00:45:03:11
Annie
You might be pleasantly surprised.

00:45:03:12 – 00:45:23:04
Chad
Yeah. And back to that previous point. What do they lead with in that ad and with that campaign and with that concept, people in place, they don’t lead with a product. It isn’t hyping up the Civic Center. It isn’t hyping up a specific restaurant. It’s saying this is an entire community and they have a representative. I’m not sure if she even lives in Peoria, but they found a good person to deliver it.

00:45:23:07 – 00:45:24:00
Annie
I hope she does.

00:45:24:01 – 00:45:30:12
Chad
She’s smooth with it. She inhabits the tone, the personality that I would want to have if I’m doing that kind of approach. And it works.

00:45:30:15 – 00:45:32:04
Jen
She’s got a good, wholesome Midwestern.

00:45:32:04 – 00:45:33:03
Chad
Look to. Yeah.

00:45:33:06 – 00:45:52:05
Chad
She delivers the lines well, and it feels believable, even though it’s highly produced as well. And so they lead with people in place. They put it way over product. And to me, I think that’s going to be a winner. And the the other reason I like this, and I mentioned it in our internal document, this was posted in the Reddit community, Illinois’s Reddit community.

00:45:52:05 – 00:45:53:03
Chad
And believe me.

00:45:53:07 – 00:45:54:16
Jen
People can be brutal. Yeah.

00:45:54:16 – 00:46:15:18
Chad
If you post any piece of work, I don’t care whether it’s marketing art, your own poem, you get ready. Like gird yourself. This would say 95% of the comments underneath this are I actually like this. This is honest, this is true. This is this feels real. A few people even said, I’m traveling through that region. I wasn’t even planning on going to Peoria.

00:46:15:19 – 00:46:27:09
Chad
I think I’m going to stop now. That’s the greatest praise you can get. I realize it’s fairly anecdotal. It’s ten comments on a Reddit post, but that gives you a broader idea of how they’re going to appeal to a broader audience.

00:46:27:09 – 00:46:38:09
Jen
With this. Well, we all know what happens when you put something inauthentic or poorly produced or wherever that poorly thought out on on Reddit like it? It’s unvarnished.

00:46:38:14 – 00:46:39:01
Jen
Let’s.

00:46:39:02 – 00:46:39:06
Chad
Put.

00:46:39:06 – 00:46:39:16
Chad
It that way.

00:46:39:17 – 00:46:53:18
Annie
My favorite comment was from someone who they hopefully they’re listening to this podcast because they could use this potentially as their next campaign or their tagline, Peoria, when you’re here, you’re in Peoria. I thought.

00:46:53:18 – 00:46:55:13
Annie
That was actually.

00:46:55:14 – 00:46:56:15
Jen
Be a good tagline.

00:46:56:17 – 00:46:59:14
Chad
So yeah, they need a video series now, so that could probably be.

00:46:59:14 – 00:47:01:15
Annie
The next video. Yeah.

00:47:01:17 – 00:47:02:10
Chad
Yeah, I love.

00:47:02:10 – 00:47:02:21
Chad
The work.

00:47:02:22 – 00:47:25:08
Jen
Yeah, yeah, it’s good, it’s good. And I, I think it’s I think it’ll serve them well, but I also feel like that’s something that they can build upon and continue to use, whether they, they shift their, their positioning into Peoria. When you’re here, you know, you’re in Peoria or whatever the case may be, but I just kind of want to keep my eye on it and see how that that turns out for.

00:47:25:09 – 00:47:45:19
Chad
And if we’re being honest, where this started from, if you look at the statistics for Peoria, this is not a community necessarily ascending right now. They’ve had large population losses over the last 10 to 20 years. Loss of industry a lot of communities can relate to what Peoria is going through. It’s still a decent sized Midwest city, but they’re not riding the coattails of recent successes here.

00:47:45:19 – 00:48:06:00
Chad
They’re having to build a lot of enthusiasm for a place that does have some gems. I would be Peoria Ambassador number one for that, but this is not coming from necessarily position of strength. A lot of people think, well, sure, they could do something like this. They must be in a really healthy position economically or civically, not necessarily the case in Peoria.

00:48:06:03 – 00:48:13:04
Chad
They’re taking a chance, probably because they need to be able to attract visitors and to attract people that wouldn’t have ever considered it. Else was.

00:48:13:05 – 00:48:33:05
Annie
Well, and that goes back to the stories are messy, like there are bad parts of stories. If you’re pretending that everything is sunshine and rainbows and we’re the best and we have all the best things and people all the time like that doesn’t feel real. And so leaning into the the mess of it a little bit and being like, just honest.

00:48:33:05 – 00:48:39:00
Annie
And we know we’re not the greatest. That’s fine. Come anyway. You might, you might.

