Remarkable Content with Ian Faison Dune: B2B Marketing Lessons from Director Denis Villeneuve’s Masterpiece with VP of Corporate Marketing at Cribl, Ryan Mattison
Not all remakes are created equal.
The Dune of 2021 is not the Dune of 1984. Maybe we should say not all “retellings” are created equal.
Because both movies are based on the 1965 book. But film critic Roger Ebert scathingly called the first one "an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion." Ouch.
The second one - the one we’re talking about today - is a different story. It’s been called “aesthetically perfect,” and the “faithful retelling of a complicated story.” And it won a handful of Academy Awards.
So we’re talking about what makes a great retelling and how to use those lessons in your marketing content.
With the help of our special guest, VP of Corporate Marketing at Cribl, Ryan Mattison, we also talk about delivering a singular experience, doing partnership-driven marketing, and much more.
About our guest, Ryan Mattison
Ryan Mattison is VP of Corporate Marketing at Cribl, where he leads the corporate marketing team, and looks after brand, creative, communications, and events. Prior to joining Cribl in July 2024, Ryan served as VP of Brand & Communications at ThoughtSpot. There, he led brand, creative and design, communications, PR and analyst relations, customer marketing, employee advocacy, investor relations and content marketing functions. Since joining as an individual contributor in 2017, he built the team from the ground up to deliver world class campaigns that cut through a highly competitive landscape, improve ThoughtSpot’s reputation and awareness among key audiences, and generated pipeline that led to revenue.
What B2B Companies Can Learn From Dune:
- Deliver a singular experience. And deliver it in the format that optimizes the experience. Like how Dune was presented on iMax. The large format made the experience of the sounds and the vast landscape of the film a more immersive and real experience. Ryan says, ”Deliver an authentic experience, and people will pay for it. That idea of being intentional and connecting it with a really authentic value prop, that for Dune was super real. That large screen format with the premium sound is going to really, really differentiate your experience with the movie.”
- Partner up. Find other companies to cross promote content with. Dune did this with the video game Fortnite, allowing players to buy a “skin” so their avatar looks like a Dune character. Ryan says, “Dune also did probably one of the best jobs in recent years of doing partnership-driven marketing. Theater going is skewing older and older, but something like Fortnite, has a much younger skewed audience. They were like, ‘We need to target a younger demographic because if we can get kids or young folks to ask their parents to go see Dune and their parents were already kind of thinking about going, now it's a family thing. And you're not selling one ticket or two tickets. You're selling four, five, six tickets at one time.” Ryan adds, “ How do you find the right partner that's not just the easy partner, but the partner where you're able to find or open up new channels, new demographics, new audiences in a way that feels like there's intentional value being delivered?”
- Create a remake. Or as Ian says, “Try it again for the first time.” Because the movie Dune that came out in 2021 was a remake of the 1984 movie. Or really it was a retelling of the same story with little regard for the first version. And because of the generational difference between viewers, Ian says, “This [2021 version] was the first interaction with Dune for, I would bet, a massive percentage of the audience that saw this. They never read the books. They didn't watch the first movie. But for people like your mom, it's like, ‘Hey, try it again for the first time.’ Like, ‘Yeah, I know you saw the old movie. This is nothing like that. Just try it again.” It reframes everyone’s idea of the original story, and gives a totally new experience of it. So make a remake but keep it fresh.
- Throw the party. Ian says, “ If you make something worth talking about, throw the party so that the people can talk about it.” That’s what this podcast is all about, getting people to talk about Remarkable content and spreading knowledge of it through word of mouth. He adds, “ If you make content also make the event, make a premiere, make a big deal out of it.” Also because you deserve to celebrate good content and the hard work that went into it.
Quotes
*” There is no time when somebody is engaging with any facet of your brand or your business in which you shouldn't be representing the perception that you want to drive. Every one of those is an opportunity to tell your story in a potentially different channel, different way.”
*”Deliver an authentic experience, and people will pay for it. That idea of like, being intentional, and connecting it with a really authentic value prop, that for Dune, was super real. That large screen format with the premium sound is going to really, really differentiate your experience with the movie.”
Time Stamps
[0:55] Meet Ryan Mattison, VP of Corporate Marketing at Cribl
[0:56] B2B Marketing Lessons from Dune
[4:11] Marketing at Cribl
[7:16] The Storytelling Power of Corporate Marketing
[9:18] Dune: From Book to Blockbuster
[12:09] Denis Villeneuve's Vision for Dune
[15:28] Marketing Strategies Behind Dune's Success
[22:56] Partnership-Driven Marketing Insights
[27:24] The Challenge of Marketing B2B Products
[27:46] Lessons from the Dune Movie Marketing
[28:57] The Role of Mega Stars in Movie Success
[31:23] The Importance of Authentic Marketing
[35:32] Building Anticipation and Word of Mouth
[44:20] The Power of the CEO's Voice
[48:52] Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts
Links
About Remarkable!
Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.
In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.
Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.