Business History Matters

Happy Birthday, from a Yahooer!

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:21:00 +0000

Several months ago, I heard a story on NPR about what your personal email address reveals about you. If you have Gmail, you’re likely young and/or Internet-savvy. If you have Yahoo!, you’re somewhat Internet knowledgeable, but clearly old school and bordering on outdated. If you have AOL, forget it.

While I understand the theory behind these categorizations, as a Yahoo!er, I am somewhat opposed to being judged simply because of my @yahoo.com personal email status. I know that Google has surpassed Yahoo! as the Internet information source of choice. Google is more than a company, it’s a verb; when you need answers, you Google . . . you don’t Yahoo! I often Google, and it would probably be more convenient for me to have a Gmail address, as I spend considerable time there. But I’ve had my Yahoo! account for more than 10 years and, besides being a reliable place to find me, Yahoo! has my loyalty because we have history.

When I graduated from college, the Internet was just becoming the general public’s go-to information vehicle, and email was slowly replacing telephone communication. I took a job with a small speakers bureau in Washington, D.C., which was run by a woman in her seventies. While once a Washington insider with a booming business, my boss was buckling in the face of change, and it showed—the booming business had dwindled to seven employees crammed into a single office suite. The seven of us shared one computer with Internet access, and no one had email.

I didn’t last long in that environment. Six months later, I found a new company full of twenty-somethings, and I was immediately given my own computer with Internet access and an email address. It took me a few weeks to get comfortable with using email, but it was the company’s primary communication method, so I had no choice. As I learned the ins and outs of Outlook, my email apprehension faded, and I soon sent messages flying through cyberspace with ease.

With Internet access at my fingertips, I quickly discovered Yahoo! as a valuable source of workday information (and, let’s be honest, entertainment). It was inevitable that I would seal my Internet arrival with my very own Yahoo! address.

To me, having a Yahoo! address doesn’t mean I’m old school, incapable of change. In fact, it’s a reminder of my willingness to change . . . and my decision to find a company that forced the issue. If I had stayed with my aging employer, who knows how long it would had taken me to discover the Internet (I didn’t even have a home computer at the time). A company that refuses to move forward does more than damage itself, it holds its employees back as well. And in turn, a company that engages in change and seeks out the next new invention, propels its employees to continue learning and bettering their professional and personal positions.

Just over a year ago, The History Factory founder, Bruce Weindruch, decided we should join the new media wave and start this blog. Once again, I found myself in an uncomfortable position, having no familiarity with blogging. But with some research, some practice, and some advice from the younger employees (Gmailers), now I even know a little HTML.

Yahoo!, you recently celebrated your 15th birthday. Congratulations. As you face the next 15 years, it’s clear you have some work to do to catch up with Google in terms of growth and innovation. But if you look to your history, you’ll see the forerunner that you once were and that you can be again. Hey, if I can dabble in new media, anything’s possible.

Happy Birthday, Photoshop!

noreply@blogger.com (Adam N.) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:22:00 +0000

Today is the 20th anniversary of one of the most successful software programs in history: none other than Adobe Photoshop. No other software product has impacted the realms of art, science and popular culture quite like Photoshop, and we’re proud to congratulate them on their innovative 20 years of changing the way we view our world.

The History Factory was invited by our client, Adobe Systems, to participate in the 20th Anniversary Adobe Photoshop Reunion last month. We provided questions to help guide the discussion and captured some behind-the-scenes footage as part of our StoryARC story generation process and forthcoming anniversary initiatives for the juggernaut software company.

Adobe Photoshop 20th Anniversary Reunion from History Factory on Vimeo.

In attendance were the four original PS creators: Thomas Knoll (Adobe Systems), John Knoll (Visual Effects Supervisor for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on films like The Abyss, Terminator 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and Avatar 3D), Steve Guttman (Microsoft) and original PS Evangelist and Senior Creative Director, Russell Brown (Adobe Systems). Filmed at Adobe HQ and Foreign Cinema Restaurant in San Francisco, CA, January 26, 2010.

View the final AdobeTV video at http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-20th-anniversary/startup-memories/

Further congratulations are in order as Adobe Systems was one of our seventeen past and current clients featured on Fortune Magazine’s 2010 list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Lots more Photoshop material to come…

Heritage Management on TV: Holiday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jason Dressel) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:20:00 +0000

One thing I love most about the holiday season is the traditions and nostalgia it evokes. We all have our own personal rituals we share with loved ones, whether picturesque or totally corny.

We also, of course, have our whole lexicon of popular culture seasonal touchstones. Only the magic of the holiday season can explain the continual broadcast (and apparent demand for) programs like the early ’60s claymation Christmas specials. These shows have been so thoroughly antiquated and outpaced by our current standards of entertainment from both a content and production-value perspective that they now strike me as outright bizarre. Yet just like our holiday home decorations (which also may not meet our updated aesthetic standards), we anticipate these programs and know that the season is really here when they come out.

This brings me to one of my favorite holiday season TV moments, "Peter, you’re home!" I’ve long admired Folgers’ steadfast commitment to airing this commercial and have been struck by how timeless it is—both visually and content-wise. The story of a loved one coming home for the holidays is timeless and universal, and for whatever irrational reason, this one has always tugged at my heartstrings. And considering the commercial first aired in 1986, Peter’s family, all decked out on Christmas morning in their bathrobes, pajamas, and Norwegian fishermen sweaters, have hung in there pretty well over the years, much like an L.L. Bean catalog.

But in our new high-def world, even I have to admit that the Folgers family has been looking pretty haggard. I recall thinking last year, "Damn, I have VHS tapes that look better than that."

So I was greatly amused last week when, working in a hotel room, I heard the Folgers commercial come on. But wait! It was completely different . . . yet entirely the same. Indeed, Folgers had made over Peter’s family for the 21st century. A Christmas miracle! Or I guess the Folgers folks finally accepted that the centerpiece of their holiday decorations needed an upgrade.

A quick search online provided the backstory. The Folgers brand was acquired last year by J.M. Smucker from Proctor & Gamble. In addition to revamping the commercial, Folgers is apparently bringing back their "Best Part of Wakin’ Up" theme, as part of an overall brand revitalization effort.

A further interesting point was that the new ad, which was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, references that Peter has returned from West Africa. According to the folks at J. M. Smucker, this little detail refers to the true story of a son returning home from doing mission work. While I always liked that the original ad, created by now-defunct agency Cunningham & Walsh, left Peter’s previous whereabouts unknown and irrelevant, this new detail represents the ad agency move toward using more authentic stories to inform their creative.

So while I’m glad that Peter’s family got a makeover and they’ll be around for a few more seasons, it will be fun to see if the new ad proves to be as purpose-built as the last. If you go online you will see that there are already a range of opinions out there. The skeptic in me says it won’t. It’s hard to repeat that kind of success, but maybe that’s the magic and nostalgia of the holidays.
　
　
　

"A Matter of Identity"

blog@historyfactory.com (The History Factory) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:36:00 +0000

When did Apple Computer become just “Apple”? According to The New York Times, shortly after it introduced the iPhone. It’s a matter of identity. Realizing it had a transformational new product on its hands, Apple likely wanted to ensure consumers no longer thought of it as just a computer company. And as The Times emphasizes, identity awareness is paramount to business success. “As the core essence of a company, identity plays a central role in guiding managerial decision-making,” says Wharton School professor and co-author of The Soul of the Corporation, John R. Kimberly.

For Apple, a relatively simple branding tweak enabled the company to make the transition from computers to a wider variety of electronics. But for companies attempting to traverse greater identity landscapes, the move isn’t quite so simple. The article notes that a key ingredient in successful face-lifts of this sort is continuity.

For example, when Fujifilm moved beyond the imaging realm into pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, it helped consumers bridge that wide gap by advertising the links between the two. The company used television commercials to explain “how nanotechnology originally developed for photography helped skin cream to better penetrate the skin.”

