You have to figure out your own story and your company’s story in a way that catches people’s attention and makes it interesting. You have to figure out how to tell the story in a way that is memorable - or sticky - and gets your audience asking for more.

You may have noticed a small change. A new logo in our email signatures.

If you've visited the Messaginglab site, you'll have seen an update.

Let me share why we made those changes.

I sat down with Britni to learn more about K18’s marketing efforts and the lessons emerging biotech companies could take from their storytelling success.

While we are interested in the work life-science companies do and their contribution to making the world better, the truth is we need to go deeper than products or the latest series funding.

Last month, Boston Consulting Group and Hello Tomorrow released a report called Nature Co-Design: A Revolution in the Making, exploring the impact of harnessing nature's design principles, applying deep tech's Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle, and its economic implications.

I have to admit, I'd been writing a newsletter based on Rita Gunter McGrath's book SEEING AROUND CORNERS. McGrath is one of my favorite business strategist. Her work is practical and highly actionable.

My piece involved some sci-fi systems thinking and speculation about our post COVID-19 world. Ultimately I was unsatisfied with the draft, So, I put it aside and decided to write something else. 

You would probably guess that it's easy to tell a story when times are good. The biggest challenge then is that everyone else is telling a good story. When there's a crisis and the world's been turned upside down, that's when leaders and their stories matter most. Here's why:

Everything is different. A month ago, I was helping plan an April 30th consumer biotechnology conference. Two weeks ago, my co-organizers and I were discussing whether or not we should cancel the conference because of COVID19 news. Seven days ago, the pandemic was declared. New York City asked us to stay home. The U.S. declared a national emergency.

In my last post, I wrote about brands and brand building. This week, THE ECONOMIST ran a story on brand building titled “It Has Never Been Easier to Launch a New Brand.” The article explains why you’re seeing so many new brands -- Harry’s, Allbirds, Casper, among them.

Why is it easier to launch a new brand?

Because it’s never been easier to identify, target, build, and connect with an audience. The thing that differentiates these new brands from the old incumbents is their story.

In 2019, we helped redesign and launch two new brands.

Building those brands was a special treat for us since it required using the following skills: research, assembling a team of designers, packaging specialists, and specialty printers. It also required leadership skills.

Both brands are on the market and are doing well. Ask us about them.

If you are building a brand, you may need to start from the beginning.

The artists at the Cabaret Voltaire supported and encouraged each other. Dada spread around the world and its influence is still felt today.

The Dadaists worked in visual, literary and sound media. They painted, wrote, photographed, performed. They also made chance encounters (meetings, conversations, collaborations) a part of their creativity.

In 1916, a group of exiled European artists gathered in Zurich and started an art movement that would change the world.

Unhappy with the violence and the horror of the first World War, the artists rejected logic, reason, and modern capitalism.

Birthed at the Cabaret Voltaire, the movement was called Dada.

Imagine you had written an article or blog post, or had recorded a podcast or video that answered the most pressing issue in your industry.

Your audience would read, listen, or watch, and would understand your solution.

Their questions would be answered.

The response we got from that article is rare. But the article itself worked because it was really, really good.

What are the elements that made the piece so successful?

Let me tell you so that you can think about this the next time you’re creating a piece of content for your audience. It was...

So, clearly, you are all aware that I’m on an obsessive crusade to help scientist-entrepreneurs tell great biotech and synbio stories, convince investors to back you, build great companies, disrupt the way things have been done, and make the world a better place.