We should all be Chasing Great like Richie McCaw

UNRIVALLED. BEST IN CLASS. PROFESSIONAL.

All words we would like associated with our business.
They, and may similar, have been used to describe Richie McCaw.
Double World Cup winner –  the most successful All Black rugby captain in history.

The film ‘Chasing Great’, documenting Richie’s life, comes out in New Zealand this September.
It’s a story. Ok, it’s a story about a superb athlete and team leader and his rise to world supremacy  and whose ‘job’ was watched by millions across the world.

Richie, much like the New Zealand All Blacks, is now a recognised brand. So is your company.
The only barriers to you telling an equally compelling story in video as ‘Chasing Great’ are your:

1. Understanding of your audience
2. Appreciation of your role in their world
3. Confidence in telling bold stories

Define your audience

Richie McCaw has loyal followers. Some follow because they love rugby and pay to attend matches or watch on TV. Essentially they pay to consume  his product (and yes, the rest of the squad are a big part of that as well!).
Some identify with him purely because he is a local boy who is great at what he does. Schools. Home towns. New Zealand. Even if they have never paid to consume the product they identify with him and celebrate it and their association with it.
Your business has followers for similar reasons. Consumers, affiliated companies, other local businesses – they are all supporters who are predisposed to your story.

Assess what you want to say to them

The McCaw story is one of humble beginnings; a dream; a vision; planning; determination; focus. Sound familiar? You don’t need to be internationally recognised to have a compelling story to tell. If you have identified your audience correctly you will already have their attention.
What does your business do really well? What has it achieved? What are your ethos and working culture – your brand values? Your audience want to hear about these and more.

Locate your audience 

Whilst you might not have 80,000 of your supporters coming to your place of work to cheer you on (how great would that be though!) you should already know where they are. How do you reach them when you want to talk to them?
Email addresses? Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? Instagram? Postal addresses? Retail visitors?

Create

Now that you have identified the who, where and why it’s time to have fun with the ‘what’.
Use the most creative people in your business to build your story.

If you don’t have the people, time or confidence to do that then bring in a specialist creative agency to help you  get the ball rolling. In fact, bring the agency in even if you DO have all the |resources to hand.

They will help you maximise creativity and return on investment, minimise time-to-market and provide a crucial independent and objective assessment that cannot be achieved if you are embedded in a business.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Chasing Great’ wasn’t produced and directed by Richie McCaw. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to be involved.

He agreed because he wanted to ‘inspire some young kids’.
That sounds like a good enough starting point to me !

Measure 

Ultimately ‘Chasing Great’ needs to make money for someone – and more than they spent on producing it. That will come through cinema and other distribution deals. For  McCaw however the real benefit will be brand perception. Increased positivity towards him, what he stands for and what he does. He won’t measure its success solely by the number of people who buy a cinema ticket. It will be the groundswell of positivity across numerous channels that will provide the real long-term reward.

Build

Be in no doubt, Richie McCaw will have a plan. A strategy. He’s spent his playing career devising and managing personal and team strategies and then adapting them when things aren’t going to plan.
He’s identified what works and what doesn’t in a variety of situations and changed his strategy accordingly. That strategy could be across a four year Rugby World Cup cycle, a season, a week or even split second decisions on the field.
When your business achieves a success what do you do? Celebrate it. Identify the contributing factors and then repeat it as often as possible.

A clearly defined and scalable video strategy is easily achieved with a clear vision, a positive approach  and the right professional input.

Time to start ‘Chasing Great’!
You can read more about the release of ‘Chasing Great’ and watch the trailer here.

(If you, like Max, are a bit of a rugby fan you might also like this previous TaleFin blog which includes  reference to the All Blacks ethos and how it might be applied  to business)