Information manager Iron Mountain used its core values of customer service and building trust to ease consumers into the company’s new digital offerings, emphasizing the fact that clients’ records were safe, regardless of the format.

Both of these solutions highlight a common thread of company history, whether that thread lies in products or culture. And it is this notion that speaks to our work at The History Factory. Companies often come to us at this critical point in their history, when they want to turn a corner, change their identity, but aren’t sure how to get there.

A common identity issue we face is a recent merger or acquisition of considerable size, one that can’t easily be rolled into a parent company’s brand. How do you reconcile two disparate personalities—in the eyes of employees as well as consumers? The solution lies in history.

Sometimes it takes a bit of digging, but more often than not, the companies have more in common than they thought. If two companies in the same industry have any history to speak of, they likely share some of it. For example, we’ve uncovered personal relationships between founders of two companies that merged hundreds of years later, thinking they had nothing in common. This shared experience becomes the lifeline for both companies as they come to grips with their new, shared identity.

If identity truly does guide decision-making, it is imperative for companies to be aware not only of who they are, but who they were.

Wear It Well

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:59:00 +0000

On a Sunday in mid-September, I flipped on the Jets-Titans game, only to see two teams that looked completely unfamiliar. Instead of the Jets’ green/white jerseys versus the Titans’ navy/powder blue, facing each other at the line of scrimmage were navy/gold and blue/white/red . . . with oil derricks on their helmets! What’s more, the referees were wearing orange stripes!

“They’re throwback uniforms,” my husband informed me. “What’s the occasion?” I asked. I had seen professional sports teams don historical uniforms before, but nothing this drastic, and never both teams at once. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the American Football League (AFL), which played its first season in 1960 with eight teams, the New York Jets (then the Titans of New York) and the Tennessee Titans (then the Houston Oilers) among them. The league was celebrating with “Legacy Games” throughout the season, in which former AFL teams (the league merged with the NFL in 1970) played each other wearing their historical uniforms.

When I hear of a company celebrating its history, I’m always curious about the manner in which they do it. Professional sports, after all, are a business, and the industry crosses the same milestones as any other. But as we remind our clients at The History Factory, anniversaries are an opportunity as much as they are a reason to celebrate. So, I wondered, was the NFL making the most of its history?

Sure, as a fan, I found the uniforms interesting (although slightly confusing at first), and I appreciated the historical content included as part of the NFL’s weekly programming, but what did that do for the business?

A little research uncovered two avenues. First: the fans. For many, seeing the retro uniforms sparks much more than mild curiosity and philosophical musing. To celebrate their team—and make a fashion statement—zealous fans immediately want to own a piece of football history. As NFL spokesperson Johanna Hunter said in a Knoxville News Sentinel article, “Fans are buying the retro merchandise and appear excited about the AFL Legacy project.” She added, “There has been demand by fans, and with the popularity of the Legacy uniforms we’ll see them (legacy inspired gear) again next year.” The League gets a percentage of the wholesale price of the merchandise, and has reportedly raised its fees over the years. So, generating enthusiasm among fans for throwback uniforms adds to the NFL’s bottom line.

Second: the players. While wearing throwback uniforms does bring mixed reactions from the locker room, even if they aren’t fond of the color and style of their temporary duds, many players still see the benefit in honoring the League’s traditions. “I’m not a huge fan of it, but it’s part of the legacy of the Buccaneers,” said Tampa Bay center Jeff Faine in a PewterReport.com article discussing the team’s decision to wear throwbacks in a recent game to “honor the 1979 team that made the NFC Championship Game, as well as Hall of Fame defensive end Lee Roy Selmon.”

The Buccaneers were 0-7 going into the game (against the Green Bay Packers) in which they donned the uniforms. Hungry for their first win, some took inspiration from history. “Whatever uniform they put on us, we need to go out there and get our first win and represent this man they’re putting in the Ring of Honor [Selmon]. There’s a lot to play for,” said defensive tackle Chris Hovan. The result? Tampa Bay: 38; Green Bay: 28.

For the players, taking part in these traditions can inspire them to live up to the great moments of the past. And for the business, winning never hurts the bottom line.

The Denver Broncos sport throwbacks in a Legacy Game against the New England Patriots. (Image courtesy of Doug Pensinger/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images)

Epilogue:
I settled in this past Saturday to support my husband’s alma mater, The Ohio State Buckeyes, in their traditional, end-of-season faceoff against arch-rival Michigan. What’s the first thing I noticed? The Buckeye uniforms, of course—throwbacks to the 1954 championship team, whose 55th anniversary they’d recently celebrated. By now used to seeing unfamiliar football gear, I didn’t pay much more attention to their attire . . . until the sideline reporter flashed on the screen holding a pair of the Buckeyes’ retro pants.

Apparently these were no ordinary throwback uniforms. While they looked like the originals, the material was far from it. The uniforms were made using cutting-edge Nike technology, were extremely lightweight, and had extra padding to enhance performance.

Ohio State had taken the anniversary opportunity to try an innovative new product, which, if proven effective, could become a replacement for the team’s standard uniforms. By celebrating tradition, Ohio State simultaneously took a step to move its team forward toward a more productive future. Did it work? Final score: Ohio State: 21; Michigan: 10.

History Shock

noreply@blogger.com (Scott McMurray) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Change is history, whether companies have been around for 200 years or 20. While we’re not about to rechristen the place, “The Change Factory” (or if we are I didn’t get the memo), much of what we do here is to communicate—to help companies tell their stories—about change. And regardless of how long a company has been in existence, that rate of change seems to be accelerating.

The recent, and for many, continuing, unpleasantness widely referred to as the Great Recession has lifted change in one form or another to the top of every corporate agenda. Companies are coping with dramatic changes in the way they operate and finance their businesses, and attract and retain employees. Ditto for servicing existing customers and attracting new ones.

Lately many companies are moving beyond operating in a state of history shock. They are making change work for them, rather than against them. They are discovering that change is an integral part of their histories. They realize that change is a key element of the narrative arc that describes their evolution. And that change is central to their future.

Core values enable companies to embrace change; they aren’t tossed out with the C-suite wallpaper. In fact, embracing change is likely to be a core value of highly successful companies, even if it isn’t worded as such. Tell that story, and you put your organization back out ahead of the change curve.

Innovative Interpretation

noreply@blogger.com (Adam N.) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Picture this: A client tells us, “Hey, our CEO would really like to render our organizational history in the form of an 8-minute video incorporating a giant light box, a bunch of sand, and a gorgeous Ukrainian performance artist. Whaddya think?”

Now, when organizations choose to celebrate and recognize their collective histories, there are several tactics that typically come to mind: books, documentaries, exhibits, Web sites.

These are all fantastic and effective ways to explore corporate histories. But what happens when we’ve already produced a book and there’s still more story to tell? What happens when a company wants to move beyond the ordinary and communicate their stories in an innovative way?

We get extraordinary requests—like the one above—all the time. So we tell our client we’ll see what we can do. As luck would have it, I went to summer camp with a Ukrainian sand-artist named Kseniya Simonova, and she was good enough to help us out.

Just watch this video of Kseniya’s remarkable interpretation of Germany’s historic WWII invasion of Ukraine . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cri7aQHRT7k

Quick disclaimer: I did not actually go to summer camp with this woman, and we’ve never had a client specifically ask us for an interpretive historical sand animation. But still . . .

The moral of the story is that there are an infinite number of seemingly outlandish but ultimately highly effective and affecting ways to render a given story. Our thirty years of experience show that when corporations couple content-rich communication vehicles (like books and exhibits) with more impressionistic and imaginative methods, the messaging is all the more powerful.

Forging emotional connections with audiences that matter is not an easy thing. Sometimes, it takes a truly wild idea to really give a message its necessary resonance.

Drafting History

blog@historyfactory.com (The History Factory) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:55:00 +0000

Sometimes Wikipedia gets it right. How right? So right that the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., uses the city’s Wikipedia page as its go-to recommendation for callers seeking information on D.C.’s past, according to the Washington Post.

