The McDonnell Group

ATLANTA - Jun 4, 2010 - The Wright Brothers lived in an era of innovation as breakneck as our own.  As they built their company and arguably reinvented aeronautical engineering, making powered flight a reality, they were much in the press.  This smart grid blog post seeks to draw some parallels to today.

For smart grid entrepreneurs and utilities, much more needs to be done to articulate complex technology to business, consumer, and utility audiences, and to build a positive environment for the success and growth of smart grid.

There are moments when any entrepreneur can understand the appeal of a rough water crossing over facing “prying correspondents,” but the nearly 6,000 news clippings the Wright brothers generated from 1902-1914, reveal a media savvy that played a vital but little known role in their early success.

1. Integrate media strategy from the very start of your business plan.
Before they were known in engineering circles, the Wrights were a publishing family.  Their father, Bishop Wright, edited a religious journal, with help from his sons.  And just before the bike shop venture, Orville and Wilbur had been in publishing.  They started and ran a newspaper, The West Side News, and a printing/publishing business.  Their background as journalists likely helped guide their approach to publicity and the growth of their company through heady or challenging times.

2.  Establish your thought leadership by speaking and getting ink.
For a couple of self-taught guys without college degrees, establishing credibility among peers was vital.  The steps the Wrights followed to do so, are remarkably similar to those used today.
A. Get Speaking Opportunities before Key Audiences
B. Build Press Coverage from your Presentations

The 1902 Scientific American clip below cites Wilbur’s presentation of his paper “Some Aeronautical Experiments” to the Western Society of Engineers.  The first opportunity led to the next.

Skepticism and the need to “see to believe” drove a continued need for the Wrights to publish and speak. Many of the same outlets they’d approached when they joined the aeronautic community as learners, now sought them as teachers. A key report (akin to a white paper today) published by the Aero Club of America did much to advance their recognition as industry leaders. This 1908 Wright brother’s bylined piece in The Century Magazine was also influential.

3.  Communicate Visually.
For smart grid marketing to an engineering and business oriented audience, the power of accessible, graphic images should not be overlooked.  The Wright Brothers’ sketched, photographed, filmed, graphed, and charted their progress, making it measurable, tangible, and credible.  Note that both articles cited above included photos of the flight’s progress.  The Wrights used the latest technology to communicate visually, and would surely have been a YouTube and Twitter sensation.

The Wrights themselves had been influenced by the impact of visual press coverage of aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal.  As a Smithsonian Institution exhibit describes the impact:  “Lilienthal had a great psychological impact on aviation. Nicknamed “The Flying Man,” he was pictured soaring gracefully over hillsides in photos in newspapers and magazines the world over. Lilienthal’s fame and this visible proof that a human could fly inspired other experimenters.”

4.  Protect your Intellectual Property THEN Publicize.
How can you demonstrate how your smart grid technology works if you’re afraid that if you show it, it will be stolen?  The Wright Brothers ruffled a few feathers with their adamancy to procure patents on the many technologies they invented or improved.  Many in their day considered information sharing the right and noble path for any scientist.  The Wrights spent over three years working to get a patent for their first flyer.  The original filing, on March 23, 1903, was finally granted May 22, 1906 – but it was worth it.

First protect your product, then you will not be constrained by an inability to provide visuals to the media and prospective customers who want to see it. Lawsuits contesting Wright patents nevertheless went on for many years, even after Wilbur’s death in 1912.  Eventually, what came to be known as the “patent wars” took place across the U.S. and Europe.  Some, but not all, were resolved, but without careful record keeping, good lawyers, and a prescient approach to protecting their property, it would have been much worse.

The Wrights were not exhibitionists, however.  They kept in mind the goal of finding buyers and the test flights they arranged were demonstrations for potential buyers, like the U.S. military.

5.  Cultivate media relationships carefully.

Despite the headline that began this story, the Wrights knew that eluding the press is not a smart long term strategy.  They allowed independent writers, photographers, and filmmakers to witness their flight, and took steps to get coverage for it afterward. The article goes on to say that the Wrights were merely heading back to Ohio to see their family for Christmas.

Still, it is scary to invite scrutiny of one’s smart grid solution. When others tell your story, they may not tell it right, particularly when a lay or business reporter attempts to describe the fine points of your technology.  Worse, they may predict failure for you.  They may wish you ill.  The moment you release your news, you lose control of it.  The Wright Brothers experienced this many times.

“Inform Press.”  This two-word instruction implies that Orville knew his father the editor, would know what to do.  However, the best laid plans of even experienced media relations professionals can go awry.  According to Dr. Richard Stimson a Wright scholar, the Dayton Journal declined to cover the news.  Later, a telegraph operator leaked the news and it was picked up by several publications. Despite the historic significance of the news, it did not create an immediate public sensation.

Like Wilbur and Orville, you may be well aware that the hoped for glorious liftoff of your solution could just as easily crash and burn.   Despite the risks, it’s worth inviting the media early and often to witness the progress of your smart grid solutions.  Why?

A. Media coverage is a more powerful and convincing proponent of your technology than you can be.
B. Presumably, they are more objective.  At least, from the reader/audience view, they are not trying to sell something; you are.

Don’t underestimate the passion and articulacy of their advocacy on your behalf.  On the day of their first, fateful flight, the Wrights recorded their observations in a dry, factual journal.  Compare this to the description of the flight by Gleanings in Bee Culture writer Amos I. Root who witnessed it.

"When it first turned that circle, and came near the starting-point, I was right in front of it; and I said then, and I believe it still, it was one of the grandest sights, if not the grandest sight, of my life.  Imagine a locomotive that has left its track, and is climbing up in the air right towards you-a locomotive without any wheels, we will say, but with white wings instead, we will further say-a locomotive made of aluminum.  Well, now, imagine this white locomotive, with wings that spread 20 feet each way, coming right toward you with a tremendous flap of its propellers, and you will have something like what I saw.  The younger brother bade me move to one side for fear it might come down suddenly; but I tell you, friends, the sensation that one feels in such a crisis is something hard to describe."

Orville and Wilbur had met this writer, a fellow Ohioan who had traveled over 150 miles to witness their work, and allowed him to be one of the few reporters present for the historic flight.   Though quite a few inaccurate stories were written by people who weren’t actually present, the choice to give exclusive media access to Root resulted in invaluable, accurate, and downright impassioned coverage of their startup.

Stay tuned for Part 2...