Mapping a Concept Story
Finding the Concept Story at FitCounter
“Stories are about people, not things.”
—Chris Crawford, Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
When the first iPhone came out in 2007, the iPod was a popular device. If you were like me, you carried an iPod in one pocket and a mobile phone in another. Sometimes, you joked about how you wished you could duct tape them together so they could be one device. But really, you wanted Apple to invent an iPod that was also a mobile phone.
When Steve Jobs gave his keynote presentation in January of 2007, that is exactly what the media and pundits expected him to announce. And he did announce an iPod that made phone calls. Sort of. What he demonstrated to the world in that presentation surprised people because it was much, much more.
During his keynote presentation, Jobs presented a problem: smartphones are no good. Then he revealed a new smartphone that not many people expected—it consisted of not one, but three products:
• A widescreen touchscreen iPod
• A revolutionary new mobile phone
• An Internet communicator
As he cycled through three slides in his presentation that illustrated these three points, he repeated them a few times. “An iPod…a phone… and an Internet communicator…” he repeated this phrase until he finally asked the audience, “Are you getting it?” At this point, the audience erupted in applause as he announced that Apple was not launching three, but one singular device that did all three things. They were going to call it the iPhone.
No one had asked for a three-in-one communication device. Actually, most iPod owners in 2007 would have been content with an iPod that let them make phone calls. This moment in Apple’s keynote presentation was not just momentous because it changed the world of mobile computing, but also because it was the inciting incident that kick-started a storyline that flowed through everything from the actual product itself to the rest of the presentation that hooked and engaged not just the audience, but much of the world. What bolstered the presentation, more specifically, was a concept story.
What Is a Concept Story?
A concept story is the conceptual story model of your product: it illustrates the big picture overview of what a product is. At the highest level, it also outlines how your customers think about that product. It is the foundational story and structure that you will use to identify and communicate your core concept and value proposition both internally and externally, as well as weave into everything you eventually build.
Concept stories, when used to define products, help you answer the following questions:
• Who is this product for?
• What is their problem?
• What is their big goal? Secondary goals?
• What is this product?
• What is the competition?
• Why might someone not want to use this product?
• How is this product better than the competition?
• What does this product need to do?
• What is the straightforward solution to the problem?
• What is the awesome solution to the problem?
NOTE WHAT CONCEPT STORIES DO
At the very least, good concept stories get people excited about your product. As a requirement, the stories live within your product and how you shape it. At their best, they get people talking about your product. Concept stories help you achieve three goals:
• Communicate a shared vision
• Align toward that shared vision
• Innovate and prioritize against that shared vision
How Concept Stories Work
Because concept stories illustrate how your target customers do or could think about your product or service, they are either based on real data or are aspirational. Think of them as the mental calculation that someone makes when they first hear about your product. The story might only last a few seconds as your customer puts together the important pieces of what your product is and what they can do with the product. Even though it lasts a few seconds, this story sets the stage for your customer being intrigued or excited by what your product is.
Concept stories operate like this (see Figure 3.1):
• Exposition: The current state of things
• Inciting Incident/Problem: The problem your product will solve
• Rising Action: The product name and a brief description or market category
• Crisis: The competition
FIGURE 3.1 How a concept story is structured and operates—this is how people think about and see value in your product.
• Climax/Resolution: The solution and value proposition or competitive advantage
• Falling Action: The takeaway
• End: The goal met
Exposition
Exposition reflects the current state of things for your user who personifies your target audience (see Figure 3.2). Who is that user? What does he want? What does she need to do?
In the case of the first iPhone, the story exposition began with a character who loved her iPod and her mobile phone, but wanted a device that would let her listen to music and make phone calls on the go. If you asked why she wanted those things, you’d see that both of these things fall under the umbrella of communication: a basic necessity. Your character doesn’t want a two-in-one device, per se, but just needs to communicate with the world.
FIGURE
