Everyone nods when you mention storytelling in marketing. It's like saying "content is king" or "customer experience matters"—universal truths that get universal agreement. But here's the uncomfortable reality: maybe 5% of marketers actually do storytelling well.
The rest confuse calls-to-action with storytelling. They mistake positioning statements for narrative. They create campaigns that check the "story" box without ever making anyone feel anything.
Matt Frisbie knows the difference. His journey from Disney artist to CMO of Axomo reveals what real storytelling looks like—and why it's the difference between campaigns that work and campaigns that just exist.
Frisbie's path started with a pencil and a dream of becoming a Disney artist. As a classically trained illustrator, he learned something most marketers never grasp: every element in a frame tells a story by design.
"If you put a figure alone with a lot of negative space, you create the feeling of being alone," Frisbie explains. "If you put the person around a lot of food, that means love. If you have tension, you know, that creates angst."
This isn't accidental. It's intentional storytelling through design—a technical skill that requires understanding how visual elements affect human emotion. As an illustrator creating images from scratch, Frisbie had to master the art of making people feel something specific.
Most marketers never learned this foundation. They inherited templates and best practices without understanding the psychology behind why certain layouts, colors, or compositions work.
In illustration school, Frisbie studied Robert McKee's "Story"—the definitive book on narrative structure. McKee breaks down "Casablanca" not as the best story ever told, but as the best job of telling a story.
"It doesn't mean it's the best story," Frisbie notes. "It does the best job of telling a story of moving a narrative with characters, with supporting characters, shot selection, timing."
The key insight? Supporting characters provide third-party validation instead of self-promotion. Rick doesn't tell you he's honorable—other characters demonstrate his integrity through their dialogue and actions. The audience experiences the story rather than being told about it.
This principle transforms marketing. Instead of declaring your product's benefits, you architect experiences where customers discover those benefits through the narrative journey.
Most people describe Disneyland as a theme park or permanent carnival. Walt Disney had a different vision entirely.
"As a child, Walt would watch animations or films and have the desire to be there," Frisbie explains. "What if I could be inside of a movie, walking around with the characters in the film? That's Disneyland."
Frontierland isn't just Wild West theming—it's walking through a Western with film characters. Tomorrowland is experiencing sci-fi. Adventureland drops you into African jungle adventures.
"You got to be in any movie you want and you just walk to the next movie," Frisbie says. "They want you to be a participant in the story."
This participation principle separates great brands from commodity businesses. When customers participate in your story instead of just consuming your products, you've transcended transactional relationships.
When customers are wrapped up in your story rather than evaluating individual products, something powerful happens: you earn permission to be marketed to.
"As a consumer, I'm wrapped up in your story, not the one or two products that you have to offer," Frisbie explains. "You then have the permission to be marketed to because you've captured me."
This isn't just emotional manipulation—it's sound financial strategy. Story-driven brands can launch new products, enter new categories, and command premium pricing because customers are invested in the narrative, not just individual offerings.
Consider Liquid Death: four-dollar canned water that has people lining up to buy it. On paper, it makes no sense. In practice, it's storytelling genius.
The brand didn't improve the product—water is water. They improved the story around the product, transforming a commodity into a lifestyle statement. Customers aren't buying hydration; they're buying participation in the Liquid Death narrative.
Frisbie identifies a pattern similar to 3D animation's uncanny valley. There's mediocre "food on the table" marketing that optimizes CTAs and gets sites live. Then there are breakthrough storytelling successes like Liquid Death.
The dangerous middle ground is where half-hearted stories fall flat—brands that go halfway on storytelling or tell cute stories that don't actually resonate.
"The only way you hit a home run is if you swing, but when you swing, you have a chance to strike out," Frisbie says about the risk of taking creative swings.
The solution isn't avoiding risk—it's doing homework. "When you make quick decisions, you make the riskiest decisions. When you really do your homework, you practice and you prepare, you're going to be ready to tell that story."
As CMO at Little Giant, Frisbie faced a classic marketing challenge: selling safety products to customers who wanted to be seen as dangerous.
The ladder industry targets professionals in high-risk jobs—electricians, steel workers, construction crews. These buyers work in 11 of the 25 most dangerous jobs in the world. Many receive hazard pay because their work is literally deadly.
Traditional safety messaging missed the mark entirely. "They'll never admit that they like that," Frisbie realized about safety features. "They want to do the dangerous thing and then make sure that they got their back."
The breakthrough moment came at a trade show. Frisbie witnessed a husband and wife arguing in their booth—she was emotional because he'd nearly died in a ladder fall. "You almost didn't come home," she wept.
That conversation revealed the real story: it wasn't just about the buyer. The influencer (spouse) and the end user had different emotional needs, but both centered on respect for the danger these professionals face daily.
Instead of leading with safety, Little Giant pivoted to "respecting danger." Every piece of marketing honored the skill, courage, and risk these professionals take on.
"The whole customer journey was like respecting danger, respecting danger, respecting danger," Frisbie explains. "They felt seen."
