Why That Worked #37: Slate—Why This $20K Truck Is Getting All the Attention (RE-RELEASE)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Marketing Made Simple – Why That Worked #37: Slate—Why This $20K Truck Is Getting All the Attention

Date: September 17, 2025
Hosts: Donald Miller & Kyle Reed
Podcast Feed: Marketing Made Simple (RE-RELEASE of Why That Worked)
Topic: Slate – The $20K Truck Disrupting the Electric Vehicle Market

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Main Theme

This episode dissects how Slate, a budget-friendly electric truck startup, broke through the crowded EV market with a standout launch video and shrewd messaging. The hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed, unpack the strategy behind Slate’s campaign, illuminating lessons for marketers who want to make their brand impossible to ignore—even against stiff competition.

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Episode Breakdown

1. The Problem of Standing Out in Crowded Markets

• Opening Reflection [01:24–05:24]

  • Kyle Reed poses the central challenge: "What do you do when you run a business and it feels like you have thousands of competitors and you are trying to stand out?"
  • Donald Miller argues business owners often make the mistake of obsessing over competitors, assuming customers are as fixated:

    "You're assuming your customer is also thinking about the competition. They're not. I guarantee you they're not." [02:26]

  • Key Insight: Instead of “competitor-focused,” businesses should be customer-focused. Miller cites Amazon’s Jeff Bezos:

    “We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused.” [02:54]

• Personal Anecdote: Miller explains his own approach:

  "I've been in business for 10 years... I really believe I have never once looked at a competitor's website." [03:12]

2. Introducing the Slate Truck and Launch Video Analysis

• Segment Transition [05:24–06:20]

  • Kyle and Don tee up the viral launch video from Slate, a newcomer in the EV market, contrasting it with iconic launches like Dollar Shave Club.

• Slate Video Excerpt [06:20–07:40]

  • Quirky narration, playful tone, and emphasis on affordability and customization.
  • Tagline:

    “Slate: We built it, you make it.” [07:38]

• Immediate Host Reaction:

  • Donald Miller:

    "I love it. I think that's one of the best product launch videos since...Dollar Shave Club." [07:40]

3. What Made Slate’s Marketing Work?

Positioning: Against Expensive, Over-Engineered Cars

• Defining the ‘Villain’ [08:22–09:02]

  • Slate’s message positions expensive, complex cars as the problem:

    “Chris thinks new cars are too expensive and too complicated.” [06:35, from video]

• Why Declare a Villain?

  • Miller:

    "It's very important when you launch something that it is the solution to a problem and you have to state the problem." [08:48]

The Three Controlling Ideas: Cheap, Fun, Yours

• Messaging Breakdown [09:03–10:43]

  • Cheap: Emphasized through repeated price drops and calling out unnecessary features.
  • Fun: Compared to toys, playful music, lighthearted tone.
  • Yours: Customizability—“Mr. Potato Head” analogy, you can accessorize to make it yours.

• Notable Quote:

  “Cheap. Fun. Yours. This car is cheap. This car is a toy. It's fun, and it's yours.” – Donald Miller [09:06]

  "It's like a Mr. Potato Head. Wait, maybe there's a better analogy." – Video script [07:17]

Visuals, Tone & Authenticity

• Production Choices [11:15–11:39]

  • Purposefully humble, informal look—CEO sitting at a folding table in a warehouse.
  • Use of everyday clothing, alternating voices for inclusivity and interest.

• Tactical Correction for Emphasis

  • Scripted “mistake” about price triggers a correction so the message hits twice:

    "That was a strategic, scripted correction to hit the price twice in five seconds." – Donald Miller [12:43]

Answering the ‘Cheap Means Cheap’ Objection

• Reliability Framed Through Customization [13:09–14:28]
  • By removing extras, the truck is inexpensive—but you can add features as desired.
  • Showcases options to reinforce value, not skimpiness:

    "It's not cheap because it's cheap. It's cheap because we're taking out all these unnecessary bloated features." – Kyle Reed [14:16]

The Power of Humor & Simplicity

• Discount Brands Use Humor [11:05–11:16]

  • Emphasize approachability and affordability by making the campaign fun and lighthearted.

• Absurd Example for Emphasis

  "Automatic cup holders is a great strawman. They're not just talking about automatic cup holders..." – Miller [14:30]

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4. The Discipline of Focused Messaging

• Ignoring Temptations of Technical Features [20:37–24:46]

  • Slate deliberately omits details on range, horsepower, charging—despite being standard in industry communication.
  • Miller explains why:

    "If the controlling idea is about this is a fun, low-priced vehicle, you can't add anything to it." [21:34]
    “You can’t hand the customer too many slippery bowling balls... people can’t hold any more than three.” [23:22]

• Supporting Questions Handled Elsewhere

  • Info on range, tech specs reserved for the website, not the viral video.
  • The video’s job: deliver “cheap, fun, yours”—nothing more.