That’s a touching vote of confidence for Adam Lewis, the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.’s membership coordinator, who also happens to be one of the Wikipedia page’s main contributors. Until recently, his co-workers were unaware of his moonlighting activity—but that didn’t stop them from unknowingly recommending his work.

Thanks to the anonymity of the Web, that Wikipedia article you just checked to resolve a friendly lunchtime debate about who won the World Series of 1962 or when New Orleans stopped being the capital of Louisiana could have been written by anyone. Your doctor? Your daughter? Your co-worker (who was so smugly certain he was in the right)? You’ll never know.

Maybe it was even written by you. And if not—and you’re confident in your knowledge—why not take a stab at it? After all, it didn’t take a Ph.D. for the 22-year-old Lewis to become Wikipedia’s Washington, D.C., guru. All it took was the time to write, the patience to check sources, and a willingness to be called out for being, occasionally, wrong.

And called out he has been. As the Washington Post notes, Lewis originally misattributed the D.C. building height limit as being tied to the height of the Capitol. (Coincidentally, the misinformation was sourced from a Washington Post article.) It took a professional historian to catch the error. But without Lewis’s original, if-faulty, draft, would the correct information ever have been shared? It’s unlikely. Many people are willing to point out errors; few are willing to sit down and draft the initial text. And all history—all writing—has to start with a draft.

2 Soon 2 Tell

noreply@blogger.com (Scott McMurray) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:09:00 +0000

It’s five minutes to breakfast on the fourth floor outside of the hotel ballroom, and among the three of us, the Merrill Lynch stockbroker—dressed to the nines but already behind the eight ball—pulls me, the interviewer, to one side while the camera guy is at sixes and sevens choosing shots and makes her confession: “I don’t get the ‘2.’”

Take a number; neither do a lot of us. The Merrill Lynch Wealth Management division of Bank of America made much of bringing back the iconic Merrill bull in its new $20 million campaign to re-brand the brokerage unit, which was purchased under controversial circumstances by BofA at year-end 2008. So far so good. One of the best-known images of Wall Street, great historical resonance, and in step with the Dow’s 50 percent or so rebound from its March lows.

Then the campaign gets 2 cute. It’s as if BofA isn’t satisfied with its name in small type beneath the Merrill bull, and a prominent banner in BofA corporate blue across the top. Enter “2,” or more precisely “help 2.” You could read this literally and conclude that Merrill is going to “help 2” make you rich, financially secure, whatever. Or, you could read this as the latest, uneven attempt to get some leverage out of merging corporate heritages.

Trouble is, BofA brings nothing of substance to the brokerage party, at least as represented in this campaign. The “2” is a reference to the two of them—Merrill Lynch and BofA—but there is nothing in the campaign to suggest that two is better than one when it comes to managing personal wealth, or that BofA has anything to add. That’s too bad, especially since it isn’t true to BofA’s heritage, which is steeped in wealth-building entrepreneurialism. In fact, it was founder A.P. Giannini who hawked loans and helped finance the American dream for thousands of fellow immigrants on the streets of San Francisco.

0 for 2. This attempt to leverage heritage appears to miss with clients and, based on my interviewee’s reaction, with employees as well. Still, too soon to tell, she declares, true to her industry’s optimism. They may get it right yet. Perhaps. We do agree on one thing: It’s not too soon for coffee.

An Appreciation: Ben Ali

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce Weindruch) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Before you read this post, take a quick look at the photo that accompanies my bio on this blog. That’s me at Ben’s Chili Bowl here in Washington, D.C. I had just finished running the roulette table at my daughter’s school casino night, and I had promised an extremely excited group of 13-year-old girls that we could swing by Ben’s for a late-night feast. Sure the girls wanted the chili dogs and cheese fries, but what they really craved was the electric atmosphere of Ben’s at 11:45 on a Friday night.

A couple weeks ago, the founder of Ben’s Chili Bowl, Ben Ali, died of congestive heart-failure at the age of 82. I know what you’re thinking: It must’ve been his food that got him. According to The Washington Post, Ali—a Muslim who observed Islam’s prohibition of eating pork—". . . never tasted the hot dogs and half-smokes that made his restaurant famous." Frankly (pun intended), that just left more "Ben’s Goodness" for the rest of us. But let’s skip the culinary stuff and cut right to the lessons-learned from Ben’s Chili Bowl’s 51-year business history.

You Probably Won’t Get It Right the First Time—Ben Ali reportedly attended six colleges or universities and one dental school, waited tables, ran an import business, drove a taxi, and worked as a realtor. Finally, on August 22, 1958, he founded the Chili Bowl.

Stick to What You Know—As a native of Trinidad, Ben Ali was no stranger to spicy foods. Anyone who’s ever tasted Ben’s chili immediately notices the peppery overtones that differentiate the product from its blander, more tomato-based kin. I’ve always preferred the unique flavor of Ben’s chili, and am fairly confident it is a major ingredient in his success.

Stay Focused—For more than 50 years, Ben’s has topped only three items with its chili: hot dogs, hamburgers, and half-smokes (smoked sausages). That’s all. (Although I may have seen some chili grace a fry or two.)

Communicate—In 1968, when the U Street Corridor where Ben’s is located was Ground Zero for rioting, Ben Ali wrote "Soul Brother" in soap in his front window, and his restaurant stood untouched. The restaurant is filled with folksy communications, like the faded, handmade sign that reads, "Who eats free at Ben’s: Bill Cosby. No one else." Recently, an even cruder placard announced, "The Obamas eat here for free." (At the time of the first Obama sighting at Ben’s, The Washington Post made a point of explaining that the then–President elect paid for his own meal.)

Remain Committed at All Costs—When post-riot urban blight sent his neighborhood into a severe downward spiral, Ben removed sweets from his menu because they appealed to the growing community of drug users. And when 1980s construction on Metro’s Green Line decimated U Street even more than the 1968 riots, Ben survived by reportedly downsizing his staff to two employees in addition to his own family members.

"Star Power" Is Good—Ben’s is a "must do" stop on the itineraries of musicians, movie stars, sports figures, politicians, and global dignitaries. Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Martin Luther King, Jr., Serena Williams, Denzel Washington, Bono, and Hillary Clinton have all eaten at Ben’s . . . and there are photos to prove it.

Stay Current—Believe it or not, over the years Ben Ali added "healthy choices" to his menu. Ben’s offers veggie chili, a jumbo turkey hot dog, a turkey burger, and a veggie burger–although I can honestly say I have never seen a customer order any of these items.

On October 16, Washington, D.C., held a "Celebration of Life" for Ben Ali at the historic Lincoln Theatre, next door to Ben’s Chili Bowl. There was no more appropriate venue for today’s luminaries to gather in tribute to Ben, on a stage that had been graced by Duke Ellington, Pearl Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and Sarah Vaughn.

It is often said that the business is the shadow of its founder. From a small storefront at the heart of Washington, D.C., Ben Ali was lighthouse.
　

Photo courtesy of Ben Schumin, October 26, 2006.
　
　
　
　
　

Redefining the Product

blog@historyfactory.com (The History Factory) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:34:00 +0000

For most of us, the Internet is a lifeline for communicating and connecting with the outside world. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, the Internet is now also an art gallery. One of the aspects that draws artists to this new medium is the ability to reach a broad audience. As sculptor turned Internet artist Ken Goldberg states, “While art is usually restricted to museums, galleries and private collectors, Internet art can be looked at all the time by anyone.”

For example, the benefactor of a recently purchased Goldberg piece—which arrived not on a canvas or in a frame, but on a silver encased flash drive—isn’t the only person able to view the work. Goldberg’s “internet-based earthwork,” which shows the constantly shifting and changing seismic activity of San Francisco’s Hayward Fault, can also be seen by the general public at his Web site.

