DuckPunk Productions: Unleashing the Power of Storytelling in Business

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WEBC West. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Mellissa Tong with DuckPunk Productions. Welcome.

Mellissa Tong: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about DuckPunk Productions. How are you serving folks?

Mellissa Tong: Well, DuckPunk is an award winning storytelling agency and content production company. We have three different kinds of customers. We service corporations, mid-size as well as small business owners, and we create authentic brand storylines that are relevant and relatable to your target audience across all delivery mediums, including TV commercials, broadcasts, social media content, websites, verbal pitching, a presentation deck, a written statement. I mean, anything that will serve, you know, your audience. And that’s kind of and we have been around for 24 years now.

Lee Kantor: Is there a story behind the name?

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, absolutely. So I get asked that a lot. So the story behind the name is back in 2000, I was trying to find a name for the company, and I was at this lake feeding a bunch of ducks with breadcrumbs. And there came this dog with a mohawk, just like my logo. And after 45 minutes, you know, my back was getting empty and I was throwing the last breadcrumbs into the lake. And this Mohawk duck was still charge over to get to the food. So I kept looking at him, thinking, wow, you’re one tiny dog. All the other dogs were like, done, you know? They were like, I’m full, I’m just hanging out. And this dog, he would not give up. He kept trying to eat. So I thought, wow, how can you be eating so much? You just one tiny dog? How much more can you eat? So that night I went home. I just couldn’t shake that image off my head. So I started playing with the word punk. Punk rock and mohawk. And six weeks later I decided to name my company Dog Punk. But that’s half of the story. So at the time, my justification was because my last name is Tom. So by alphabetical order, I’m always on the last or second last page. So I thought if I have a company name I don’t want to be on at the very end. So instead of calling it, you know, Punk Dog, I flipped it and call it Dog Punk, but that’s really half of the story. Years later, as a minority woman working in advertising entertainment, I cannot tell you how many hurdles I have to jump through. And every time I fall, I have to jump through a hurdle. I have to remind myself to be like him and never give up. So that’s my deathpunk story.

Lee Kantor: There you go. Very inspirational. And on brand. That sounds on brand too. Very, very congruent. Congruent messaging and congruent. You know intention. So. And is that part of kind of the secret to storytelling to be authentic like that and to have the ability to really get clarity and simplicity when it comes to sharing a message?

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, absolutely. I cannot tell you. I mean, I, you know, we do TV commercials, right? So oftentimes, um, you know, TV commercials, you know, I mean, I do TV commercials, don’t get me wrong, but but not every single TV commercial comes from a real, authentic story, right? Some do, some don’t. And when it comes, you know, and construct from an authentic idea that that spot will really, you know, um, just, just, you know, it will just become so much more popular because at the end of the day, right, We gravitate towards, you know, real, authentic stories. So that’s why, you know, my brand is about crafting authentic brand storylines that are relevant and relatable. You can make up stories, you know, there’s nothing wrong with it. But in order to really capture people’s attention and get people’s, you know, buy in to your brand and be able to connect with people on an emotional level. Nothing beats authentic.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you’re working with your clients, how do you kind of bubble up those kind of stories that will resonate with an audience? Do you have some way of onboarding them or some questions you ask to help to get to the heart of what they’re trying to accomplish?

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, absolutely. So before I started my company, I actually began my career as a TV newscaster. And at the time, besides anchoring the news, they also put me in charge of a daily five minute human interest segment where I could cover anything but hot news. So in those four years, I interviewed thousands. I mean, you know, um, you know, thousands of people from all walks of life and crafted over 1200 on air stories. So now when I do storytelling, I bring all that interviewing skills to my clients, and I have a set of questions that I ask them in order to really find out what their brand is about, who they are, what makes them different, and why people should buy from them, versus, you know, their competitors. So I dig deep. You know, sometimes we sometimes we go way back to people’s childhood in order to really find out why they wanted to do the business, why did they start the business now?

Lee Kantor: Do you find that today’s audience is a little more sophisticated and maybe a little more cynical when it comes to stories that they are kind of looking to gravitate to the truth, to something that’s authentic, and they’re getting a little tired of things that are too slick and too, you know, perfect.

