The book features a special foreword from client William Shatner and an afterword from Pintauro, and has since become an instant Amazon #1 bestseller. The book can also be found on the bookshelves in popular indie bookstores like Austin’s BookPeople and L.A.’s Book Soup next to business bestsellers such as Simon Sinek’s Start with Why and Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson.
Throughout the book, the two PR and media industry veterans detail proven strategies and insider tips to tell a story that really matters and gets noticed. They emphasize this as the key to standing out in today’s chaotic, cluttered, and fragmented media environment. The book is full of current examples from pop culture, politics, and business. And bold tales of rugged entrepreneurism and interesting personal stories take the reader deeper into the concepts.
Making Pandemic Lemonade
Within months, COVID-19 emerged and almost instantly altered every aspect of our lives, including how we work and where we live.
Steven and Garrett decided to make proverbial lemonade out of very sour lemons by moving away from the gridlocked freeways of Los Angeles and towards two cities that had been calling to them. Steven moved to the brand and startup incubating boomtown of Austin, Texas. And Garrett found his home in the tranquil LGBTQ and design mecca of Palm Springs, California – a stone’s throw away from L.A.
“We had the perfect opportunity to re-envision all aspects of the business and our work and personal lives,” says Le Vine.
“We leveraged the trend of remote work, remote teams, and the dissolving need for corporate office space to help re-imagine our firm,” McClure further explains.
This was just the beginning of what would become an accelerated evolution and expansion of the GVG Agency brand.
Demand for GVG's services and roster began reflecting Garrett’s deep experience in advertising, tech, and coaching, and Austin’s eclectic Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands. The pair decided to meet this trend by launching two new divisions: Brands & Experts.
These practices joined their existing specialization in high-profile celebrities and continued emphasis in serving LGBTQ+ and BIPOC clients. (In 2007, The Advocate referred to Grapevine PR as the “first firm specifically serving gay clientele.”)
Stories That F*cking Matter Takes Shape:
During this time their signature storytelling model, Stories That F*cking Matter, also began to emerge.
Over the years, Steven had received numerous requests to put out a book. Despite having a lifetime of thrilling anecdotes to share, such as accompanying his client on Madonna’s MDNA World Tour across Europe, volunteering with clients in Africa, and more, he remained patient for the right time.
“I’ll never forget sitting with Garrett in my favorite coffee shop, deconstructing our entire process for securing clients press. It all comes down to their story,” Steven recalls. “At the end, this really simple but incredibly powerful storytelling framework revealed itself.”
The two quickly got to work writing the book. And by the end of 2022, Stories That F*cking Matter: Three Pillars of Epic Storytelling to Dominate Media Headlines, Win Clients and Grow Your Business, was released.
To read the SWAGGER cover story in-full, go here.
For more, please visit gvgagency.com or get the book at Amazon.
Comments