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5. Application: How to Stand Out In Your Niche

• Find What Customers Hate in Your Market [25:01–25:41]

  • Frame your brand as the solution to the prevailing frustration.
  • Example: Pool cleaning company that proactively keeps pools clean instead of waiting for a call.

• Say What Others Aren’t Saying [26:28–27:47]

  • The true differentiator isn’t the feature—it's who owns the message about it.
  • “If every pool company is not saying it, then you have a chance to move into that market.” – Donald Miller [26:48]

• Be Against a Problem, Not Just 'Cheap' [27:47–28:28]

  • Don’t simply claim “we’re cheap”:

    “The controlling idea was we are against expensive things...They don't use the word cheap.” [28:06–28:25]

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6. The Triangle of Curiosity, Enlightenment, and Commitment

• Messaging Campaign Structure [28:41–31:27]

  • Don Miller introduces the metaphor of house steps:
    • Steps: Curiosity (“What are you solving for me?”)
    • Porch: Enlightenment (details, differentiation, due diligence)
    • Door: Commitment (purchase, action)
  • Example in Slate campaign:
    • Curiosity: Against expensive cars.
    • Enlightenment: How they remove unnecessary features, customized fun.
    • Commitment: Reserve for $50, enter buying journey.

• Messaging Assets for Each Stage

  • From tagline to pitch decks, each piece has a unique-purpose and phase.

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7. The Importance of Owning the Narrative

• Even If Competitors Offer the Same, You Can “Own” the Concept [33:45–34:48]

  • If you articulate a differentiator, you win mindshare—even if your rivals quietly do the same.

  "The way that you word something allows you to own that. Even if the competition is doing the same thing..." [34:33]

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8. Final Reflections & Takeaways

• Ignore the Competition; Listen to the Market [35:01–35:50]

  • Find and verbally address the pain points.
  • If you don’t explicitly say it, your customers may never know.

• Don’t Over-Explain or List Features. Show, Don’t Tell. [36:00–36:22]

  • Don:

    "An amateur car would have said fully customizable. But a pro says you can turn it into a dune buggy." [36:13]

• Enthusiastic Praise for Slate’s Approach

  • Both hosts agree Slate’s website and rollout were extremely well executed.

  "Slate, great job. If you want to send us one, we’ll use it." – Kyle Reed [36:22]
  "Probably going to buy one anyway." – Donald Miller [36:46]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "You're assuming your customer is also thinking about the competition. They're not. I guarantee you they're not." – Donald Miller [02:26]
• "We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused." – Donald Miller [02:54]
• "It's like a Mr. Potato Head. Wait, maybe there's a better analogy." – Slate ad [07:17]
• "Cheap. Fun. Yours. This car is cheap. This car is a toy. It's fun, and it's yours." – Donald Miller [09:06]
• "That was a strategic, scripted correction to hit the price twice in five seconds." – Donald Miller [12:43]
• "You can't hand the customer too many slippery bowling balls." – Donald Miller [23:22]
• "If every pool company is not saying it, then you have a chance to move into that market.” – Donald Miller [26:48]
• "An amateur car would have said fully customizable. But a pro says you can turn it into a dune buggy." – Donald Miller [36:13]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:24] – The problem with focusing on competitors
• [06:20] – Slate’s viral launch video (audio excerpt)
• [08:00] – Comparing Slate’s messaging to Dollar Shave Club
• [09:03] – Brief on the three messaging pillars: Cheap, Fun, Yours
• [12:45] – How Slate uses scripted correction to drive home price point
• [14:30] – Addressing 'cheap' concerns through customization
• [20:37] – “Going first”: Why Slate ignores typical EV messaging (range, torque, etc.)
• [23:22] – The bowling ball analogy for holding messaging focus
• [28:41] – The triangle: curiosity, enlightenment, commitment in messaging
• [33:30] – Even the name “Slate” embodies the brand message
• [36:13] – Real examples beat fuzzy claims (“you can turn it into a dune buggy”)

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Key Takeaways for Marketers

• Focus on the Problem You Solve; Don’t Just Chase Competitors.
• Pick a Villain: Define what you’re against, and build around that.
• Boil Down Ideas: Hit no more than three key points in your core messaging.
• Say It, Own It: If you’re different, or do something better—DON’T assume customers know; explicitly say it.
• Messaging Requires Discipline: Keep the controlling idea for each piece of content—don't cram in everything.
• Translate Features Into Stories: Real-life examples (“make it a dune buggy”) stick better than abstractions (“fully customizable”).

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Slate’s standout marketing didn’t rely on outspending rivals or inventing a wild new feature—it came down to bold, clear, disciplined messaging focused on what customers care about: simplicity, fun, and affordability. That’s why it worked.

