Marketing is storytelling.

David Armano of Logic+Emotion tells us an interesting story:

When Arnold Schwarzenegger first came to the United States, he started a small bricklaying business with fellow bodybuilder and immigrant Franco Columbu. The business wasn’t off to a good start.

They quickly re-invented their business model into a service that was much more expensive than the competition and sold themselves in a way that played up their European heritage. They would seduce their LA customers by saying that their method of bricklaying was different because it was “Austrian Bricklaying”.

I didn’t know this. Neither did I know, that Arnold worked as a bricklayer, neither did I know, that he was such a clever guy in marketing. Or was it only his fellow bodybuilder? But then, it’s Arnold, who’s now a Governor, isn’t he?

David Armano, bringing us back to marketing, concludes:

1. Sometimes the best marketing involves exaggerating certain “truths”
2. Occasionally brands are built not from strengths, but from turning perceived weakness into strength

And asks us:

Have you figured out what your weakness is? Is there a way to turn it into a differentiating strength?