Storytelling vs. Advertising: Why Story Always Wins

I always get asked how we kept the name Portland Leather after moving all of our manufacturing to Mexico like I committed some sort of brand crime!! Listen, Portland Leather started in Portland, but the people were not buying our products because of the hipster vibes, bear oil, and bikes. Our story has always been:

- I was a crazy guy in a garage

- Who had $35 worth of leather

- Sold leather journals at art fairs

- Moved to etsy

- And bought a pole-dancing studio

The focus was always on quality, price, value and authenticity. Not geography!!

How our story got better

Moving manufacturing was not some business betrayal… it was how we were able to get through covid!! If we had stayed in Portland, everything would have been shut down and we would’ve died a cute, hipster death!

So we moved to León, México- the leather capital of the world.

Here, we found artisans that understood leather waaaay better than we did, and something AMAZING happened!!

Our quality, speed, and consistency went up….yet our prices stayed fair.

So naturally, our customers loved us even more!

PLG was not, “Portland”, it was, “We will always evolve to make the best products for you”.

What happens when customers start writing the story for you

We have a 190K person facebook group… oops Mariana says 195K now, called the “Portland Leather Insiders”.

Back in the early days, a bunch of our customers got together and made a group of their own called “The Groupies” where they bonded over our products. Eventually, it turned into an awesome community where people applaud their personal wins, or share words of encouragement to people who are having a rough day.

But it was here that we were able to talk to customers directly to see what they wanted.

And I really want you to understand how important this is!!

During the days at the pole-dancing studio, a bunch of unique sample hides started taking up space so we decided to make as many bags as we could with those en just sell em… Insiders were so excited about these that they started calling them Unicorns and it became part of a shared language.

This was when Portland Leather stopped being a brand, and turned into a universe!! Tell me what amount of advertising dollars buys that kind of thing!!

Why Story Beats Advertising

Advertising gets people at your door long enough for you to say hello.

It is how you capture someone’s attention. But storytelling gives them a reason to walk through that door and stay.

And that is where most founders are failing. They put so much emphasis on their ad spend, and meta and facebook, when that is not the problem!!

A brand with a story builds:

- Trust

- Inside-jokes

- Emotional connection

- Real friendships

- A sense of belonging

And you cannot buy that with a 15% off discount code.

Let’s talk about the future

Urghh! Not another post about AI!!

I promise this is all you need to know about the future.

AI is about to make advertising stupidly easy. That means everyone’s ads will start looking the same and will run “optimized creative”.

So your story will become your advantage.

And the brands that are going to win, will be the ones building worlds… not campaigns!!

Screw advertising! Tell a better story!!

And maybe do something nice for your customers!!

Later skater.

Curtis Matsko - CEO & Founder of Portland Leather Goods