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, I would agree with you. I think, you know, with with such a crowded marketplace, right? People definitely, you know, gravitate toward more, um, on authentic storytelling because, you know, like, you know, when when a brand is trying too hard, um, when when it’s like, it’s like you have to be transparent these days because with social media and everything, it’s very, very easy to find out what you’re about. You know, if you say one thing and then on your website, you say something else, or you say one thing and then you’re in your written materials, you say something else. It’s just very, very easy to spot. So obviously, if you want to be on brand, um, you have to stay true to your voice and you have to stay true to, to your basically to your brand, because otherwise it’s not going to resonate.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, when when you’re working with clients, do you tend to work with B2C, B2B, or are you kind of industry agnostic?

Speaker4: No, we.

Mellissa Tong: We do all kinds of industries, but we are pretty much, I would say 95% B2B, uh, from time to time, we may have a client, you know, that is B2C. So I’ll give you an example. Um, so last year we did have a B2C client, and she’s a very seasoned CFO. And she came to me because she said, okay, I’m looking, I’m looking to jump ship. And I’ve been getting a ton of, you know, interviews, but I wasn’t getting callbacks, so I don’t know what I’m doing, you know, wrong. But I want to in order to, you know, land the job, I have to be able to get more callbacks. So we started working together and I helped her reframe the way she asked, you know, she answered her questions, and eventually she started getting callbacks and she landed, you know, her, um, quarter of $1 million job. So she’s very happy. So once in a while we’ll get a client like that. But mostly we’re B2B.

Lee Kantor: And where do they come? What problem are they coming to you with? Are they just coming to you with, hey, we want to do a commercial or we want to do some video, or are they is it more kind of a strategic problem of like, we have to increase sales or we want to. Increase brand awareness more of.

Mellissa Tong: More of more of a more of a strategy for sure. Because we. Like I said, we’re not limited to just doing videos anymore. So before Covid, we were primarily. Doing storytelling on video. But now we have opened it up. So now you don’t have to do a store. You don’t have to do it on a video. You can, like I said, we can help you do your pitch. We can help you. Do a presentation deck. We can help you, you know, tell your story on your capability statement, I mean. You know, now we across different mediums. So usually people recognize that. Oh, you know, our sales is getting. A little stagnant or we really want to grow. But how do we get there. Yeah. So it’s more of a strategy. Thing when they come to us and they really want to, you know, utilize the power of storytelling. And use storytelling to really drive sales and get the results that they’re looking for and storytelling.

Lee Kantor: Kind of can go across channels, right. Like you probably help them craft a message for, you know. That that classic elevator pitch, all the way to a message if they were keynoting a speech.

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, absolutely. We’ve we have helped, you know, quite a number of people, you know, um, uh, you know, basically put a storytelling spin on the keynote speeches so they can, you know, get, um, so they can be a little bit more engaging because sometimes, you know, when you talk, it’s very easy if you’re not aware of, of of doing it in a storytelling format, you can it’s very easy to get into, into the mode of, oh, I’m just giving you facts, right? I’m just giving you data. I’m giving you facts. But without the stories, you know, our brains are not wired to just capture data and facts. Our brain eventually will tune out. So that’s why, you know, doing, getting the facts out, getting the data out in a storytelling format will help people absorb, you know, the information so much better and easier.

Lee Kantor: Is there any kind of do’s and don’ts you can share with our audience when it comes to storytelling? Are there things you should do and things you shouldn’t do.

Mellissa Tong: Um, I guess I guess in storytelling, my, my number one thing is always, you know, be authentic because nothing beats real. So even I mean, I’ve heard some crazy stories over the years, and even if the story is crazy, but as long as it’s real, then it’s fine because it’s real, right? You can’t you can’t argue that. So I would say the number one thing is be authentic. And then I would say the number two thing is really make it relevant for your audience. I have actually seen, you know, very, very established, you know, speakers speaking on stage. And then they they were doing okay with the stories, but the stories don’t really have any relevance to the target audience. So the audience was sitting there thinking, okay, why, why, why are we listening to this? So really make sure that whatever story you’re using and telling it is relevant and relatable to your target audience, because otherwise it’s not going to have any effect. And then I think the third piece is really, you know.

Speaker4: I mean.

Mellissa Tong: Obviously, you know, in the B2B world, you’re using storytelling to drive sales and get more customers. So really, really spend time on finding, you know, what sets you apart. And I think this is a very, very common challenge for a lot of businesses. I mean, sometimes I work with businesses who are over 30 years, over 30 years old, and they still can’t really articulate what sets them apart. So I think this is the key point. You know, a differentiator should be something that you can claim and nobody else can claim. So I think, you know, if you have those three things lined up, it will definitely help you, you know, um, get further with your story.