Belgrade-born Internet artist Vuk Ćosić created an online gallery of pictograms designed to represent iconic art historical themes—artists and subjects in their simplest and slightly ironic forms—as airport signage. History of Art for Airports is available online as well as at the Threshold Artspace in Scotland, where Ćosić is headlining an exhibit.

These artists are embracing one of the goals of our corporate history business: to make history accessible. Not so long ago this aspiration referred solely to tactile products, such as books and exhibits. And while these are still mainstays in our business, the rise of Internet art highlights the fact that historical interpretation is facing a new frontier of accessibility and production.

And just like the Internet artists, The History Factory welcomes the benefits (and challenges) this new frontier brings. We recently published our first digital publication—a founder’s history residing on the company’s Web site. By foregoing the typical book format, this company fulfilled two important goals: quick and cost-effective production and expanded readership. Just as with Internet art, viewers can access this publication anytime and anyplace, without incurring the extra cost to the company of having to physically ship books to outlying offices and constituents.

Historical exhibits are also beginning to employ interactive and digital formats, as several History Factory clients have requested interactive exhibit walls (I-walls) as opposed to the typical exhibit display cases. These viewer-directed exhibits still rely on historic materials to tell their stories, but instead of printing content on display cards, we use a flat computer screen for exhibit interpretation. The screen is mounted in front of the exhibit on a rail, and viewers can move the screen up and down the rail. New content appears onscreen as the monitor changes location on the rail. This new spin on exhibition display allows for a far more interactive viewer–exhibit relationship, as the interpretation relies on the viewer’s movement of the monitor. In addition, the use of a computer screen greatly increases the curator’s ability to use graphics and digital media, which is limited in a typical exhibit format.

The ever-expanding use of new digital formats not only increases the public’s ability to experience art and history, but also broadens our scope of work as a company. As we continue to utilize technological advancements to help our clients bring their stories greater life and wider audiences, we’ll also be expanding our own skills, knowledge, and definition of what our product is.


Vuk Ćosić, Duchamp, 2009	Vuk Ćosić, Venus, 2009
Ćosić’s interpretation of Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) and the Venus de Milo (late 2nd century BCE, attributed to Alexandros of Antioch) as airport signage.

Robin Lawrence, Associate, The History Factory

Recognizing History, in the Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:48:00 +0000

The New York Times recently reported on the search for Leonardo Da Vinci’s “greatest painting,” which is believed by some to be hidden inside a wall of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy’s town hall. Leading the search is Dr. Maurizio Seracini, an engineering professor from the University of California, San Diego.
The painting—The Battle of Anghiari—covered a wall in the Palazzo’s Hall of 500 until it vanished during a 1563 renovation, when Giorgio Vasari’s military frescoes of Medici victories took its place. But Seracini believes that Vasari left a clue to the painting’s whereabouts in one of his battle scenes, in which “he noticed a tiny flag with two words, ‘Cerca Trova’: essentially, seek and ye shall find.” Analysis of the reconstructed blueprint and documents from the 16th century showed that Da Vinci painted his masterpiece not only on that very wall, but also in the exact spot of Vasari’s “Cerca Trova” flag.

Seracini also discovered that Vasari had not painted directly over The Battle of Anghiari, but had instead “erected new brick walls to hold his murals, and had gone to special trouble to leave a small air gap behind one section of the bricks—the section in back of ‘Cerca Trova.’”

Seracini is still working on proving his theory, but let’s assume for a minute that he’s right and Vasari did make the effort to not only protect Da Vinci’s work but also leave evidence of it for future generations. What strikes me as particularly impressive about that notion is the foresight Vasari had in the moment to think about the value of the painting and what it might bring to others.

Sure, it may have been slightly obvious to Vasari that The Battle of Anghiari was worth protecting, as artists of the time had been known to study the painting for its unprecedented portrayal of anatomy and motion. Vasari could have predicted that something already being used as a teaching tool would certainly offer insight to future artists. But the fact that he took action to preserve that tool is worth noting . . . and imitating.

We often work on projects at The History Factory that document specific events in companies’ histories. After experiencing a particularly turbulent or meaningful episode, many companies see the value in recording the details of the incident, and commission The History Factory to interview key players, hopefully while the details are still fresh in their minds. Often, these companies take this act of preservation one step further and ask for a deliverable that retells their story. That’s the easy part.

What we sometimes struggle with is the lack of images to accompany the story, whether it takes the form of a manuscript, exhibit, or other deliverable. Because of the hectic nature of these types of events, the people involved are extremely focused on the here and now, and no one thinks to capture the experience in the moment. Vasari (may have) recognized the exponential importance Da Vinci’s painting could have to future artists could they stand before it and study his technique. In the same way, companies in the midst of a historic event can bring even more life to their story after the fact with visual imagery that not only accompanies but also invigorates the text.

Acknowledging the value of past experiences and taking steps to record and reuse them is a great first step. But businesses would do well to think about the significance of events as they happen and capture them then. Not all events are obviously significant, however. Sometimes the most mundane research process ultimately becomes the breakthrough moment that results in an exciting new discovery. So how do you know, in the moment, what’s worth recording?

It begins with being aware of your history and keeping it at the forefront of your daily work. What types of discoveries have proven important to your company and industry in the past? Are you working on something similar? Or, are you working on a process that has never before been attempted? That alone is worth preservation. Simply by starting to think along these lines, you’ll put you and your company in a better position to recognize history when you see it.

Corn Flakes in Context . . . and Milk

noreply@blogger.com (Scott McMurray) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:10:00 +0000

One of the most effective ways clients put their history to use is to put it in context. Milestones, from centennials to major mergers to game-changing innovations, are important in and of themselves. But they don’t occur in a vacuum. To fully leverage your heritage and make it resonate as broadly as possible, anchor events in the context of the times. Or, as Kellogg’s did when faced with putting Corn Flakes in context, the Times.

On the morning of October 5, 2009, readers of The New York Times were treated to a full-page ad on the back of the “A” section, at the bottom of which was an ad for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes reminiscent of the design used a century earlier, when the parent was still called the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Co. “For more than 100 years Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has been a great way to start the day,” the ad copy reads. Behind a cereal box bearing the original lettering stands “The Sweetheart of the Corn,” an idealized farm girl wearing an apron, with a bonnet hanging from her neck. She appears to have just stepped in from the fields where she gathered the corn stalks she holds in her arms.

Had the Kellogg’s crew stopped there, they would have had a very visually engaging toast to their brand’s enduring history. But they went one step further and put the ad in context by reproducing the front page of the Times from October 5, 1909. The reader can’t help but draw out the key messages that make heritage memorable—look at what’s changed, and look at what has endured (like the company and brand itself).

And what a day it was! The lead, right-hand column reproduced on the page celebrates the previous morning’s 20-mile flight by Wilbur Wright—“to whom the title King of the Air has frequently been applied”—up and down the Hudson River at a speed of 42 miles an hour! He “sailed with the grace of a seagull and strength of an eagle.” As objective as ever, the paper saw fit to note that an afternoon flight was cancelled after Wright’s plane blew an engine cylinder head. The middle column carries the headline “Statue of Purity for Times Square.” Despite the straight-laced writing style of the era, it is not hard to detect a certain tongue-in-cheek tone running through the story. Over in the left-hand, column the paper highlights gifts given to universities and educational institutes from wealthy families, including the Pratts, Sloanes, Vanderbilts, and Dukes.

Though very effective as a visual display ad, if the company were to fully leverage its heritage in a museum-like display or book format, we would recommend going one step further and interpreting the historical context.

The country was rapidly urbanizing 100 years ago—within a decade more than half of the population would live in cities for the first time ever. Corn flakes’ branding played a part in shaping America’s nostalgia for what many saw as a rapidly fading way of life. At the same time, the purity and health messages of Kellogg’s brand were in synch with the progressive wave taking hold in America which, in 1906 under President Theodore Roosevelt, led to the first nationwide food purity laws.

