by Dan Frey
Phase 1: Starting with key influencers and launch-potential platforms, we will educate the public on The Future and its revolutionary technology.
ADHVAN: The word “influencer” gives me douche-chills.
Phase 2: We will grow a media presence based on a combination of bold public announcements and evocative advertising placements.
Phase 3: Once product becomes available, we will continue to build excitement through FOMO-based consumer-testimonial targeted ads.
BEN: FOMO, MOFO!
Voice and Personality
When it comes to all consumer-facing messaging, we propose an approach as indicated by this in-voice style manifesto:
The Future is confident.
Bold. Unapologetic. Precise.
Statement-oriented.
Text that is direct and simple.
Sentences that hit hard.
Clear vocabulary and diction.
Uniform messaging across platforms.
BEN: This kinda sounds like we’re selling Dodge trucks.
ADHVAN: WTF does statement-oriented mean? Doesn’t bother with complete sentences?
Marketplace Comps
Apple: The high-water mark for lasting brand identity, especially in the consumer-electronics space. Makes technology feel clean, beautiful, simple, intuitive.
Uber: Brand feel is high-end, high-tech, sleek, powerful. Conveys status over universality. Markedly in contrast to Lyft, which aims for more personal, lo-fi, user-friendly, accessible.
Tesla/SpaceX: Similarly, an aspirational consumer product, with a bold mission statement, cultural cachet, and charismatic founder personality.
ADHVAN: Charismatic founder personality—just one? Gee I really wonder which one of us she’s referring to.
BEN: How much did we pay someone to tell us we should be the next Apple, Uber, or Tesla?
Brand Colors
Chrome—to evoke the physical device
BEN: Shiny!
Green—as found on a digital clock
ADHVAN: Digital clock, so futuristic.
White—suggestive of the light of knowledge
BEN: Little bit of casual racism here, yeah?
Company Name
As a name, “The Future” is potentially a bit unwieldy. SEO is problematic; Google results are all over the place, and will be difficult to displace. Moreover, virtually no Fortune 500 companies have names that include an article. The following name alternatives are good possibilities to consider:
Prescient
Lesser-known word (therefore SEO-friendly) which means “having foreknowledge.” Sound is scientific and technical, with a hint of magic.
BEN: Prescient? No, too hard, this one is a mouthful.
ADHVAN (reply): That’s what your mom said.
Peek
A more personal and accessible option. Conjures the notion of “peeking” at the future. Homonym means pinnacle, which connotes success. Emotional connection to the voyeuristic feeling which users might reasonably seek, in line with social media usage.
BEN: Sounds like a camgirl porn site.
ADHVAN: Should we maybe start that site? I’d pay for Peek.
BEN (reply): Who pays for porn you weirdo?
Crystal
Subtly conjures a crystal ball, looking into the future. Also evokes the high-end feel of tableware. Exclusivity suited to a higher price point.
ADHVAN: Oh yeah, really subtle.
BEN: Why do we keep getting ideas that suggest magic? We have to hit home that this is science.
Quant
Another high-tech option, which leans into the quantum technology at the core of the product. Unique and SEO-ownable.
BEN: Isn’t this a term for a financial analyst?
ADHVAN (reply): It’s the math world’s word for a sell-out.
Logo
Feel should be clear, clean, high-tech. Evoking “see the future” functionality.
Images to consider:
An eye
A clock
An hourglass
A calendar
A telescope
BEN: Can’t we get something a little more inviting?
ADHVAN: Meaning…vaginal? Like airbnb? Just turn the eye sideways.
EMAIL—APRIL 12, 2021
From: Paolo Ventrini
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
Boys…
This branding report was undertaken by a top-flight agency. Carrie is one of the best. She came into my office and ripped me a new one over the juvenile comments on her work. If you don’t like it, fine. But you also declined to provide her with a jumping-off conversation, which means she was feeling her way in the dark.
We need to get this figured out soon if we’re going to hit any of our targets. I have a dinner but I’ll try to get out early and meet you in the office by 7:30 so we can hash this out.
Paolo
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
BEN BOYCE
April 12, 2021 5:23 PM
Hey babe gonna be a little late tonight
Adhi and I just went through this branding report
It’s terrible.
And now we gotta go sit down with Paolo.
LEILA KEENER-BOYCE
Oh, OK. How late are we talking here?