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Transcript

[A]

Hey, hero makers, it's podcast producer Bobby Richards. I'm jumping in to share with you a new episode of our brand new podcast, why that worked, presented by StoryBrand AI with Donald Miller back in the host seat. Now, since we launched Marketing Made simple, we've been so grateful to have everybody tune in each week to learn how to make your marketing easy and make it work. Which is exactly why we're sharing new episodes of the why that Worked podcast here. In the old Marketing Made simple feed, each episode of the new show is going to deliver actionable insights and key takeaways that are all designed so you can implement them to help make whatever you're working on work. If you want to catch new episodes early, you can watch or listen every Monday. To watch the show, just go subscribe to the StoryBrand YouTube channel. And to listen, go follow why that worked presented by StoryBrand AI wherever you enjoy your podcasts. All right, that's it from me. So grateful you're here and enjoy this week's episode of why that worked presented by StoryBrand AI.

[B]

Foreign.

[A]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends, or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

[B]

Don, what do you do when you run a business and it feels like you have thousands of competitors and you are trying to stand out? For instance, like the electrical car industry, there seems to be like one coming out every day. Not just new brands, but existing brands who are releasing new models or new options. How do you stand out in what feels like a crowded market?

[C]

I get that question from business owners all the time. They say, well, our competitors do that. Or they're sort of obsessed with our with their competitors and was just at a big office furniture conference like Steelcase and Herman Miller and those guys, and that came up over and over with these furniture dealers. Well, our competitors do that. Our competitors do this, our competitors do that. The reality is, if you're in a business, you're thinking a lot about the competition. And here's the problem that you're making. You're assuming your customer is also thinking about the competition. They're not. I guarantee you they're not. And so you're spending your time looking the wrong direction. You're looking at what your competition is doing, what they're saying the products that they're producing. What you really should be doing is ignoring the competition. And just look at the market. And actually, Jeff Bezos says this all the time about Amazon. We are not competitor focused. We are customer focused. So that's lesson number one, is because if you start getting nervous about your competition and you start losing sleep over them. And listen, I've been tempted, too. I mean, there are people who kind of do what we do. And I'm like, well, they're doing this, they're doing that. And I'm like, wait a second. This is a giant market. And yes, they may move into my market, but they're gonna move in a lot more if I'm not looking at customers and responding to customers and just serving customers as best as I can. So I'm being honest when I say this. I've been in business for 10 years, more in the current line of business. I really believe. I have never once looked at a competitor's website.

[B]

Really?

[C]

No. I cannot remember ever looking at a competitor's website and trying to figure out what they're doing.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

I don't think it's ever happened.

[B]

Really?

[C]

No. And I would say in our market, the sort of message, clarification and coaching, and it's not a big industry, but there are lots of thought leaders who've written books. We dominate. We're number one. And it didn't come by trying to outsmart the competition. It came by always looking at customers, talking to customers, figuring out what they want, figuring out how to sell to them better. I don't think that was intentional. I just don't like. I like competing with myself. I don't like competing with others. I don't. I don't like trying to beat you. I like trying to beat myself in the sense that I can do this better. This could have been done better. I could do this with more excellence. And I think for whatever reason that served me, I remember I used to play geek here. A nerd. Me and my buddy Tony would play Frisbee golf at Laurelhurst park five days a week. And it was like, throw this Frisbee and try to hit that tree, and the sidewalk is water. It was just geek nerd stuff. He was kind of a writer thinker, too. And so we would just meet at the park, play a quick round, and go back to our coffee shops. And he was athletic, and he had such long arms. He would just. I never beat him. Not once. And I just had to finally go, we'll just beat your Play against yourself. Like, just that's it. And I really enjoyed always talking to Tony. Very smart guy and playing. And I just got used to getting beat, I think. And so the only way I could make a game out of it was like, hey, you know, beat yourself. Yeah. You were six under. That's your record. You know, and then that kind of made it fun. I think that's the attitude that you want to have in business. If you have competitors, you just don't think much about them.

[B]

Yeah, that's a great segue for us to talk about something you sent me, Don, on Instagram not too long ago of a company who's trying to break into the electric car industry.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is the most crowded marketplace also with tons of competition. You sent me this company called Slate and you sent me their, like, launch video. It's very well made. I actually.

[C]

I want one.

[B]

It's really cool. I want one. I need a truck, so I'd like one myself. And I have electric car. Should I play this first for our audience so they can hear it? It's a little long.

[C]

Let's explain what it is. Yeah, it's a launch video that I saw on Instagram. I'm sure it went YouTube and all that kind of stuff. It's down and dirty. It seems like it's inexpensively produced. There's a lot going on that's really good and a lot of lessons that anybody listening can use to launch a product. So that's.

[B]

Let's frame listen for that.