Other changes under way at the time resonate with today’s readers. The financial crash of 1907 was still a vivid memory in the minds of 1909 readers, and a small item on the 1909 front page noted that the Oklahoma banking commissioner was paying out deposits to customers of a failed bank in defiance of a federal court order. Changes set in motion by that crash fanned a wave of financial regulation leading to the creation of the Federal Reserve System and the ratification of a constitutional amendment enabling the creation of a personal income tax, both in 1913.

The wealthy of 1909 were feeling the heat. They gave to worthy causes in part to show that they could benefit society, even if speculation by some in their rank had nearly brought the country to the brink of disaster. The president of Trinity College noted a gift from Mr. B.N. Duke and declared that he “was the type of man who gave the country no concern as to what to do with its millionaires.” Good call, at least in Duke’s case. Trinity’s successor institution was named Duke University in recognition of the family’s financial support.

Much has changed since Americans first started eating Corn Flakes a century ago. That many of us still eat Corn Flakes is a testament to an enduring brand through changing times . . . and America’s desire for a quick, healthy breakfast. Please pass the milk.

Tradition or Superstition? It Doesn't Matter as Long as it Works

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce Weindruch) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:43:00 +0000

"If you believe you're playing well because you're getting laid, or because you're not getting laid, or because you wear women's underwear, then you ARE! And you should know that!" -- Crash Davis, Bull Durham

A few years back, I got in the habit of sending The History Factory’s promotional items to my son’s father-in-law, Judge Vic Fleming of Little Rock, Arkansas. An avid golfer, Vic was kind enough to tell me that, on those days when he wore The History Factory’s cap, his golf game was noticeably better. Encouraged by Vic’s positive feedback, I kept sending hats whenever we issued a new model. And lo and behold, Vic started winning tournaments. So, I sent him a matching golf shirt with The History Factory logo.

This past Labor Day (September 7), Vic was on the seventh tee at Camp Creek Golf Club in Seagrove Beach, Florida. He had just scored a triple bogey (seven) on the previous hole. (A truly superstitious person would have clearly been spooked by all those sevens).

According to the GPS on the golf cart, the pin was 160 yards away. Vic hit a 4-iron into the wind, and the shot felt so good he hollered, "Go in!" When they arrived at the green, one of his foursome walked up to the hole, looked in, and asked, "Vic. Are you playing a ball with a purple dot on it?" Indeed it was Vic’s Titleist Two that he had marked with a purple Sharpie. No one could find a ball mark on the green, so they concluded that it went in on the fly. Vic was wearing The History Factory hat and shirt.

Now, Judge Vic is an accomplished golfer who scored several holes-in-one well before he ever started sporting The History Factory’s promotional gear. Yet to hear him recount the story of his Camp Creek "ace," there is no question is his mind that the hat and shirt were a factor in his success.

Judge Vic Fleming’s hole-in-one got me thinking about the role of tradition in producing success. While I probably shouldn’t disregard the possibility that something in the actual design of The History Factory gear may be providing a comfort or performance factor that materially improves Vic’s game, a more plausible explanation would be the psychological effect—the sense of confidence—that Judge Vic has convinced himself the gear provides, thus enhancing his performance. The lesson learned in this story is, whether he fails or succeeds in a round of golf, Judge Vic celebrates his successes by recounting the winning tradition of The History Factory hat.

As your organization emerges from the Great Recession, it might be an ideal time to begin exploring and restoring the winning traditions that may have been shelved during the downturn, or perhaps forgotten long ago. Was there ever a bell-ringing when a sale was made? Did the cafeteria ever serve a special dessert when the company exceeded a quarterly profit target? Did the CEO put an apple on the desk of an employee he wanted to recognize for a job well done? As unlikely as they may sound, these are examples of celebrations I have observed in my years as a corporate historian.

At the same time, don’t be afraid to create new winning traditions. Rename a performance award after an employee whose actions clearly exemplify the desired outcomes for success. Create an oversized facsimile of the company’s first order form and have today’s salespeople add their names each time a new sale is made. Have the CEO take a lap around the building on a Harley Davidson whenever a department exceeds a yearly performance measure.

Winning begets winning. And celebrating wins with traditions is yet another tool to increase your organization’s chances for success. And if you don’t believe it, just ask Judge Vic.

Judge Vic Fleming celebrates his hole-in-one, sans hat.

The Value of an Archive—It's Money in the Bank

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:34:00 +0000

When I began working at The History Factory, Chris Juhasz, director of archival services, took me on a tour of the archives (as he does with all new employees). Walking through the warehouse filled with tall stacks of neatly organized boxes, each with a customized label noting the company whose “stuff” was inside, it was hard not to get a sense of the history in the room. Even though I couldn’t see what was in any of the boxes, I knew that the secrets of many of today’s leading companies were right there in front of me. That was the first time I began to understand the importance of archives, even though at the time, it was just a vague understanding.

About a year ago, I worked on my first corporate history book project for a company whose collection was housed in The History Factory’s archives. I had worked on other books, but this was the first one for which huge volumes of research were immediately accessible to me. As the manuscript began to take shape, the archives played an increasingly important role.

We could create the skeleton of the text, fill in a good anecdote here and there, from interview transcripts, but the meaty, personal stories came from the archives. Old memos, e-mails, newsletters, they all held the real history. The history that people would want to read about. The vague notion I had staring at the boxes in the warehouse on my first day at work had finally become a real understanding of what an archives could truly do for a company.

I thought I had it all figured out . . . until a few weeks ago over dinner with my husband. A commercial real estate broker, he had been working on a deal involving a single-tenant, standalone building occupied by a national retailer. The deal had progressed fairly well until that point: Buyer and seller had agreed to a price, and the buyer was in the final stages of due diligence.

During the environmental study, however, the buyer discovered evidence that gas tanks had at one time been buried underneath the property. While the assumption was made that the tanks were removed when the current tenant built a brand-new building on the property in the 1980s, no proof could be found.

Why was there no record? The tenant could only provide an estimate for the cost of removal—seen merely as circumstantial evidence. The company that owned the tanks was technically responsible for tracking their removal, but a warehouse fire had destroyed all of their records, leaving the current buyer with an assumption at best . . . and an environmental hazard at worst.

Aghhhhh! I threw up my hands. They need an archive! I smiled grimly with the understanding that an archives does more than add the meat to a corporate history (the importance of which should not be underestimated), it can make or break multimillion-dollar deals, and, in this case, take money out of my personal bank account.

Raw Materials

noreply@blogger.com (Adam N.) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Sometimes, one of our new clients will sheepishly admit that their organization hasn’t kept particularly good records of the last, say, 50 years of their existence. Forget about a formal archives program, that’s the least of their problems. They don’t have photos of employee events, their scrapbooks are missing, a great box of old newsreels and artifacts was lost in a fire, and all information on their founder is gone with the wind. All they have is a bunch of boring papers and some overly-technical data that most people won’t ever care about.

We say: "Hey, it’s a start!"

Aside from my work with The History Factory, in my post–day job hours I teach an undergraduate screenwriting class called "Screenwriting for Shoestring Budgets," which focuses on low-budget techniques. Whether the goal is a dynamic but inexpensive corporate communications program or a low-budget work of art, there are some wonderful examples I use to convince my students of how much can be done with just a little raw material.

Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace is an elucidating yet wildly entertaining documentary about the protests and trials surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Director Brett Morgen (see The Kid Stays in the Picture for another great example of raw materials in action) frames the story of counterculture dissent around the landmark Chicago Seven case of 1969. What’s amazing, and somewhat revolutionary, is that no archival film footage or other visual evidence exists for this case. The film uses plenty of archival news footage to show what’s going on outside the courtroom, but for the case itself all we have is the court transcript. A bunch of boring papers.

