A short transcript excerpt from Adam Markel's live YouTube session "What's On Your T-Shirt | Assa Abloy 2019" (April 30, 2019). In this segment Markel invites an audience member, John, to share his "T-shirt" statement—"Saving the world one door at a time." Markel praises the phrase for its simplicity, clarity, storytelling and marketing power, and frames the exercise as a way to express purpose and create intrigue.
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So let's have some fun here. Who's got something that came, maybe came up as a surprise, something you didn't expect, that you're really pretty happy with. A statement, something that expresses your reason for being. Who'd like to volunteer? I know the volunteer thing is tough sometimes, but just go ahead and raise your hand or stand up. Stand up if you want to share what just came up for you. That statement on your T shirt. Yes. That gentleman right over there. Saving the world one door at a time. Will you do me a favor? What's your first name? Jonathan? John. Thank you. First of all, John, thank you for volunteering. You broke the dam. That's always the thing. So what's the words that came up for you? Saving the world one door at a time. Saving the world one door at a time. You know what? That could have been the tagline for Monsters, Inc. Right? Hello. Seriously, that's a movie I'd re watch in this group. Saving the world one door at a time. What's great about that? What do you love about that? Simplicity. What else? Clarity. What else? Sorry, we're the hero. Exactly. What else? Anything else? Creates a story. It catches people off guard. Right? Saving the world. And then you think it's going to be the usual stuff. One door at a time. Who doesn't want to know what that's all about? That's what marketing is. I'm not going to put on my marketing hat now, but to me, that's great marketing. It creates intrigue, it creates interest. That's what you're looking to do. And there's a meaning to it. It's a reason. So that was really well done and thank you so much for sharing that. Fantastic. Give yourselves one more round of applause for playing.