[C]

Worth listening to and then let's analyze it.

[B]

Okay, great. Let me play it for our audience.

[D]

This is a slate. This slate seats two and can carry sheets of plywood. This slate seats five and can fit tons in the frunk. It's actually the same Slate. This is narrated by me, Jeff. I work at Slate and just happen to have a great voice.

[C]

He really does.

[D]

That's Chris, our CEO. Chris thinks new cars are too expensive and too complicated.

[C]

A slate cost in the mid-20s. Brand new.

[D]

One sec, Chris. Actually under 20 after current incentives. Go ahead, Chris.

[C]

We check out everything that wasn't a car.

[D]

That means no fancy screen, colored lighting, cooled seats, self driving, self parking, automatic cup holders. Yes, that's a thing.

[C]

But you can add accessories like little.

[D]

Screen, big screen, SUV kit, fastback kit, open air kit, one speaker, a bunch of speakers, big bumper, spare tire holder, Slatelets, fun grills, even funner lights, colors, any color, really. Wrap it in any color and sleet access points means you can add an accessory now, later, or even make one yourself.

[C]

It's like a potato head. Wait, maybe there's a better analogy.

[D]

Actually, there is. Slate is the chameleon of trucks and SUVs. Seriously, just add the SUV kit.

[C]

There are three A.

[D]

Slate is not like other cars or trucks or SUVs. And Slate is not like other car companies. Slate. We built it, you make it.

[C]

I love it. I think that's one of the best product launch videos since Cooper, one of our producers here, pointed out Dollar Shave Club.

[B]

Yeah. And they kind of set the trend. They were one of the first Old Spice, I think was in there early on. Kind of fun, it feels like. I would say Dollar Shave Club set the bar for social media brand launches.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. And Dollar Shave Club is a better video than that because it's so freaking entertaining. But let's look at the similarities that you can use as a brand. First of all, they positioned the Slate truck and Dollar Shave Club razors as against something. Oh, yeah, Right off the bat.

[B]

Against what?

[C]

Well, Chris, the CEO, didn't even use her last name. So it's very informal. Not better than you. You know, it's very important that they said, hey, look, we're not better. We are the Everyman Inexpensive entry truck. And they position themselves as against something because in the narration he says, chris thinks new cars are too expensive.

[B]

There it is. That was the end of the story.

[C]

Yeah. So it's very important when you launch something that it is the solution to a problem and you have to state the problem.

[B]

And they probably, what, within 20, 20 plus seconds they had said that in the ad.

[C]

So they foundation of the whole campaign.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

So everything from that point on defends the mission. And the mission is we are solving the problem of new cars are too expensive. And then I would say there are three controlling ideas or a controlling idea with three parts that they stuck to the script on. Cheap Fun. Yours. This car is cheap. This car is a toy. It's fun, and it's yours. Right. Even the tagline, we built it, you make it means it's yours. You can wrap it in any color you want. You can put a bumper on it. You can do this. And then the analogy when she says, it's like a Mr. Potato Head. And then there's this jokey way of saying, that's not quite the right. They didn't leave that in because it wasn't right. It was actually perfect. It's a toy. And also, who hasn't played with a Mr. Potato Head? So in screenwriting, that's called the same, but different where you actually say, my product is like this, but different. What happens in the mind of the customer is they begin to batch their thinking. They go, oh, it's like that, but it's a truck. And now you don't have to do all sorts of education on how the parts interchange and this sort of thing. And then the other thing that they did was they associated the car with a toy. What they're selling in this is inexpensive, fun. And when I saw that you could actually create like an open top version with a back seat, I was in.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Let's look at how they emphasized these three ideas.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Okay. So cheap. They emphasized it several ways. First of all, again, they're against expensive cars. Right. So if you are against something that is causing the consumer pain, they are very interested.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

So they hooked our interest by saying that that's. That's formula one. Formula piece number one.

[B]

And they did something. If I can pause you really quick, you talk about this. Luxury brands never use humor.

[C]

Right.

[B]

They went the other way because it's a discount.

[C]

Brands use humor. Luxury brands.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

So it's a mistake.

[B]

Added that in and you already were kind of a little bit.

[C]

The music is playful.

[B]

Yeah. And you just kind of diffuse like you just are kind of at ease watching this. It was fun. It was playful as you watched it.

[C]

And you know, probably most people aren't watching the video of this. You can watch this on YouTube. But in the video, Chris is sitting at a folding table inside of a warehouse. Right. This is discount from beginning to end. This is a discount brand. This is the sort of truck Costco would sell. Right.

[B]

100%.