The results were immediate. Sales teams said they had "goosebumps" because they finally had weapons to go to war with. Influencers started requesting partnership opportunities. The campaign began taking market share in an established, generational industry where everyone already knew each other.
When COVID hit, Little Giant couldn't do in-person ladder demonstrations. Instead of accepting video conference limitations, they built something unprecedented.
The team constructed a multi-camera studio with nine PTZ cameras and situation rooms. Instead of talking heads, they created immersive experiences where viewers could see ladder demonstrations from every angle—cameras going up ladders, down ladders, all around the room.
"We wanted to be able to blow their minds," Frisbie says. "Most video conferences, most video training is a talking head."
The innovation was so effective that Zoom reached out asking how they were pulling it off. They won awards for retailer training programs. Most importantly, they kept selling when competitors struggled.
The principle behind the success: they had the same number of pixels as competitors but refused to think inside conventional constraints.
Through his experiences, Frisbie discovered a fundamental truth about human psychology: "Feeling understood is the sexiest feeling in the universe. Not being attractive, not being funny, feeling understood."
This insight explains why certain brands create cult-like followings while others struggle for basic recognition. When customers feel truly understood, they don't just buy—they become evangelists.
"That's how affairs happen is at work. People feel understood. That's how you fall in love with someone. That's how you fall in love with a brand," Frisbie explains.
At Axomo, Frisbie applies this principle through what he calls the Queen Vicky method. Instead of building composite personas from data, they identified a real customer who uses their swag management platform exactly as designed.
Queen Vicky isn't a spreadsheet—she's a real person. Frisbie flies out for lunch with her. They sent custom Taylor Swift baby packages when she had a child. The entire company rallies around "All hell to Queen Vicky."
"Everything we build is to get more and more Vickys," Frisbie says. This approach ensures every product decision, marketing campaign, and customer experience improvement serves real human needs rather than theoretical market segments.
Great storytellers practice like elite athletes. Tiger Woods takes a thousand touches with his club before tournaments. Steph Curry shoots hundreds of times before games look effortless.
"In a game, it looks like he's making everything, but you didn't see the thousands of misses before that were very intentional," Frisbie notes.
Marketing storytelling requires the same deliberate practice. Test small campaigns while paying attention to responses. Iterate based on real feedback, not assumptions. Build confidence through repetition before taking big swings.
The best insights often come from unexpected moments—conversations at trade shows, emotional customer reactions, offhand comments during research calls.
But serendipity requires presence. "You can't run across it unless you're out there moving and listening," Frisbie points out.
This drives analytical marketers crazy because it's unknowable. You might talk to 10 people and get the insight, or you might need 50 conversations. The key is accepting that discovery can't be forced—only facilitated through consistent engagement.
Frisbie's final advice is simple but profound: "Take the swing. You're talented. The opportunities have come to you. Take the swing."
Fear of failure keeps most marketers playing it safe. But safe swings rarely create breakthrough results. "When you see yourself do it, you know that you can do it again and again," he explains.
The goal isn't perfection—it's progress through action. Every swing teaches something, whether it connects or misses.
Frisbie poses a provocative question: what's the highest form of art in the world?
His answer: advertising.
"It's creating an asset, an image that gets people to act. Get your wallet out of your back pocket because I made this piece of this image, this video, a sound bite that you're going to act."
When you look at the Mona Lisa, you wonder if she's smiling. When you see great marketing, you reach for your wallet. That's the difference between admiration and action.
Mastering this art requires understanding psychology, human behavior, and the technical craft of narrative construction. It demands the patience to truly listen to customers and the courage to take creative risks.
Most importantly, it requires recognizing that storytelling in marketing isn't about you—it's about helping customers see themselves as the hero of their own journey, with your product or service playing the supporting role that helps them succeed.
The magic happens when customers stop evaluating your features and start participating in your story. That's when marketing transcends transaction and becomes transformation.
“We spent months researching our customers before launching anything. Tiger Woods gets a thousand touches with the club before a tournament—in the game it looks like he's making everything, but you didn't see the thousands of misses that were very intentional. I remember an agency that had 'fail fast' above the door. I agree with that while you're paying attention—take smaller swings, see some responses, then iterate based on what you learn.” - Matt Frisbie
02:35 - From Disney animator to marketing leader
06:51 - Creative skills in the boardroom
13:08 - "Rage clicks" and user frustration signals
23:44 - AI reality check vs. hype
31:47 - Reactive vs. proactive analytics
41:53 - Stay nimble for industry changes
"Story" by Robert McKee - Matt's go-to storytelling reference
"So God Made a Farmer" Super Bowl ad - Perfect example of honoring an underappreciated audience
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Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfrisbie/
Connect with Paxton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paxtongray/
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Matt Frisbee went from Disney performer to marketing executive, and is one of the best storytellers around. In this conversation, Matt breaks down the art of storytelling in marketing, shares how he built breakthrough campaigns at Little Giant Ladder Systems, and explains why "feeling understood is the sexiest feeling in the universe."
This is a masterclass in taking calculated risks, doing the deep research work that most people skip, and why feeling understood by a brand is what drives real customer loyalty.
