Playable Traits
We have a working theory at Dysrupt that when two disparate domains of knowledge share a commonality, it is worth investigating. The pairing should be natural and not succumb to a procrustean bed issue. When natural, often time it reveals deep truth.
Here is a warm up example that applies to finding success in stand up, tech start-ups, or the NFL - there is a where to success. If you want to be great at stand up, Boise, Idaho is not the place to do open mics... for that matter Boise, Idaho is not the place to find success with a tech start-up idea or the NFL either 😁
Here is our main example. As an added benefit let us save you 2 levels of study and $1,500 in class fees for an insight only delivered in Level 3 of a Groundlings' Improv class - a character should only have at most two playable traits. As Will Ferrel was a graduate of Groundlings, you can pick anyone of his characters to see this in action. For example, Anchorman's Ron Burgandy has two playable traits: narcissism and incompetence.
Notice that both of these traits inform how to play the character. Ron Burgandy has numerous non-playable traits that are distilled from these two choices. The audience can always understand throughout the movie that his character's choices come from these playable traits.
It so happens that every great brand has at most two playable traits. The great ones may just have one. Companies spend years and millions building these traits into the hearts and minds of consumers.
Here are some quick examples:
- Amazon - Selection
- PayPal - Trust
- Apple - Design
- Coke - Happy
- Volvo - Safety
Why the commonality between building a character for Improv and business? Because the art of improv is making the audience remember what is not explicitly stated. No one wears costumes and the options for what may happen are infinite. The audience needs simplicity to follow along. Ultimately, the jokes only land if an audience can track why someone is taking a specific action.
Similarly, a person is bombarded with complexity constantly. Forbes reports that the average person is exposed to 4,000 - 10,000 ads per day! The brands that can cut through the noise by adhering to their playable traits get remembered. Not only that but it can do wonders for a company's internal organization. People at Volvo know that any marketing ideas ultimately need to ladder up to the idea of safety.
At Dysrupt, we haven't spent millions on our brand but we landed on "Dysrupt" because we wanted to disrupt the agency space by being expert-driven. Expert is a fairly common word with many potential meanings but we defined "experts" explicitly as:
- People who have a deep knowledge in the space (e.g. know the real formula for Facebook's auction... hint it's not second price)
- Are able to foresee change in the market and for a client's business
- And most importantly can implement that change (e.g. turn theory into practice)
Ultimately all of these extra qualities derive from our playable trait of expert-driven. And the way we have evolved the business, the people we hire, the technology we're developing, and the way we engage with clients all ladders back into this playable trait.
What are your brand's one or two playable traits? Is this known within your organization or is there a lack of clarity?
*Fun fact, Groundlings has most likely produced at least one of your favorite comedic actors
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Thanks to Spencer Imbrock for sharing their work on Unsplash