[C]

And so they're positioning it that way. And they've got these. They've got some other interesting things. The narration is male and female. There's a male who's talking and there's a female CEO featured. That kind of contrast is both visually and audibly interesting. That was strategic. Right. Chris is not wearing a power suit. She's sitting in a sweater at a. You know, she's your mom and she's taking care of you. It's really, really just very, very well done. Okay. So let's emphasize the three things. Cheap is one of the things that they're messaging. There's a pre emphasis on the price by saying Chris thinks cars are too expensive. This car is $20,000. Now he interrupts her and says, actually, it's under 20,000 with incentives. That's a way of sort of highlighting the price. Do you really think, like, she made a mistake? No. That was a strategic, scripted correction to hit the price twice in five seconds.

[B]

It does a lot of lifting, too, because if, you know, if you look at a lot of the other electric car industry, what they're using right now is government incentives. Right?

[C]

Right.

[B]

So, hey, a new Tesla is $37,000. And you go, wait, what? And you go look at it and go, well, that's with the government incentives of buying an electric vehicle. So they're doing a good job of not even having to state that. It's a quick line. It does a lot of lifting there, too.

[C]

The other thing is you think cheap, you sort of think maybe unreliable. But they actually say, do you really need the bumper? Do you need this? Do you need that? And it's a way of sort of explaining why this truck is cost effective without saying they've, you know, it's, it's. It's crappy. Right?

[B]

Yep.

[C]

You know, it's. Then they needed to do that. They needed to say it's going to be reliable. Here's why. It's because you can add a big bumper if you want. You can add the SUV package, you can add this, you can add badges, you can add the stereo, you can add this. And all of a sudden you realize, okay, this is why it is. It is so inexpensive.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because you can get it bare bones if you want to. Or my guess is this truck will go up to 35, 40 grand.

[B]

Sure. I think that's an important point to highlight because one of the notes I wrote down was them listing all the options. Does it take away from the value? And actually, I thought that was a negative, but you're right. What they're doing there is showing you the reliability. So they're answering that question of kind of. Okay, now let's illustrate.

[C]

This is why it's cheap. It's not cheap because it's cheap. It's cheap because.

[B]

Because we're taking out all these unnecessary bloated features. Did you pick up on two they used. They talked about you can load three things of plywood in it. I think they even were trying to show this could be used for work environment.

[C]

There's some. The versatility of it.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

Also, automatic cup holders is a great sort of, you know, strawman. Yeah, right. It's a great way of saying, do you really need automatic cup holders? And the reality is they're not just talking about automatic cup holders. They're talking about a lot of other stuff. But they chose kind of the absurd one. Right. This is, this happens in politics all the Time where people are like, you know, that Democrat funded a million dollar paperclip, you know, or whatever. And it's like now you can't get anything out of your head except that they funded a million dollar paperclip. I think that's what they're doing here as well. They're showing the absurdity of all of these expensive gadgets that are inside of cars. So that's how they emphasized one of the three talking points. Actually there were really four. One is we're against expensive cars. One of the talking sub points to that would be it's inexpensive. And so we've already highlighted all the ways they got inexpensive without directly saying it into the video. The next one is fun. Fun is there's a tool that Bain Capital released years ago called the Elements of Value Pyramid. They had Some researchers spend 10 years doing studies on what human beings actually buy, and they came up with 30 things. It's things like Nostalgia Badge Access, you know, gosh, Self Transcendence by the top of it, Easy Access or Elite Access reducing anxiety. There's 30 things like this. One of them is fun. So fun is actually something people buy. And often when I'm sending out an email saying, hey, you should come to our certification, I look for places to add the word fun because, you know, it's, it's like a spice rack. You, you put it spice, you know, put a, pouring a little fun into your email or into your offer and you end up with, with more people coming. So they emphasize how fun this is. They associate it with a toy. The music sounds fun. It looks, I mean, it freaking looks like a fun car to, it does drive to me. And so that's, that's part number two. And then part number three is, it's yours, meaning yours is going to be different than anything else. And that's where Mr. Potato Head actually that example gets to both fun and yours. And you customize it and they're visually showing you everything that you can do with it. That's not true with most cars. Right? And so you're able to customize it in ways. And then, you know, they close out by saying, we build it, you make it. They also say, what's interesting to me is we're not like other cars or other vehicle companies. What I notice there is they don't actually tell you how. They just say we're not like other cars and it still works. We're not like other vehicle companies and it still works. And listen, if you're, if you're positioning yourself as against an industry, you may only need to say, you know, we're not like them.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

I was just reading this morning a briefing on our competitors. Somebody sent something on Slack and it was a complaint from somebody who'd been with multiple certification companies. You know, they certified us, they charged us twice what you charge. We never saw them again. There's no portal that we can enter into. Their coaches don't talk to us. Now, I open this by saying, I don't look at our competitors. But this just happened to be on Slack this morning.

[B]

Yep, saw the same one.