I dunno prob 9-10ish?
Don’t wait up, I know you gotta be up early
I’ll be quiet as a mouse.
Or a ninja.
Sound OK?
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
LEILA KEENER-BOYCE
April 12, 2021 5:24 PM
Hey A! Hope you’re well. Big plans tonight?
ADHVAN CHAUDRY
Hey Lei.
I’m supposed to do a meeting with Paolo, he wants to go over our branding strategy.
But if you need anything, I can bail on that, it’s not a big deal.
No that’s OK, I was just saying hi. You and Ben are doing that together, right?
Oh. Yes. I see.
Next time you can just say you want to check on Ben.
Sorry.
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
BEN BOYCE
I’ll be quiet as a mouse.
Or a ninja.
Sound OK?
April 12, 2021 5:29 PM
LEILA KEENER-BOYCE
OK NinjaMouse, have a good time. Certainly seems like you guys are having fun.
Not really it’s a lot of work.
And I miss you.
I’m not upset you’re having fun, I’m glad. Seems like things between you and Adhi are more like how they used to be.
Yeah I guess so.
Startup life is a little like college.
That’s great. Just don’t go FULL college-Ben.
I won’t. Sleep tight.
TEXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE
BEN BOYCE
April 12, 2021 7:58 PM
Hey Carrie.
Good start with the branding report.
CARRIE CHAN
Good start, huh?
Based on the comments, I’d hate to see what a bad start looks like
Yeah, sorry about that.
Adhi and I like to joke around
We don’t always think about all the work that goes into things.
Just had a sit-down with Paolo and realized I was being a jerk.
I’m new to all this!
Being a founder is like 10 jobs in 1.
And I have experience with none of them.
It shows.
But yes, I know it’s not easy.
I think we should start over.
I want to take a more personal approach.
How bout we grab drinks and
I talk you through the vision?
Sure.
How bout right now?
Oh. Yeah, I could meet in like an hour?
Great. Haberdasher on Ellsworth.
See you there.
EXCERPT FROM CONGRESSIONAL HEARING—DECEMBER 1, 2021
REP. ALEXANDRA DELGADO (D-CA): So—Ms. Chan, her ideas about the look, the branding, all of it…you knew it was wrong…because you had seen what it was going to be already. Right?
BOYCE: That’s correct. And I mean, her ideas were not totally off-base. Our website is sleek and minimal. It’s more Apple than the Apple site, in some ways. And our logo is actually in line with a couple of her ideas. It’s an F for Future, formed by the hands of a clock. So you can imagine, the feedback she was giving, it could’ve conceivably led to the results we ended up with. But we had seen the end result already, so…we knew more than she did.
REP. ALEXANDRA DELGADO (D-CA): When you consulted on the look and branding of the company…did you ever just show her what you’d seen? If you knew that’s where it was going to end up anyway?
BOYCE: By this point, we had started making an effort not to do that. Adhi had this theory about what happened to Nikolai, that it was this thing he called a causal loop. Information from the future, looping back in the timeline, causing itself. And he thought the more that happened, the more room there was for…you know, trouble.
Think about it; if Carrie looked at the website from the future, and copied that design to make the website, which then is the website in the future…where’d those ideas come from? Reality is serving the information, not the other way around.
REP. ALEXANDRA DELGADO (D-CA): Thank you, Mr. Boyce. You have articulated, very succinctly, one of the primary problems with allowing this technology to go public. I don’t think any of us want a world in which our reality is subservient to our gadgets.
BOYCE: But it’s not, as long as people make informed choices about how they use it! It’s up to the user to decide when to look. And once they do, that choice becomes part of the system of choices they were always going to make. I get that it’s tough to wrap your head around, but we are actually increasing personal freedom.
REP. ALEXANDRA DELGADO (D-CA): Oh, I understand perfectly. Setting aside the confusing circularity of it all, I am simply pointing to the fact that empowering people with a dangerous tool and trusting them to make perfect choices is a recipe for disaster. Look at your own brief history with this technology. Whenever you hit a roadblock to success and profitability, you wasted little time in turning to the technology, regardless of any supposed philosophical concern with a so-called causal loop.
EMAIL—APRIL 15, 2021
From: Paolo Ventrini
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
Boys, I’ve been out on Sand Hill Road beating the war drum, but we can’t even get into the right rooms unless we have something to catch the attention of our audience. I know you guys are reticent to release any content into the public sphere, but I need something we can selectively share.