Using a hybrid mixture of animation (by Curious Pictures, Yowza Animation, and Asterisk), voice-acting (Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo, Roy Scheider, and the always brilliant Hank Azaria give life to the verbatim transcript), and archival audio (mostly taken from post-courtroom telephone calls from Abbie Hoffman to the WBAI radio station back East), the director creates a compelling and even seamless portrait of the particular zeitgeist of the time and its courtroom microcosm that displays judicial arrogance at its most theatrical.

The events themselves are stranger than fiction (Black Panther Party chairman Bobby Seale bound and gagged in the courtroom for requesting to defend himself), and the directorial decisions bring life to otherwise inert words on a page. What might have been lost to the ages is instead made modern, digestible, informative, and emotionally resonant for a wide-ranging audience. Add to the courtroom drama a liberal dose of striking archival film and unearthed news footage of events at the Democratic National Convention, and you’ve got quite an entertaining and intense movie.

Far more intense, and far less "entertaining," is William Gazecki’s Waco: The Rules of Engagement, an enlightening (and horrific) exposé of the events surrounding the 1993 stand-off between the powers-that-be and David Koresh’s Branch Davidians. Using a wide range of archival material—documents, letters, personal testimonies, audio files, news clips, and footage from the Congressional hearings that ensued—Waco comes across more as a nuanced legal argument than a film, yet the results are no less riveting (in fact, the film was nominated for an Academy Award).

If you don’t know the story, and only vaguely remember the 51-day stand-off between "cult leader" David Koresh and a veritable legion of ATF/FBI heavy artillery, see the events again with fresh eyes. While the film is certainly biased against the government agencies, what’s most striking is its use of highly technical infrared (IR) footage taken from surveillance planes. While the footage itself is crude, the guiding narration and explanation from IR experts uncovers the nuance in the pixels, making us want to watch short, highly technical video clips over and over again. The film contains some startlingly awful and gruesome images of the aftermath of Waco, almost making me wish they hadn’t archived quite so much.

Waco, perhaps, is a study in how crucial it can be to document important events, as well as how a wide variety of raw materials can, with the right storytelling, be transformed into…well, raw materials. Raw like intense, exposed, sensitive. It is also the ultimate argument on why it’s so important to own the elements of your own story. Because if you don’t tell your own story, someone else will use the same raw materials to tell it their own way.

Depending on the type of story you want to tell, a few carefully chosen documents, photos, audio files, and video clips can be wildly useful assets for organizations in their own corporate storytelling efforts. In the hands of skilled storytellers, entertainment, information, and emotional resonance can be transmitted from even the sparsest starting points.
　
　
　

Capturing the Past Before It's History

blog@historyfactory.com (The History Factory) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Every Friday at 8:30 a.m., National Public Radio features an excerpt of a story produced by the non-profit program StoryCorps. The subject matter of these stories varies greatly—from one man’s experience as a postal worker for fifty years to one woman’s efforts to desegregate her Southern community—but what they do share is that they are told by regular people, “average Joes” who could be sitting across from you in a coffee shop. I usually tune in on my drive to work, and regardless of the topic, I find myself so enthralled that I often sit in my car in our office parking lot just to hear the end.

The StoryCorps program has set out to capture America’s oral history by sending traveling MobileBooths across the country to record people’s conversations. But unlike many oral history settings, which often resemble formal interviews, StoryCorps opens its booths to anyone who might be passing by. All formality is dropped, as the recording device simply becomes the fly on the wall, listening to a conversation between two people who already know each other, such as a mother and son or two close friends.

Since 2003 StoryCorps has recorded more than 50,000 conversations, creating one of the largest oral history programs of its kind. The program has also collaborated with other groups such as the National Museum of African American History and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to collect specific memories surrounding their respective histories. These personal experiences will be archived and preserved at the Library of Congress as a testament to our civilization’s experiences and collective memory.

This program demonstrates a main facet of our work at The History Factory—capturing historical memory. In our view, one person’s story can provide the historical context—or perhaps even inspiration—for co-workers’ experiences, now and for generations to come. But what StoryCorps makes even more apparent is that those memories don’t have to come from the CEO or executive committee to inspire. Just as the “average Joe” has made me late for work more than once—even though I’d already beaten the traffic—the frontline staff working in call centers or in the field have important corporate memories to share. And there’s one more catch: this only works while the memory is still present. If oral histories are not preserved now, there will be no tradition to pass on and memories of the past become long lost history.

Robin Lawrence, Associate, The History Factory

New Rules Are Good Rules for the Wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:53:00 +0000

In the first quarter of this year, The History Factory took its first steps into the world of new media with our quarterly newsletter, It’s History! With the help of our new media–savvy intern, Blanca Myers, we investigated how the communication of historical information is changing. Today, thanks to the Internet, the public has greater access to historical information than ever before. But new media has done more than that. It has also given the general public the ability to record and publish history on its own, taking history out of the hands of historians and academics and into the public domain.

One of the forums to which the general public can post historical information is, of course, Wikipedia. I mention the site with caution, because here at The History Factory we often scorn it as a source. The information posted there, after all, can be unreliable and difficult to verify. I find Wikipedia most useful for the primary sources that are sometimes posted at the bottom of a particular entry.

But in theory, Wikipedia is a great idea. Not only could it potentially replace the cumbersome encyclopedias I used to pull off my parents’ bookshelves any time a report was due (in fact, some say the Wiki is already as accurate as the encyclopedia), but it also allows for contributions from a much wider range of sources. And while, admittedly, some of these sources have less-than-honorable intentions, others are true experts with good information to share. That’s why I was happily surprised to see the Associated Press’s recent article, “Wikipedia testing new method to curb false info.”

Now, the restrictions they have in mind are minimal—flagging certain pages to refuse new edits until they have been approved by an “experienced editor,” the criteria for which is simply a few-day waiting period—but they hold the promise of a better Wiki to come. My hope is that Wikipedia will continue along this road of increasing oversight without substantively restricting the public’s ability to contribute.

One of The History Factory’s first wary steps into new media was, in fact, this blog. Few of us had any blogging experience to speak of, but we pressed forward, learning as we went, and our blog has continued to grow, both in length and breadth. (It was a banner day when I learned how to upload a YouTube video.) Wikipedia, of course, is light years ahead of us in its understanding of new media, but if it follows the same philosophy—continuing to grow while adjusting and evolving as it goes—I see only good things to come.

GM's "Mark of Excellence" RIP (for now)

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce Weindruch) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:47:00 +0000

So it’s finally come to this. GM announced that they’re phasing out the “GM” corporate logo that made its appearance in the 1960s . . . most prominently displayed on the massive General Motors “Futurama” at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The company cleverly spun the decision as having concluded that consumers had a greater affinity for GM’s individual brands than the corporate name. That certainly plays a lot better than, “We don’t want folks to associate our individual brands with GM’s crummy reputation.”

In looking at the newspaper ads (perhaps another endangered species) that proudly proclaimed the debut of the GM “Mark of Excellence,” I was struck by the confidence and sense of purpose that GM displayed:

We will use it in the same spirit with which craftsman, through the centuries, have used a personal mark to identify the products of their skills: We are proud of the things we make, and we want our customers to be able to identify them easily and know that we stand behind them.

Within that bold statement is the heart of GM’s problem today. Phasing out the “Mark of Excellence” isn’t about consumer affinity. It’s about GM’s leadership acknowledging that the company is no longer “proud of the things we make.” I totally understand GM’s need to repent and reform. However, I would argue that removing the logo is a yet another superficial distraction at a time when the company must be focused on far more fundamental issues of quality which, if successful, will make GM people proud again.

If he really wants to do something meaningful, CEO Fritz Henderson should announce that GM is not phasing out the logo. Instead, it is voluntarily removing the “Mark of Excellence” until he and his fellow employees are once again proud of the products they make. The day when they put the GM logo back on their automobiles will be the aspiration of every GM employee … and the hope for anyone who cares about the healthy future of American business.

"Tell Me a Story"

noreply@blogger.com (Scott McMurray) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Sometimes you reach for a lead, and sometimes one gets dropped in your lap.