[C]

And for us to say, yeah, most people certify you as a coach and they never talk to you again, we're not like them. We put you in a small group where we talk to you literally every day if you want to talk to us, and we talk to you formally once a week. And we talk to you, you know, we don't leave you alone. I think it's important that if you are different and better in some way, you actually say, we are not like them because they burned your customer. And it's really important that you actually verbalize what. We aren't like the people who hurt you. We aren't like the people who rip you off. We aren't like the people. And they do that here as well. So an extremely effective campaign. And by the way, these videos, they have millions of views, millions of likes on Instagram. I know they're paying for a lot of this stuff, but you can put a lot of money towards something that isn't playful, fun and that sort of thing. And you're not gonna get the kind of interest.

[A]

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[C]

Hey, hey.

[A]

That's a good one. Use it to write your social media posts, website, wireframe emails, lead generating, PDF, product or service descriptions, anything you need for your business. What would happen to your revenue if every word that left your business was crystal clear and worth paying attention to? StoryBrand AI is your competitive advantage. So you'll know, you'll say it clearly. Try it right now and let us write your custom tagline for free at @StoryBrand AI. And now back to the show.

[B]

They did some things well in the sense of though it's fun, though It's a cheaper product. They didn't cheap out on the rollout of the product. Their website is very well done. The video itself follows a lot of quick cuts, good visuals, a lot of, a lot of B roll.

[C]

They're getting a ton of attention.

[B]

They are. And, but they spent. I think there's a key thing there too is like as you're trying to stand out in a market, it doesn't mean that you can just, you know, wing it.

[C]

No, this is all, it's all very strategic. I'm sure it was an ad agency. I'm not sure, but I would imagine it's a great agency who did it and whoever did it did a fantastic job rolling this out. And we can learn from them.

[B]

Yes. I also think there's something about the going first principle of this and what I mean by that is they let the people who have gone first in electric car industry, they've, they've, there's so much consumer education there to do as far as like range, battery care. Slade is benefiting it off. All that work's been done. So notice they didn't say a word about range.

[C]

That was actually going to be one of my points. Yeah, they don't talk about horsepower, they don't talk about torque, they don't talk about range, they don't talk about charging times, they don't talk about any of that. Which everybody's gonna have questions about that. So you say, okay, Don, why didn't they talk about that? And don't you have to talk about that? I can hear them. I can hear an electric vehicle company coming to me in a strategy session and they're gonna say, we have to talk about range. And I'm gonna say, don't talk about range. And they're gonna say, no. Every customer, it's the first question every customer has. I've been in these meetings and we're sitting around a conference table and everybody's going, this guy's an idiot. He doesn't want to talk about range. It's the only question every customer has, why not talk about range? And what I would say to them is, you can't, you can't. If the controlling idea is about this is a fun low priced vehicle, you can't add anything to it.

[B]

Agreed.

[C]

And they're going to go, well, everybody's going to ask the question. I'm going to say, well, not if you are framing it differently. I mean, when I saw that video, it's not until literally now that I've wondered what the range Is. And why? Because they're controlling the frame of the message and what the video is about. An inexpensive truck hitting the market that you can customize. That's really fun. That's it. It's not about range.

[B]

And keep in mind, they talk about range. They just do it on their website.

[C]

Right.

[B]

That.

[C]

That you answer the question somewhere else. But. And this is. I get into this all the time with clients. They want every communication piece to communicate everything. It's like, no, this is the one where we say it's cheap and fun, and I want you to stop talking after that. Say it somewhere else. But this is not where we say that. Well, that's the number one question. I mean, I just fight them and fight them and fight them. And now look at what happens when they're disciplined, when they actually. This is another part of this messaging that we've got to talk about everything that they leave out. Jeff Bezos is involved in funding this. Is it in the video?

[B]

No.

[C]

Why? It's a distraction.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Yeah. That's not the controlling idea. Now make another video on why one of the wealthiest people in the world wants to make a $20,000 truck. Now, that's an extremely effective video. But it's not this video. It's not this video.

[B]

Good.

[C]

And so you're. You know, my clients need to understand we're trying to create one piece of communication. It has to have a controlling idea. And you can't hand the customer too many slippery bowling balls. What is that? I've used this example before.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Every piece of information that you hand a customer in a. In a messaging piece of collateral is a bowling ball. We're handing them really thin 3. There's the controlling idea. That is we're against expensive electric vehicles, so that's kind of a bowling ball. But really, we're handing them three. It's cheap, fun. And yours, people can't hold any more than three. And as soon as you get into torque, and as soon as you say torque, it's a bowling ball that has been covered in Vaseline. It's slippery. And so that means they can't really. Yeah, you can't really handle anything else. So I would say three bowling balls, tops. And they gave you three. And now we say, well, what about range? That's a big one. Everybody wants. Sorry, three bowling balls are out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And that's not what this video does. So what they don't say is really important, too. And anytime you say, well, we've gotta say this. Okay. If you've gotta say that I'm gonna let you say it, but you're gonna say it in a different piece of collateral and break these things up.