Paolo
REPLY
From: Ben Boyce
To: Paolo Ventrini, Adhvan Chaudry
Hey Paolo,
We talked it over and hear where you’re coming from. How’s this?
Ben
(The following news article, dated January 2, 2022, was attached.)
THE FUTURE LAUNCHES STRONG IN U.S.
After months of hype and rampant speculation, The Future stores around the country opened on New Year’s Day to lines around the block and strong sales. Insiders were expecting solid numbers, since over 50,000 people had pre-ordered the Future 1 units online, which were available Sunday for pickup and shipping. Since the company reported estimates that another 55,000 units had sold in its 22 locations, it’s clear that expectations have been met or exceeded.
“It’s a strong rollout,” said Ben Boyce, the company’s boisterous young CEO. “But we’re just getting started here.”
Given the necessary geographical clustering of the stores, some believers drove over 500 miles and camped out overnight to get their hands on the F1’s.
“It’s a revolution on par with the Internet,” said Wendy Romero, a customer who bought two. “It’s going to totally change the way the world works. I mean, I’m going to see my future tonight. Are you?”
The company expects sales to stabilize and remain strong for months to come and is projecting revenues north of $80 million in its first quarter of operation. But some business analysts are skeptical about the company’s long-term prospects.
“Their business model is simply unsustainable,” commented Eduardo Ortiz, a financial-sector forecaster. “This company is starting out so deep in the R&D hole, they’ll need to normalize sales figures on par with Apple if they’re going to be in this for the long haul.”
Others have voiced doubt about the long-term stability of the technology, with initial reports trickling in of widespread technical issues. But Boyce dismisses these as overblown Internet chatter by jealous discontents. “We’ve had a few technical glitches, yes. But this is our first day getting the product in the hands of the public. A lot of times, it’s an issue of user error. Our solution will be a combination of great customer support, continued public education, and a commitment to keep improving our product.”
It remains to be seen if The Future has the long-term staying power to compete with the giants of Silicon Valley. But it’s undeniable that the company has completed a spectacular launch, and public demand for the product is sky-high.
REPLY
From: Paolo Ventrini
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
This is real? This is a news article, from the actual future? These are the numbers we’re going to do rolling out at the start of next year? Fuck me we have some work to do, boys, but raising money is certainly not going to be the hard part.
CHAPTER 9
EMAIL—APRIL 16, 2021
From: Paolo Ventrini
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
Well, boys, I spoke too soon. Turns out sharing the news piece ended up having the opposite of the desired effect. Most of the VCs I sent it to thought it was a hoax.
We’re in a bind now because we’re not getting public traction without funding, and we can’t get funding without a perception of public interest or at least acceptance. Let’s brainstorm on how we can get back in the game.
REPLY
From: Ben Boyce
To: Paolo Ventrini, Adhvan Chaudry, Carrie Chan
Hey Paolo,
Sounds good, let’s schedule a group sesh. Adhi, you want in on this? If you want to focus on the tech, we can take care of these PR-type situations, I know it’s not your thing. Also, I’m adding Carrie to the mix.
REPLY
From: Paolo Ventrini
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry
My goodness, Benjamin, are you, dare I say…managing? Using your team in skill-area-appropriate ways? Should I possibly think that you might have read one or two of those management books that I sent your way? Bravo, bravo, bravissimo.
REPLY
From: Adhvan Chaudry
To: Ben Boyce
B—
Yeah, I want in on this.
And Carrie too? Really?
Seems like a situation where we can get a plan g
oing on our own, then bring her in later to execute.
This is our company.
—A
REPLY (TO BOYCE’S EARLIER REPLY)
From: Carrie Chan
To: Ben Boyce, Adhvan Chaudry, Paolo Ventrini
Hey Guys,
Thanks for looping me in. If you want to get this out there, you need to start a conversation about your product, especially among the tech-influencer community. I’ve got some ideas about how to make that happen fast.
Carrie
REDDIT AMA—APRIL 19, 2021
Hey Reddit, we are Ben Boyce and Adhvan Chaudry, and we invented a time machine! Read all about how it works HERE. It’ll be on sale in less than a year!
Our CCO Carrie will help us out here and post proof momentarily.