There I was, searching the news the last week in August. It was as if the “B” team had taken over the world. Everybody who was anybody, starting with President Obama and family, were on vacation. The second stringers running the show weren’t showing me the love. How was I going to make Sandy, our blog editor, happy with an entry based on lame coverage of lame news? Bill? Really? Is that the best we can do when it comes to hurricane nomenclature these days?

I packed it in and went downstairs to help with dinner. Fortunately, I turned on 60 Minutes. The entire program was devoted to the late, great Don Hewitt, creator of 60 Minutes, and some would say, the network news program itself. As much as I have criticized the show as representing the best in nursing home–ready correspondents in recent years, I can’t deny that 60 Minutes was a game-changer. Don Hewitt looked at the best in what TV news had to offer, the CBS Evening News, and decided that he could do something better. How many of us are willing to mess with success?

At several points during the broadcast, archival footage showed Hewitt being asked what it was that made him able to get the best out of all the egomaniacs who worked for him. What was his secret to success? “Simple,” he would say. Four simple words: “Tell Me a Story.”

The news and corporate histories aren’t all that different. As we tell clients, let’s focus on your story. Tell me your story. Don’t give me the PR spin or the PowerPoint deck you are showing securities analysts next week. Tell me a story about your company.

When we focus on the stories that define our companies or organizations, we cut through the clutter and get to the essence of what makes the entity click. We focus on history in the making. Consciously or not, we highlight that which is going to be remembered 10 or 100 years from now, not the moment that will help us slide through the next quarterly performance review.

Don Hewitt instinctively grasped the power of the story. The rest of us have to work at it. A great one is no longer walking among us. It is a moment worth marking, and remembering.

Keep Walking . . . but don't forget the peaks and valleys

noreply@blogger.com (Adam N.) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:54:00 +0000

I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch.

And though Johnnie Walker isn’t exactly my favorite brand of scotch, I’ve always admired its packaging, its branding, its advertising, its heritage. There’s a graceful simplicity to ordering a call brand by color. Johnnie Walker Red, Black, Green, Gold, and the elite Blue become a sort of mnemonic device for understanding the correlation to the whisky’s ascending age and quality. They’ve chosen to highlight their company heritage—the Victorian dandy with the top-hat walking across every bottle—and still use this longevity and tradition as a selling point for the character of their product. Again, in the world of scotch, age often correlates with quality.

And so it was no surprise, but no small thrill either, to learn of Johnnie Walker’s brand new six-minute advertisement, entitled “The Man Who Walked Around the World,” in which actor Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, The Full Monty, etc.), in his typical flippant fashion, narrates the history of the brand via a “walking” tour through the Scottish countryside. (Note: the ad occasionally gets pulled from YouTube for whatever reason, but you can easily find it with some deft Google-fu; below is a recent working link)

Johnie Walker/ walk
Uploaded by sylvestre2712. - Discover more animation and arts videos.

Directed by Jamie Rafn, produced by BBH London, and already being touted by some as the “best ad of the year,” the short film gives legs (nyuk nyuk nyuk) to the “boring brand-history page from a Web site.” While some are calling it a masterpiece—and indeed, it is both a technical marvel (the acting and production values are excellent, the visual props and timing are pitch perfect, and the whole shebang takes place in one long take (the focus-puller probably deserves a special Oscar)) and a welcome change from the dry corporate histories we’re used to seeing, I believe the BBH spot misses a key ingredient or two for successful storytelling.

Not that it’s a reputable source, exactly, but here’s a bit of market research: in the myriad of YouTube comments that have sprung up since the video was posted about a week ago, there are many who love the mini-movie but plenty of others (like “janeejane”) posting valid critiques like:

“beautiful but why should I care about theÒ history of the brand - was bored after a minute or so- quick scrolled through to see if anything different happened.”

Indeed. Why should we care about the history of a brand? Perhaps in the viral video age, we’re only willing to spend six minutes watching a YouTube clip if it promises a hint of sex, violence, embarrassment, hilarity, special effects, or a three-year-old girl named Pearl screaming epithets to a weepy Will Farrell. But I think janeejane speaks to something slightly deeper—namely, the lack of a true narrative arc within the JW commercial.

In his walk, Carlyle begins with the founding roots of the brand and then chronicles Johnnie Walker’s rise from a “Victorian farm-born grocer” to the international powerhouse it is today. You’d think there were countless troubles and obstacles to overcome along the way . . . but the narrated history makes little mention of these, instead choosing to tell the story as a steady and meteoric upward rise from humble beginnings to wild success, with nary a stumbling block in between.

And this, I believe, is why janeejane doesn’t care about the history of the brand. Because there’s no conflict, no excitement, no challenges to overcome. Especially amid a mantra—“Keep Walking”—that alludes to the long, arduous task of ever moving forward regardless of any obstacles, the choice not to include the essential challenges in Johnnie Walker’s path is nothing short of a sorely missed opportunity in corporate storytelling.

Among all the carefully timed visual cues and silly props, why not give Robert Carlyle some wall to scale, some barrier to knock down? Heck, the whole conceit of “walking” would have lent itself nicely to the idea of climbing up a peaked hill, down a shadowed valley, or through terrain as rocky as the Scottish countryside. It probably would have been more interesting to watch as well.

Sure, there’s value in showing the unerring consistency of a brand, as displayed through the actor’s unbroken strides. But for my money, the surreal JW commercial starring Harvey Keitel (below), the famed “Android” campaign, or even the marginally more exciting animated video on Johnnie Walker’s corporate history page, is a more telling tribute to the brand’s place in our hearts, precisely because it highlights points of conflict and challenges overcome.

When we work with clients to help them tell their own central stories, we ask them to be brave and willing to address their challenges and danger moments, as well as their resounding successes. In good movies, good commercials, and good stories, it’s these moments of conflict that resonate with an audience and compel us to stick around to see how the story ends. In every good “walk” through a corporate history, we strive to show the company’s perseverance amid the whole trail—peaks and valleys alike—which only serves to heighten the unmistakable correlation between a company’s age and its quality.

Retain Your Employees, Even After They're Gone

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Kolman Laycox) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:59:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking lately about employee turnover, which is typically viewed as negative—a sign that something unpleasant about the workplace is driving people to seek better opportunities, and seek them quickly. And in many organizations, the answer is really that simple. They’re just not good places to work. But I’ve started to realize that there is an alternative explanation: some companies are simply excellent training grounds. They offer great experience in a variety of mediums and aren’t afraid to give newer and younger employees added responsibilities. The result? In a short span of time, employees who are ready to test out their newfound skills . . . often in a new environment.

Companies usually lament the loss of these ambitious employees. The business has made an investment, after all, and now some other organization is getting the return. But perhaps all is not lost. I recently read a client interview in which a senior executive described this very phenomenon as a positive aspect of his company’s culture. He noted that many of the employees who left the company after taking advantage of its extensive training an development opportunities went on to help develop important business connections between their new and old employers.

Part of what may foster these connections is culture. A strong organizational culture will stay with employees even as they physically move on. It remains an important part of their individual heritage—and, as an early episode in their personal histories, the foundation for additional values and goals. As these employees layer new corporate values into their own narratives, they are, perhaps, in the best position to identify similarities between their past and present organizations, and thus create mutually beneficial relationships based on very solid footing—compatible cultures.

There’s a lot to be said for longevity, especially in today’s environment. And much would be lost if companies failed to retain solid people over multiple decades—people with long memories of the company’s past and a vested interest in its culture. But the next time an employee leaves your company in good standing, don’t think about what you’re losing, think about what you might gain.

Searching the Past for Fun and Profit

blog@historyfactory.com (The History Factory) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:24:00 +0000

History Factory employees spend a lot of time reading newspapers. And we’re not talking about today’s headlines, though we read those, too. When it comes to trying to unearth the history of a business—both what happened, and how people at the time reacted to it—our first stop may be the corporate archives, but our second is historic newspapers.