00:48:39:02 – 00:48:40:00
Chad
Yeah.

00:48:40:01 – 00:48:43:06
Annie
Reach out and like become number one super fan over here.

00:48:43:06 – 00:49:09:00
Jen
So I think you said it. This is brave marketing. It’s brave. It’s a little vulnerable. Brave marketing will be safe marketing any day. Safe marketing is just it’s not memorable. We’ve all seen the videos with the flaming, you know, steak on and the cheers and the beers. I mean, we’ve produced videos like that at our clients request to and we’ll try to sneak in the the stories are.

00:49:09:02 – 00:49:17:08
Annie
30 and also true and also, you know, can be part of it. But how are you framing it? What are you saying around those exactly.

00:49:17:09 – 00:49:26:02
Jen
The framing matters. I mean, there were beautiful shots in that video. It’s not that there weren’t the great drone footage and all that, but the message and the way they framed it.

00:49:26:06 – 00:49:27:06
Annie
That’s what’s memorable.

00:49:27:06 – 00:49:28:05
Jen
That’s what’s memorable.

00:49:28:07 – 00:49:45:15
Chad
And that’s back to the idea of Peoria Pride doesn’t have anything that’s truly proprietary to them that they can know, and they have a few things. They have the phrase Will it play in Peoria? But that in and of itself is a nod to frankly, being generic. But they’ve owned that. And so that gets back to almost near the start of this conversation.

00:49:45:15 – 00:50:05:17
Chad
If you don’t have something that only you can say, then find a way that only you can say it. Find a unique way, I think has found that. And also I’m a little curious because of how this conversation all started, the Iowa to Indianapolis pipeline that has now been created because of Caitlin Clark. I know a lot of other people who drive to Indianapolis.

00:50:05:18 – 00:50:22:15
Chad
Not everyone’s taking the flight. Peoria is kind of that natural almost midway point for a lot of people to stop. I wonder if that’s spurred some of this as well, if they’ve seen an uptick in actual literal traffic and they’re trying to figure out, how do we get people to actually stop here, stay here and revisit over and over.

00:50:22:15 – 00:50:23:00
Chad
Again.

00:50:23:01 – 00:50:24:00
Annie
I believe that.

00:50:24:01 – 00:50:27:20
Jen
Do you have a recommendation for a place to stop in Peoria?

00:50:27:21 – 00:50:32:22
Chad
I do, I do. There’s a place called Thyme Kitchen, craft kitchen and bar thyme spelled like the.

00:50:32:22 – 00:50:35:07
Chad
Herb. Fantastic Fantastic.

00:50:35:07 – 00:50:37:13
Chad
And Industry Brewing Company as well. Great beer and.

00:50:37:13 – 00:50:37:21
Chad
Peoria.

00:50:37:22 – 00:50:41:09
Jen
Industry Brewing Co. So we had a little unpaid advertisement, not just for.

00:50:41:13 – 00:50:49:06
Chad
Just for businesses, but just for the broader community. Stop. Walk around Peoria when you’re there. The Richard Pryor statue is there. Richard Pryor, the comedian, is from Peoria, Illinois.

00:50:49:07 – 00:50:49:20
Jen
Okay. I didn’t.

00:50:49:20 – 00:50:50:13
Jen
Know that.

00:50:50:15 – 00:50:53:10
Jen
That might be here. You heard.

00:50:53:12 – 00:51:07:05
Jen
So that’s our creative brief for for this podcast. Everybody visit Peoria. It’s it’s reasonable. It’s a reasonable time. Chad and Annie, thanks so much for joining me on the podcast this month. It was really fun.

00:51:07:06 – 00:51:11:14
Chad
Thanks for letting me appear on camera with this shirt, I appreciate it. Expect a line coming up this fall.

00:51:11:14 – 00:51:12:12
Jen
It’s a it’s a.

00:51:12:12 – 00:51:13:10
Jen
Risk.

00:51:13:12 – 00:51:16:16
Jen
On our part, but I think it’ll pay off for somebody.

00:51:16:17 – 00:51:18:08
Chad
So it’s already paid off for me.

00:51:18:08 – 00:51:19:14
Chad
Jim Penfold.

00:51:19:16 – 00:51:20:10
Jen
You and the.

00:51:20:10 – 00:51:20:18
Jen
Knitting.

00:51:20:22 – 00:51:21:07
Annie
Star.

00:51:21:07 – 00:51:21:22
Annie
Knitting club.

00:51:21:22 – 00:51:23:11
Chad
The knitting club. I need my lawn.

00:51:23:12 – 00:51:24:01
Annie
Yeah.

00:51:24:07 – 00:51:26:12
Jen
All right, well, thanks for being here. It was a lot of fun.

00:51:26:13 – 00:51:28:02
Jen
Are we swearing on this or. No.