Lee Kantor: And something that I find at least it doesn’t resonate with me is when they they’re telling a story, but it gets too salesy. Like all of a sudden it became a sales pitch. And it’s not a story anymore. Like, how do you kind of help your client not kind of go into buy my stuff mode, you know, when you’re trying to. Really share a story that’s going to articulate that point of differentiation or what makes you special, but you don’t want it to be like a sales pitch, like it’s kind of art and science.

Mellissa Tong: It is definitely an art and science. So I would say, I would say if you come from a place of serving, like, okay, how am I serving my clients with my service or products, then it will automatically not become salesy. But if you’re trying to sell something, then immediately your brain will go to the sales mode and then you will become a salesman. So I think you just have to kind of maybe set your intention and really figure out, okay, am I here to sell or am I here to serve? I think if you get clear on on serving versus selling, then then you should be able to stay away from, you know, the salesy mode.

Lee Kantor: And I would think that this is where having an expert like you come in and listen and and share your best practices, you can help a client kind of avoid those kind of big missteps.

Mellissa Tong: Yeah, absolutely. So we’ve done a lot of, um, you know, sales and communication trainings and, um, that’s where you kind of learn how to differentiate and then and then practice so that you don’t go into the sales mode too often.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you and your firm to become part of the WebEx community? What were you hoping to get out of it?

Mellissa Tong: I love Webank, you know, I, I have been certified as a minority business owner for years. Um, since 2005. And over the years, people have asked me, oh, how come you don’t, you know, how come you don’t get certified as a woman owner? And I and, you know, my my excuse was, oh, I don’t need I don’t need both. You know, one is enough. And it’s true. You know, I don’t really need both. But at the same time, you know, I was totally missing out until, you know, several years ago, I finally, um, I finally, you know, did my read my certification, and and I cannot tell you it’s a world of difference for me. Um, I, you know, I love, you know, having a, um, a close circle of women owned, um, you know, of women business owners because we share the same struggles, right? We regardless of how big or how small business is, we, we we share the same struggle. We we have to hustle. We have to get it together. We have to, you know, we have to make sales. We have to, you know, um, do all these things that, you know, any, any business owners have to do. So just having that camaraderie and having a close group of women that I can, you know, call upon, you know, when I have, you know, when I have a challenge, you know, when I want to get a simple opinion about certain things, you know, and it’s been great. Um, and, um, and I really liked sort of that the supportive environment, that camaraderie that I get from being part of the whole, you know, band network. So I love KeyBank, and everywhere I go, I keep asking people, hey, have you, have you, have you, you know, certified as a woman owned.

Lee Kantor: Now for you? Um, what who is that ideal client that you’re looking to have a conversation with next? Like, um, who’s who is the ideal client for DuckPunk productions?

Speaker4: So we sort.

Mellissa Tong: Of have, um, we sort of have three tracks. Um, so we continue to shoot TV commercials and branded content, you know, for our corporate clients like Nissan and Verizon and Wells Fargo. Um, and then for the mid-sized businesses, we function as the fractional CMO. But something new that we just started to do is, um, over the years, people have asked me, oh, so I do a lot of workshops, you know, I’ve done it for, you know, KeyBank, National, Navajo, National, um, L.A. mayor’s office, um, SoCal gas, San Diego Gas and Electric. So over the years, people have asked me, oh, how can you? How come you don’t do any workshops on your own? And I did it a few times at the very beginning, but I stopped doing it because, you know, I, I didn’t want to spend too much energy trying to get, you know, people to sign up and do all that. But, um. Um, people were saying, okay, you should have something that is self-paced so that we can, you know, learn, learn on our own. You don’t have to worry about, you know, who’s showing up. So I finally listened. And now, um, next month, we are launching a course called Story Selling. And it is mastering the Art of storytelling to attract more customers. Um, and we have three parts. Part one is, um, crafting an impactful elevator pitch to close more sales. Part two is crafting a buzzworthy brand story to stand out from your competitors. And part three is how to be a rockstar on camera and tell your story on video. So I believe this is, you know, um, a very comprehensive course for people who want to further their storytelling skills, who want to get more customers and who want to get very clear on their differentiators so they can use it to attract more customers and win more business.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wanted to learn more about the firm or have a more substantive conversation with you, or learn about that course, what is the website?

Mellissa Tong: The website is very easy to find. Is DuckPunk Dot net. So it’s DuckPunk dot net.

Lee Kantor: Well, Mellissa, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Speaker4: Sure.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.

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