Many newspaper companies helpfully make their own back issues available online. The New York Times archive goes back to 1851—the founding date of the newspaper—and, with the exception of 1922–1987, is free to read. The Washington Post archive likewise begins with the first issue in 1877, although its fee structure is less generous. But for smaller, local papers, the search becomes a little more complex. The information is out there—in the Library of Congress’s free Historic American Newspapers database, Proquest, and a host of other commercial databases accessible by subscription—but finding which database supplies the paper you need for the years you need it can be a needle-in-a-haystack quest.

Enter Google. Its News Archive service, launched in 2006, aims to make it easy to search a multitude of historic newspaper sources with a single click. In 2008, Google began enhancing News Archive with its own historic newspaper digitization program, bringing previously inaccessible papers to the Web. On Monday, that initiative took a giant leap forward. According to Google’s blog, “We've recently updated our index, quadrupling the number of articles.”

Those are words to warm a historian’s heart—especially since Google makes its content available for free. News Archive is about to become a starting point for History Factory research into our clients’ past trials and triumphs.

Slay the Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Scott McMurray) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:37:00 +0000

When we work with clients to tell their stories, we inevitably get to the issue of this or that, ahem, “setback.” No company or organization lasts for long without experiencing a few of these. An acquisition that didn’t work out, a CEO shown the door, a new product flop, unexpected losses.

The inclination of many C-suite occupants is to avoid the bad news and accentuate the positive. That’s perfectly understandable, and tends to be reflected in most corporate press releases (unless SEC or other disclosure obligations come into play). But telling your organization’s story is different from writing a press release. Very different.

No story, not even a bedtime story, progresses from initial promise, to one success building upon the next, to a happy conclusion. In fact, it is often the setbacks and challenges en route that forge a company’s character. How these obstacles are overcome shapes the next phase in an organization’s growth and development. And how their story is told shapes how your organization is perceived, inside and out.

It is the greatest challenges that propel an organization the farthest ahead in true slingshot fashion. In a recent New York Times interview, Cisco CEO John Chambers recalled that General Electric legend Jack Welch advised him in the late 1990s—when Cisco had one of the highest market capitalizations in the world—that Cisco would not be a truly great company until it confronted a “near-death” experience. The collapse of the dot.com economy shortly thereafter had Cisco flat on its back and shareholders calling for Chambers’s head.

While many rivals failed or were forced into mergers, Chambers and his team persevered and repositioned Cisco as the leader in its field. Welch called back in 2003 and told Chambers, “John, you now have a great company.” Chambers understands that the life-threatening setback, and how the company responded, is a key element of the Cisco story, and one that motivates employees and clients alike.

A West Coast health care consortium contacted The History Factory a few years ago, anxious to have us help tell their story. Though the roots of the organization stretched well back into the 19th century, it was clear to us that the modern, highly regarded system of today actually had its origin in a more recent, and controversial, series of events. The hospital on which the system was based was nearly forced to close as a result of a late-1970s scandal involving an anesthesiologist assaulting female patients on the operating table. Even worse, key doctors had tried to cover up the scandal. The ensuing house-cleaning, much of it aired in the media, was painful for all concerned, but clearly laid the organizational foundation for the healthcare system that would prosper over the following decades.

The client was more than a little surprised when our proposed story outline began with a prologue that jumped right into the story at mid-scandal. Yet they realized 1) that the event had been so widely covered in the media it would have to be in their story somewhere, 2) that the modern organization rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of the scandal, and 3) that by leading with the scandal they were taking control of their own story, putting the event in the context of the institution’s success in responding to the challenge, and then laying the groundwork for the further successes, as well as challenges, that followed.

“Happily ever after” wraps up many a child’s nighttime narrative. But that isn’t the part that most of us remember when it comes to the tales that shaped our capacity to wonder. The same goes for your story. Stakeholders will identify with, and remember, your quest and the challenges you surmounted long after they’ve forgotten whether year-ago quarterly sales were above or below trend.

The past nine months have been a nightmare for most organizations. Now is the time to put this period in the context of your story. No one knows for sure how this will end, but your teams are already telling tales of overcoming challenges and persevering. Tap into that storytelling and use it to your advantage to motivate the rank and file and introduce clients to you, 2.0. Take up the challenge, slay the dragon.

Big Pharma Should Respect Biotech’s "Tennis Shoes"

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce Weindruch) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:57:00 +0000

Way back in the 1991, George Rathmann contributed a chapter to Biotechnology—The Science and the Business, one of the first scholarly examinations of an industry that traced its roots back to 1971 with the founding of Cetus Corporation as a “biological engineering” company. The publication was timely, as the industry was figuratively on the cusp of leaving adolescence for adulthood.

There was probably no more knowledgeable person in the world to write the chapter on biotech start-ups. George Rathmann—who Forbes described as the “Bill Gates of Biotechnology”—had just retired as chairman of another biotech pioneer, Amgen, where he had served as CEO from the company’s inception in 1980 until 1990. When considering a range of inevitabilities for biotech, Rathmann addressed the topic of hostile takeovers:

Without question, hostile takeovers have been largely prevented by stock prices (market valuations) which fully reflect the intangible assets of scientists, the management and the dynamics of small biotechnology companies. Hostile investors could hardly expect to realize return on their investment in the absence of assets ‘who go home each night in tennis shoes.’

We fast-forward nearly another two decades from George Rathmann’s original observation, and today we find that the hostile takeovers have, indeed, become a reality. The pioneering biotech companies have been hostilely acquired—or are being stalked—by larger pharmaceutical companies and activist investors. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche acquired Genentech (founded in 1976) for $46.8 billion. Another Swiss pharmaceutical colossus, Novartis, acquired Chiron (founded in 1981 and successor organization of Cetus). Legendary investor Carl Icahn has waged several proxy fights against Biogen Idec (founded in 1978). Obviously, life-changing discoveries of drugs like Avastin, Avonex, and Rituxan put some very tangible assets on biotech’s balance sheets.

So whatever happened to the “tennis shoes”? Well, according to Steven Burrill, chief executive officer of a San Francisco life sciences venture firm, they’re still on the feet of those biotech scientists. And his message to Big Pharma: respect the cultures of those biotech companies you’ve purchased, because tennis shoes are made for walking … especially when spurred by hefty profits from the sale of stock and stock options. As Burrill observed in the San Francisco Chronicle, “The assets of Genentech walk out in tennis shoes every night, and you hope they walk back in, in the morning.”

Having worked with a number of pioneering biotech companies over the years, I think it’s wonderfully refreshing to see that, despite the fact that many of biotech’s visionary founders have been replaced by “suits,” and the pressure to “hit the numbers” has become as intense in biotech as in Big Pharma, the heart and soul of the companies—its research scientists—are as idiosyncratic and as valuable as ever. These are the folks who are not only passionate about their science, but they are also nobly idealistic about the benefits they can bring to humankind. They’re also the same group who relish Friday afternoon beer bashes, locking colleagues in storage closets, and wearing goofy costumes to work. They celebrate both brilliant science and low badge numbers. They embody what true corporate culture is all about.

When Novartis launched its takeover of Chiron in late 2005, the company’s leadership called in The History Factory to ask how quickly we could capture and publish the history of Chiron. Having just witnessed Chiron’s entire workforce band together to successfully overcome the corporate near-death experience of a major product recall, they wanted to take one shot at documenting Chiron’s remarkably resilient history and culture before it was lost forever. I’m proud to say that, working against the countdown of the takeover clock, we were able to produce the rich story of the people of Chiron. And to Novartis’s credit, the book was published and distributed after they had taken over.

The recent spate of biotech takeovers is probably only the beginning. As the economy improves, and equity markets provide new currency for acquisitions, we’ll no doubt see more combinations. When representatives of pharmaceutical companies tour the labs of their newly acquired biotech firms, I suggest they take note of the tennis shoes in order to gauge the vitality of their property. And to all the research scientists and lab techs out there: just keep on truckin’.