There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Basecamp’s launch of Hey was a marketing masterclass. They started building hype well in advance, came forth with a point of view that divided opinion, drummed up press, and when presented with an opportunity to frame an ‘us vs them’ by Apple, embraced it gratefully.
Every single part of the way this was done was almost perfect. And any marketer worth his or her salt must have turned around and raised their imaginary hats. It was good, wasn’t it?
But amidst all the hype, I wanted to take a second to point out that all of what they did, all of the above, was based on something fundamental, something basic that we can all do.
Start with the story.
Only if you start with the story do you have the foundation on which your marketing strategy can be built.
In Hey’s case, the idea that email could be done better by concentrating on only what’s important not only gave Basecamp the story for the product, it also gave them the story for the marketing.
As Andy Raskin puts it - the story is the strategy.
That story gave Hey a point of view that was controversial enough to provoke opinion, helped them pick a villain (email, not Apple; that came after), and positioned themselves as the new saviours of time and money for people who value both.
The key word in the above passage is that they were controversial enough: What they are saying isn’t original at all, that email wasn’t good for deep work has been sufficiently explored and discussed. Cal Newport’s book Deep Work is a good example to show how mainstream this line of thinking is. So is the fact the Rahul Vohra’s Superhuman exists.
So what did Hey do well, then, if literally nothing of what they did is original?
The answer is that they started with the story, and made all the correct connections. In marketing, as we all know, the packaging is at times as important as what’s inside it.
The narrative fit, and once the hype hit critical mass, it exploded, giving Basecamp the best SaaS launch we’ve seen in years. The tactics that came after are things we are all familiar with. But in putting it all together, Basecamp showed us how these things are done.
What’s the lesson in all of this, then? Simple. Start your marketing with the story, your POV of why you exist, and build your entire marketing strategy on top of that. That clarity will give your marketing the consistency it needs.
Notes
You should read the short essay Narrative-market fit, by David Perell.
That this follows my last essay on storytelling, which became my most popular ever, is only a coincidence.