Ups and downs of the “elevator pitch”

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Clint

Ever heard the idea of the elevator pitch? If you’d rather not let Wikipedia enlighten you, I can summarize by saying that, well… it’s a summary.

An elevator pitch (or elevator speech or statement) is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service, or organization and its value proposition.

It takes its name from the idea that you can finish the proposal in no more than a minute’s time, for instance the time you might happen to be on an elevator ride with your busy boss or film producer or whatnot.

I’m terrible at it.

I remember at one of our early convention appearances where I tried to explain Zombie Ranch to an acquaintance of ours who works in the movie industry, and after I finished rambling he flat out told me, “You need to work on your pitch”.

Nearly two years later, I still haven’t found that perfect short-form alchemy that is both snazzy to the ear and presents all of what I consider to be the key concepts and unique aspects of this comic. I have our introduction blurb which is the closest I think I’ve come, but it sounds better written than spoken and is probably way too long for a world where a lot of pitches are boiled down to statements like “Die Hard on a Space Station”.

If I try that I end up with “It’s Lonesome Dove meets Hatari! meets Deadliest Catch meets Night of the Living Dead meets…” and DING! the elevator has arrived and there goes the boss. But if I just say “Deadliest Catch meets Night of the Living Dead“, or worse, “Cowboys vs. Zombies”, they might end up intrigued in entirely the wrong way, with long-term disappointment for everyone.

I don’t know, maybe it’s actually a good thing that I have trouble condensing Zombie Ranch into a quick sound bite. Or maybe I’m just making excuses for being terminally long-winded.

So hey, you out there… fair assumption that you read the comic, right? How would you sell someone on it in sixty seconds or less? Or would you even bother to try?

11 thoughts on “Ups and downs of the “elevator pitch””

  1. chumash99

    “A picture is worth a thousand words,” as they say. Just show them some of Chapter 1, and let the webcomic speak for itself. 😀

  2. Andrew

    A generation after the Great Zombie Plague, a reality TV show brings the story of a group of hearty Zombie Ranchers to viewers in humanity’s safe zones.
    From one chronically long winded individual to another.

  3. James

    Zombie Ranch is about a reality TV show about Western Ranchers that use Zombies instead of cattle in a post zombie apocalypse world.

  4. James

    That being said, I feel your pain… I find it difficult to sum up our comic in a short period in a way that doesn’t miss huge portions of the concept as it is now…

  5. TV's Anthony

    Here ya go Clint: A Futuristic Bonanza with Zombies as filmed by The Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch.

  6. Andrew

    Clint, I wonder if you’re missing something with the elevator pitch by trying to get all the key elements factored in. Is that really the point of that particular exercise, or is it to get you’re elevator mate interested enough to continue to conversation after the bell rings. Perhaps the focus should be less on a full formed concept than on getting to “Tell me more.”
    You know, from my vast marketing and sales background.

  7. Clint

    This is a good point, although from that perspective just the words “Zombie Ranch” is usually enough.

    Thanks for the suggestions so far. And Anthony, do executives still know what Bonanza is? 😉

  8. SendMoreCops

    Actually, “Cowboys and Zombies” works pretty well.

  9. Gillsing

    How about “Cowboys with Zombies”? In A World…

    But no, I’m not so sure I would bother trying to sell Zombie Ranch in its current state. The only obviously fake documentaries I can recall have been satire and parody, which works because who doesn’t like to laugh? But there isn’t a lot of that in Zombie Ranch, and there doesn’t seem to be enough drama or action to appeal to the mainstream, though I guess that would depend on how many episodes of a TV-series we’ve been reading.

    I certainly don’t see a Zombie Ranch movie yet, because the story so far hasn’t been very compelling. The comic appeals to me because I like post-apocalyptic worlds and the concept is interesting, but on a big screen I’d want more than a day at the ranch. I’d want some conflict or other situation where people have to struggle and the outcome isn’t given. Like the stuff that is going on right now, but this is just one episode out of five so far, and we have yet to see how big this thing will really get, and how long it’ll last.

  10. Clint

    While YMMV on how compelling the story might be, I absolutely agree with you that in its current form what we have so far is hard for me to picture in the form of a modern day feature film. At most I feel like any movie production would take the outward trappings and make something very, very typical out of them, which I think would be a great disappointment for everyone.

    Which is the main reason I haven’t been overly desperate to refine the pitch. I mean technically speaking we’re already “greenlit” in the medium of our choosing, and I see far too many comic projects these days that are covertly or even openly conceived as nothing more than stepping stones to a movie deal. I don’t begrudge that, but for us one of the great pluses of self-publishing is being able to tell the story we want, at the pace we want to tell it.

  11. Andrew Viertel

    You know, one thing that occurs to me…

    What I haven’t seen in Zombie Ranch is a lot of zombie ranching. There’s been discussion of the failsafe and such, and a lot of really excellent characterization and background, but we haven’t seen a zombie roundup or anything like that. The funny part is that the thought never even occured to me until this discussion so you must be doing something right.
    Also, how much time has passed since the story started?

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