[B]

Yeah, that's good. Okay, so kind of going back to the initial conversation, there's a couple of things running through my head. First, kind of wrapping up. What if you're in what feels to be an oversaturated big market? There's a couple.

[C]

There's just a lot of competition.

[B]

There's a couple things you can start. First, you need to know what. You're the villain. Right.

[C]

As a way. Yeah. So a couple things there. One is, know what customers hate about the. This market. What do customers hate about your market? Right. So that's thing number one. Thing number two is use that and leverage that as a differentiator.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So we are differentiating from our competitors because we don't screw them the way everybody else is screwing them. If you have that and if you can find that in your. In your marketing and advertising, you need to exploit it.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

Okay, so let's. Let's get this. Let's break this down to more where our customers are. Let's say you have a pool installation slash cleaning company. Right. You could say something like, you know, our competitors charge $200 every time they clean your pool. And they come, you know, only when you call them. First of all, I don't think that's true of any pool cleaning company. But you would want to say something like, you never have to call us. We're charging about 600 bucks a month. It's gonna be about $200 less than you would pay if it was piecemeal. But you never call us. We actually just keep your pool clean, period.

[B]

Done for you. Pool cleaning?

[C]

Yeah, it's done. And, you know, we can't believe anybody would actually charge you, you know. Yeah. What are you buying here? I'm buying a clean pool, and I don't care how it's done. I don't care when it's done. It just always needs to be clean. You know, something along those lines where you can actually differentiate yourself. Now, here's another thing to remember. A lot of people would say, well, every pool company is. Has a subscription service where you come in. My question to you is, is every pool company saying it? And if every pool company is not saying it, then you have a chance to move into that market. That's right. It's not what they're doing. It's whether or not they're saying what they're doing. And if there are 50 cheap electric truck on the market, by the way. There are. Right. There are, like the Slate truck. There are these little trucks coming out of Japan that look like kind of golf cart y sort of trucks. There's electric vehicles, like, crazy. There are probably 20 competitors to slate. Nobody knows about any of them. What do they know about. They know about the one that is against expensive cars is lots of fun. There's a reason that it's not that expensive because you can customize it. They know about the one that uses effective messaging. This is a very crowded market, and it's not like they're different than 20 other companies. They're not.

[B]

How big of a mistake would have been for them to go with where a. I feel like the temptation is if you step into that market as a cheaper alternative in electric. Electric car space. To go with. We're just a cheaper alternative. They didn't do that. They. The controlling idea was we are against expensive things.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

That feels to me like that's the big. That's kind of what set the whole campaign up for them.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So they could have led. So if you go back to your pool analogy cleaning.

[C]

Well, they could have led with, we're going to save you a ton of money.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That's a controlling idea. Not as effective.

[B]

No. Well. And they also got ahead of it because when you hear cheap, you hear cheap, you hear it's not very.

[C]

And they don't use the word cheap.

[B]

No. Yeah. Affordable.

[C]

Right.

[B]

And so I think if you get in the pool cleaning analogy, you could lead with affordable or you could lead with those things or lead with.

[C]

You'll never have to call us.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Or you could say, look at. If you call us, we failed.

[B]

Okay. So you've been talking about this kind of new thing around messaging campaigns, and one of the analogies you've been talking about is the triangle. Curiosity. Enlightenment. Enlightenment. Commitment.

[C]

Yeah. There are three levels of messaging inside of a messaging campaign. Now, a messaging campaign is sound bites and words that you use to get the message out about your product. And those sound bites need sound bites and white papers and lead generators and YouTube videos and podcast episodes. They need to cover three different territories of a psychological journey that your customer goes through. I liken it to a house. If you walk up to my house here in Nashville, Tennessee, there are front steps, there is a front porch, and then there's a front door that goes inside. The front steps are the curiosity phase. And in order to step on those steps up, you need a controlling idea, you need a tagline, you need a Brand script. You need sound bites that you step on to get to the front porch. And those sound bites invite you by peaking your curiosity. And the only thing that piques a customer's curiosity is survival. That's it. There's nothing else. And so unless my subconscious can sense that you're going to help me survive, I'm not going to be interested in being enlightened about your product. So we are against high priced electric vehicles or high priced cars. Helps me survive because you're saving me money. And as soon as you say that the customer is interested and they want to know more, so they have officially walked up the the steps. And then you say, well, how is this? How are you doing this? Well, because we don't put automatic cup holders in the car. Do you really need an automatic cup holder? Isn't that absurd? Now I'm being enlightened. I'm on the front porch. Right. And you've got the customizable thing. It's really fun, it's playful, it looks like a toy, feels like a toy. Little bit curiosity, but really we're getting into enlightenment. Then I go to your website and your website sort of answers a lot of questions about maybe horsepower and range and things like that. I'm still in the due diligence enlightenment phase. And by the way, you're moving that way and you've got to create that stuff. Yes, that's messaging that you need to check off the list because your customer is going through a psychological journey and you can't skip steps. Then it's $50 down in order to hold my place in line to get one of these things. That's the front door.

