Evernote and Kill Shakespeare
The two pitches I’d like to deconstruct are Phil Libin’s Evernote and Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col’s winning Pitch This! project Kill Shakespeare.
2010 Toronto International Film Festival’s Pitch This!
Out of all the elevator pitches I have viewed so far, this one seems most likely to take place in an actual elevator, outside of one or anywhere a person has a minute to listen to an idea. Props to Phil for wearing the company logo, a simple gesture which adds to the experience he is evoking: how to keep track of the branding that we notice everywhere. He briefly discusses how Evernote is an easy solution for storing these images on any device available. While he may come across as a showrunner with his quick speech, I get the sense that this is due to him pitching and tweaking the idea as many times as possible, rather than over-rehearsing the pitch in front of a mirror. Plus he seems genuine when thanking the “catcher” for giving him some time. He has credibility, as well as a firm understanding of the venture concept. It doesn’t hurt that doing a bit a research shows that he is as good as his word, and Evernote is a marketable brand.
McCreery and Del Col’s winning pitch in CBCnews
I have been keeping an eye on these two Torontarians since first hearing about their project last year. Lucky bastards was my initial response 😛 but the more I found out about the evolution of this project, the more I began to admire their ability to adapt, from video game idea to published graphic novel to a film in the works. They also score points for addressing the problem with Shakespeare in education: when treated as a collection of difficult words, nobody would be interested, but when the spotlight is on the characters, there is ready market waiting to be tapped. As an educator, I’d be a bit leery about their bold statement about Kill Shakespeare being a “gateway drug” but it does present an edgier artist or even neophyte scholar pitch.
For those of you who waded through the TIFF 2010 Pitch This! video clip, I really liked the subtle appropriation of lines from the plays, and both displayed enthusiasm for the project, yet the trailer itself was a bit underwhelming. Still they have confidence and poise, and not so surprising that they got the novelty cheque for $10,000. There will be a lot more pitching to get this film looking like Lord of the Rings, but they are off to a good start!
Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
Kristopher 9:26 pm on September 20, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
At first I was a little put off as well by the ‘gateway drug’ comment; okay, maybe not exactly put off, but a little voice saying ‘this isn’t for the classroom’. It wasn’t until I was going back through the criteria for a good pitch that I remembered the audience types. That statement isn’t intended for the learner, but instead the end-user (the teacher). It connects us to a statement that is cliché, but gets the point across.
I liked your analysis of both products. I felt the same about the EverNote presenter– he seemed genuine and confident in his product, like someone that I could trust and seek further information from.
Thanks for the thoughts,
Kristopher
kstooshnov 9:40 am on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thank you, Kristopher,
Regardless of how the pitch plays out in the media, I also had to get over my issues over using graphic novels to teach literature. Some of the students I tutor have teachers assigning The Watchmen, Maus and other classic comics for English, and it took a while for me to warm up to the idea of presenting graphic novels to the class. With most other manga editions of Shakespeare, the focus is all on the images, and too much of the text is crammed into speech bubbles, thus making it a pointless way into understanding the play. The creative team on KS took a more thoughtful and engaging route with their design (modeling their character on movie stars they’d cast in their film) and has at least raised my interest in graphic novels in the classroom.
Kyle
hall 3:35 am on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As result of Evernote elevation pitch several times, I think your analysis this pitch is very good. I concur with you that wearing the company logo of by Phil is a simple gesture which adds to the experience he is evoking. Good point.
kstooshnov 9:59 am on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks, Conroy,
It wasn’t until I downloaded EverNote on my iPhone that I realized what the image is: an elephant with part of its ear folded over, like an “earmarked” paper note. Very impressive how much attention to the slightest details went into this project. It would be silly to wear anything but the company logo when pitching to prospective investors.
Kyle
kstooshnov 9:58 am on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks, Conroy,
It wasn’t until I downloaded EverNote on my iPhone that I realized what the image is: an elephant with part of its ear folded over, like an “earmarked” paper note. Very impressive how much attention to the slightest details went into this project. It would be silly to wear anything but the company logo when pitching to prospective investors.
Kyle
mcquaid 3:40 pm on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think I generally agree with your thoughts on Evernote. Like WeBook, I appreciated the fact that he had a logo (and wore it). That gives at least an air or being established and serious. Edufire’s pitch, in front of a world map, did almost nothing for me. I decided in the first second that the pitcher was also a little crazy. While he got better, I couldn’t shake that first impression.