Key Messages, Practical Value & Burning Cinema

Welcome to the first edition of 'Philip Bateman's Smarter Impact - Every Thursday' on LinkedIn, there are over 40 editions at it's home on Substack!

Key Message Saturation

When someone looks at you for the first time, or revisits you with their board or capital partners, how should they see your organization?

In a clear, well articulated and focused way, where your key messages are saturated across their interactions with you? Or in a diffused, ‘yeah we kinda get it’ way, where you have to rely on personal interactions to fill in the gaps of trust, rather than to spend that precious time on strengthening a bond, planning and implementing for the future?

This diffusion seeps in over time when things are done ad hoc. A customer asks a question, a proposal is needed, tenders are going out, some extra documentation or the opportunity for an article in the press appears.. all of these things are often written, designed and edited to meet a pressing need, though often lack the broader frame of your why.

For the people making the thing they tick their box and move on, and in the short term it may work well, though by consistently making things without consideration for including your key messaging, your messaging as a whole will drift into confusion.

The way to achieve repeatable high quality, is to have a Tone of Voice document, which is a guide for writing, that enables people to have quick access to key messages, know which to use in various circumstances, and generate style and conventions for writing.

Importantly, by building your Tone of Voice through a process of industry and competitor research, you can consistently define (or redefine) your position in the market.

This is why my company Bravo Charlie, a strategy, marketing and video production consultancy for investment firms and their investees, runs under the tagline of ‘Tell your story to investors’ - rather than ‘corporate video production’.

Q. What are the 3 documents you most regularly use in your work that you share with clients or stakeholders? Are they sharp, concise and compelling? Do they reduce, or introduce confusion?

Of no practical or commercial value

“Of no practical or commercial value, it will never sell” - The Australian Government, regarding David Warren AOs modernised 1958 black box flight recorder prototype. Can you guess what happened next? The answer is in the image.

This sentence struck me Monday, whilst I was visiting?The Australian National Aviation Museum?at Moorabbin Airport, Victoria, as I’ve spent a lot of time around Australian commercialisation entities.

I think?INNOVIC Australia?was the first place I encountered the love for supporting startups, and places like the?Australian Association of Angel Investors Ltd, the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs Programme, a whole bunch of incubators,?CSIRO?and the many innovation labs at places?Swinburne University of Technology?where I did my Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation,?University of Melbourne,?RMIT University?and such.

Everyone’s at it or wants to be at it, and we end up talking about the ‘valley of death’ for the hole between incubators, Angels and Venture Capital money to get growth stage companies scaling.

This is something I’m particularly pleased to see start to flatten in Australia as family offices and Impact Investors such as?Kilara Capital?target growth stage businesses and technology innovation as an answer to the challenges of climate change and circular economy. And?Breakthrough Victoria?is on the scene!

All that is to ask.. as a leader in your business, have you been quick to dispel concepts or proposals from people inside your organisation? What’s the cost of pursuing innovation and when do you call a halt to a project? What are your measures of success and definition of done?

If you’re taking a ‘Skunkworks’ approach ala?Lockheed Martin?and their renowned SR-71 Blackbird, are you aware of the challenges of reintegration of an external business unit, and how hard it is to realise those innovation gains?

Remember, if you’re an Australian business holding on to ‘the next big thing’, nationally we’ve come a long way since letting the black box, the PV solar cell and other such things leave our fair shores.. or maybe we haven’t? Either way, the world needs your innovation :)

Introductions and Behind-the-scenes

I jumped in front of the lens whilst filming with Andrew Hollo ’s for?his new Strategy and Insights platform, to ask him how it was going and the process as he’d been experiencing it:

It’s 80 seconds long and will give you an insight into the power of the process behind my Investor Engagement Systems?.

I’ve also included some good detail on the projects I generally do, as as my team and I have space to take on a new client in Q1/Q2 of this year, and I'd really appreciate your introduction to the leaders of any growth stage businesses or investment funds, that are making positive impacts in the world, and seeking to mature their communications.

Q. Can you think of 2 CEO’s wanting to more effectively tell their story to investors?

(Burning) Cinema Corner

I was sending a friend the Burning Man 101 and if you haven’t been or don’t have a good grasp of it, I thought I’d share here for you, as this is the best way I’ve come up with to get a rounded view. I’d highly suggest watching them in order if you want to get where I’m attempting to lead you

As a data point, the median age of the two camps I’ve spent the last 7 years with is around mid to late 50’s. The vast majority of online images and video circulating of Burning Man, that are then picked up and shared as viral articles for attention, focus on a tiny subset of instagram-esque western beauty marketing and I’d say are not indicative of 80-90% of the community.

1. Charlie Goes to Burning Man - https://youtu.be/Ho9umwLzyJA

2. Dear Guardian, The Temple - https://vimeo.com/101272130

3. The DMV (department of mutant vehicles line) - anything that moves must be registered as a mutant vehicle, and this is the camera outside the place where they get their day time and night time slips - an excellent look at the variety of thinking and engineering - https://youtu.be/DA5KcwJlhmg

4. The Ten Principles for Newbie Burners by Innuendo - https://youtu.be/ysl-Yu4Rhdw

5. The Kids of Burning Man - https://youtu.be/ZWEv86PIFw4

6. If you want one of the best relaxed walk around ‘what the hell is this place really about?!’ without the hype, Ryan Van Duzer’s GoPro of running around it (as he does an ultramarathon) is a lovely capture of the pace and people involved - https://youtu.be/sGjvUN1YqS0

If you’re an Australian going, with flights, vehicle hire in LA for two weeks (or take the Burner Express Bus), Walmart / staying in a tent / food / water / tickets etc the total cost seems to be about $7k AUD. The skies the limit if you want to hire an RV or fly in to the city direct etc.

Once inside the city there is no money, barter or exchange. ‘Gifting’ along with ‘Radical Self Reliance’ are fundamental principles of the experience, and shape a radically different community to the default world we all generally inhabit.

Ticket info for 2023 is starting to come out at https://burningman.org, and the Burning Man Project is a global movement that exists year round in many countries outside of the week long gathering in the Black Rock Desert. Come discover yourself.

P.S. if you want to dive into the history, ethos and future, this 42 minute documentary on the late founder, Larry Harvey, is a beautiful piece. If you’re genuinely making your first (or fifteenth?) pilgrimage to the desert, do watch it - https://vimeo.com/385441683

Do let me know you’ve enjoyed reading by clicking 'like’. And, pass on Smarter Impact to someone you think might enjoy it.

Until I’m back with you next Thursday, keep an eye out for confusion inducing messages at work, and people coming to you with innovative proposals.

Philip