[B]

That's the commitment step.

[C]

That's a commitment step. And I put my $50 down and I am one foot inside of your house.

[B]

Then it feels like you got to go back through the triangle again because now you got to kind of.

[C]

There's more. Well, I think at that point you've got to tell them, look, if you're looking for an affordable, long lasting truck, then Slate is the right decision. So the way you get them to move in the door is you affirm that if you're trying to sol this problem, this product is the right decision. So that would be an example of. And by the way, I've identified easily 19 assets that need to be created from taglines to one liners to elevator pitches to lead generators to. And then you round the enlightenment corner with like white papers and YouTube videos and podcast episodes. Then you get into calls to action Documents, Calls to action. Documents would be like pitch decks, proposals, contracts, sales rep talking points, you know, bonuses. If you sign up now, these are messaging assets that are asking for the money and encouraging you to actually spend the money. And then I think it doesn't stop there. I think after you get delivery of the truck, I think a messaging campaign would involve sort of surprise and delight. So imagine a month after I buy a truck, I get a keychain that looks just like that truck that just says, we're so glad that you bought a Slate truck. We hope that you are super happy with it. We started making these in order to sell them, but realized pretty quickly we don't want you to have to buy it. In the spirit of Slate Trucks, we're actually giving it to you for free. Why? Because we just think keychains are too expensive. You know, I mean, how fun is that, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And at that point, you've got. You've converted this person from a customer to a brand evangelist.

[B]

That's it. Yep.

[C]

And they're having a blast.

[B]

Yep. That's great. I even think there's some intentionality in the name. Have you thought about the name of the company?

[C]

Slate.

[B]

Oh, I call to action is start with a blank slate.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Right. So it's like. There you go. That even the name itself embodies. What I think is what you've hit on the very beginning is having a thing you're. You're against, like having that kind of the problem you were solving.

[C]

Yep. And you know what? I bought a Porsche Macan, like The poor man's 911. It was an amazing process. And I chose my interior, I chose the color, I chose the rims. I chose. You can't buy. I don't think you can buy a Porsche off the lot. I think you pretty much have to order them. Or unless something happened like somebody didn't want it after they got it, that. That is the same process, but because they don't word it that way, you don't think of it as customizing my car. They have said it, and so now they're owning. They own it. And that's a great example of the way that you word something allows you to own that. Even if the competition is doing the same thing, if they haven't said it, they don't own it. And you have a chance to own it. That's a process there that I think is really, really interesting that all of our customers can learn from.

[B]

I think, again, it's just a reminder to me is as you're feeling again, dealing with competition, feeling oversaturated, ways to work through that is a not to pay attention, not to, not to go, oh, they do this. We should try that.

[C]

Well, I mean, the only way you want to pay attention, again, don't look at your competitors, look at the market. But ask yourself, what does the market hate? What does the market hate about my industry? What don't they like? We certified coaches, there's constant regret about having been certified and nobody talking to you again. We hear it over and over. In fact, it costs us business that other people certify coaches and they burn them. And you're sitting there going, we don't do that. So what we have to say is we don't do that. Because I can't just think it. I gotta say it or otherwise I'm gonna lose business because these other certification companies are doing that sort of stuff. So again, if you're not saying it, your customers don't know it's true.

[B]

And you're getting ahead of it. Right. You're answering that objection that could come from a customer right away. Moving that to a place of positivity for your brand.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Also love that the thing that Slate did was, you know, what captured your attention was here. And you can remove the back.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So, like, they didn't just leave it as like, we just made this affordable.

[C]

Gave you examples.

[B]

They, they, you know, it's like, this is all it is. We have no other.

[C]

It's like, well, an amateur cow would have said fully customizable.

[B]

Yes, there you go.

[C]

But a pro says you can turn it into a dune buggy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You can have this big old bumper.

[B]

Yep. Yeah. Like add in whatever you want to make it yours, which is living up to the thing. So, Slate, great job. If you want to send us one, we'll use it.

[C]

Yeah. This was free for you. However, if you sent us one, it'll.

[B]

Be free for us.

[C]

I don't think we're being very good negotiation.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah, but this is not good negotiation.

[B]

We'll be in touch. All right, let's end this. Great job, great looking truck.

[C]

Probably going to buy one anyway.

[B]

Yeah. Go check out their website. Website. It's really cool. Their website. Slate Auto.

[A]

Thanks for listening to the why that worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create create a free customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.