About three years ago, David Lafitte surveyed the website, social media, and marketing content from Tecovas, the Western apparel brand he leads, and realized that the messaging had become “very diluted.”
So the Austin-based company decided to establish a company-wide OKR—the goal-setting framework it uses, short for “objectives and key results,”—that focused on storytelling.
Tecovas brought on more creative types who experimented with different messaging, including long-form commercials, and things started to click, Lafitte said during a discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW.
“I think everyone embraced this storytelling concept because we have to talk about the materials, the product, but doing it in a way that drives an emotional connection with the consumer,” Lafitte said.
One of the brand’s early storytelling successes came in 2024 with a new, 30-second commercial that aired during the final game of the 2024 World Series.
“The response was absolutely incredible,” he said.
THE LONG GAME OF LONG-FORM CONTENT
Crucial to the success of this storytelling initiative, Lafitte said, was hiring a team of creatives and then letting them play around in a proverbial sandbox.
At the helm as creative director is Scott Ballew, who spent nearly a decade heading up content at Yeti Coolers. While putting together the company’s first-ever commercial for this year’s Super Bowl, Ballew came up with another idea.
That idea, “Love Letter to Texas,” is a short film that debuted over the weekend featuring several Hollywood heavyweights. The film is emblematic of the company’s philosophy of enticing customers through a slow burn rather than a quick, hard sell, as Lafitte shared.
“It’s truly not intended to be a commercial,” he said. “It goes hand-in-hand with the craftsmanship pillar that we have on our product and a lot of the things we do.”
This type of long-form content strategy requires more patience, as it focuses more on brand-building than generating an immediate bump in website traffic, Lafitte said.
And there’s a balance to be struck in messaging that resonates—both with existing customers and people who’ve never put on a pair of cowboy boots before, he added.
“We have to kind of thread the needle of getting more people in the tent,” Lafitte said. “But at the same time, it has to be done in a way that the group that got us here and the people whose lifestyle is Western would view us and be proud of it and not embarrassed by it.”