The Wolf of Franchises: Unwinding the Thread

The Wolf of Franchises: Unwinding the Thread

The more I think about the purpose of this series, the more I find myself returning to the idea of recognizing the legitimacy of Twitter (particularly threads) as a vessel for the same type of creativity that one used to find in the pages of a magazine or the archives of a blog.

And just like in those more traditional spaces, differentiation is key.

In the 2nd installment of Unwinding the Thread, I'm breaking down the success of The Wolf of Franchises. I chose to take on The Wolf as a follow-up to Nathan Baugh, the subject of the newsletter's debut, because of their contrasting approaches and brands.

While Nathan's a storyteller's storyteller, a broadly focused writer with a strong brand but no strict boundaries, The Wolf's brand and his threads are in lock-step.

Coming from the franchise world, he plays to his strengths and expertise.

That starts with his Twitter name and is bolstered by his unwavering commitment to the subject matter of franchises. There's no mistaking what you're getting from The Wolf of Franchises, which reduces friction in the reader-to-follower conversion funnel.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, he has a monopoly. Others may do a one-off thread here and there that touches on the franchise industry, but there's nobody with a fraction of his audience consistently working within this niche.

Ok, rambling preamble over and time to dive into one of my favorite threads from The Wolf on Chick-Fil-A.

One of the benefits of having such a strong brand is that The Wolf can opt to skip the usually-required hook. Or, at least, the commonly accepted wisdom. 

"Chick-Fil-A is closed every Sunday."

• This isn't some little-known fact. It's actually one of the first things people talk about when Chick-Fil-A is brought up. Despite lacking the classic jaw-dropping effect, this opener is highly effective as a result of The Wolf's easily understood and beloved brand. All we need to know is he's going to be taking on Chick-Fil-A, the trust that a compelling story will follow has already been established.

"Despite being open 52 less days each year, they generate more revenue per location than ANY restaurant in the world."

• More of the traditional shocker, this line builds off the opener by explicitly connecting something most of us already know with something most of us never would have guessed.

"Their success is no accident. Here's how they did it"

• By making this point, regarding the intentionality of the business model and the promise to explain it, readers know their curiosity will be quenched.

Not to be overlooked here is the choice of the image. Anecdotally, starting a thread with a string picture to catch the eye is basically Twitter thread gospel.

It's a classic Chick-Fil-A bilboard, but given the iconic nature of their tagline, as well as the fact that Twitter feeds don't typically feature many images of billboards, it works as additional gravitational pull for readers.

Starting from the beginning:

• Linear narratives are the easiest to digest, not only because of their simplicity, but because we have grown accustomed to this style over the course of our lives — meaning no matter the subject, identifiable structure helps bridge the gap.

• The Wolf often begins his stories in this second Tweet, providing a brief origin story accompanied by a picture — particularly ones that few have ever seen.

• By using a relatively unimportant but interesting tidbit ("Dwarf House"), readers are offered a nugget of intrigue in the midst of the "eat your vegetables" part of the story.

Quick Bridge to Accelerate the Story

• Identifying a catalyst with a serendipitous meeting. This sets the stage for the journey toward success the audience is expecting.

It's Not as Simple as it Seems.

• A killer element to any thread is flipping the audience's preconceived notions. When you read about the success of Chick-Fil-A, the business structure is the facet of the story that is expected to drive the growth of the company — not the "simple" product.

• This takes that assumption and flips it on its head. The sandwich might seem basic, but The Wolf is letting you know it came from a rigorous process. The formula was "perfected" into the classic sandwich we know today after "hundreds of trials." Especially in a business context, including some sort of Gladwell-esque 10,000 hours story always seems to hit home.

• Wrapping up with a quote from the source itself, not only does it elevate the importance of those trials, but it provides a new look at the value of the product that we take for granted.

Continuing the Narrative & Setting up Takeaways

• Following along with the established narrative structure, with some fun facts sprinkled in, the thread pivots to open the door for the boiled-down "this is what they came for" portion — which relies heavily on The Wolf's personal brand as an expert in the space,

Takeaway No. 1

• Moving to a list-based structure.

• Open with a simple, but surprising line: "Fund stores using profits only" — I thought leverage was the key to success! Tell me more...

• Describing the origin of the somewhat unorthodox strategy.

• Ending with the most shocking fact of them all... a major brand like Chick-Fil-A still has basically zero debt.

Takeaway No. 2

• Two-pronged approach to establishing the brand as a differentiator — both containing facts 99.9% of us would never know.

Back to Expertise

• Using expertise to break-down the material effects of these strategic decisions and the flywheel it creates.

• Supplementing with topical, shareable memes and graphics.

• Offers up the meat of the thread with a digestible thesis that is backed up by the narrative and addresses questions before they arise...

Finish with Curiousity

• Yeah... if it's as easy as you say, why isn't it the accepted wisdom?