TinTin For Product Companies,Start Ups And Entrepreneurs

I first saw a Tin Tin book when I was 5 years old. We were visiting a relative and I saw ‘Tin Tin In Tibet’ lying on a table. I picked it up, attracted by its colorful front page, the smooth texture of its pages and the unique layout of images inside. I browsed through the book casually only to put it down minutes later - I was simply too young to read it. ‘Tin Tin’ as a name however stayed on in memory.

My next meeting with Tin Tin took place 4 years later when I came by a book titled ‘The Crab With The Golden Claws’. This was the first Tin Tin book I actually read and in the years that followed I read the entire series. While those were still childhood years, Tin Tin left an indelible impression. Many years later I revisited the series and realized it had lessons for product companies, startups and entrepreneurs.

As a product, the first thing that strikes you about a Tin Tin paperback is its appearance, external as well as internal. The paper is of a very high quality, the drawings inside the book are very clean as also expressive and the text appears as being handwritten, all of which give the book a very personalized look and feel. Its visual appeal is quite simply tremendous and you are invariably gripped by a ‘I wish I can buy that book…” feel. There is a lesson there for anyone who would like instant product acceptance in the market.

All Tin Tin books without exception come across as being the end result of deep research. For one, all the stories have a realistic 20th century backdrop which ensured that readers were able to relate to them immediately. Tin Tin first appeared in a French magazine in 1929 and from that point in time, it went on to reflect 20th century history - the industrial and commercial revolution in the United States accompanied by gang rivalry in urban America ( 'Tin Tin In America') , invention of subtle weapons of mass destruction and the race to get hold of them at all costs by different nations ( 'The Calculus Affair') , the battle for Middle Eastern oil and resultant political upheavals ( 'Land of Black Gold' and 'The Red Sea Sharks') ,the Cold War ( 'King Ottokar’s Sceptre' and 'The Calculus Affair'), gypsies amidst the assured peace , calm and plenty of post war countryside Western Europe ( 'The Castafiore Emerald'), the Japanese occupation of China (' The Blue Lotus') and the struggle for South American oilfields and natural resources (' The Broken Ear'). That I suppose is the second lesson from Georges Remi, Tin Tin’s creator who wrote under the pen name ‘Herge’. If you want a successful product you had better build it on a foundation of deep research and ensure it is in tune with the times.

Tin Tin has a specific lesson for entrepreneurs which is that ‘slow and steady invariably wins the race’. While Tin Tin started as a small series in a French magazine it progressed gradually to becoming a full-fledged comic book series. It took time but as public acceptance increased the books went on to acquire an international following. What started as a serialized comic strip went on to sell more than 200 million copies in more than 70 languages and was eventually adapted to television, radio, theatre and films. Herge was in no hurry and wrote all the books straight from his heart. That is the feel I got anyway. Most of the books I read were second hand, as a brand new paperback was prohibitively expensive in India in the late seventies and early eighties. Nonetheless that feel of being produced ‘straight from the heart’ remained. If your product comes straight from your heart it will sell big time – eventually. Today, Tin Tin features on postage stamps and there is even an exclusive Tin Tin shop, a classic example of how a quality product acquires enduring fame.

The other thing that struck me about Tin Tin is his character. He comes across as being very impartial and objective in his assessment of the varied situations around him, to the point of being neutral and at times somewhat plain – perhaps bland would be a better word. He does not throw temper tantrums like Captain Haddock nor does he exhibit the idiosyncrasies of Professor Calculus or the incompetence of Thomson and Thompson nor the excessive and meek introvertedness of Nestor. He is an efficient and effective investigative reporter, brave and resourceful, especially in times of crisis, making best use of what he has and always keenly intelligent and intuitive.

In ‘Prisoners Of The Sun’ ,he infers from the contents of a torn newspaper that a solar eclipse was due to occur over the Andes and uses that information to free himself and his friends from an Inca king. In ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’ he has another great eureka moment when he realizes that the globe he and Captain Haddock are holding in the basement of Marlinspike Hall is actually the container of the treasure and that the latitude and longitude mentioned in three parchment scrolls indicated a button on that very globe which when pressed caused the globe to open, revealing emeralds , rubies and other treasures inside. In ‘King Ottokar’s Sceptre’ , he is at his observant best again when he realizes that the King’s sceptre has been launched through the castle windows using the spring and shutter mechanism of a camera placed on a vertical stand. Tin Tin comes across as being very good, clean and authentic in a real world. A product inventor, product owner or entrepreneur would always like to emulate that.

Tin Tin comics as a product are marked by great variety – there is pure comic book fantasy ( 'The Black Island' ) , political fiction ( 'The Calculus Affair', 'The Shooting Star', 'The Red Sea Sharks' and 'Tin Tin And The Picaros' ) , scientific fantasy of the time ( 'Destination Moon' ,'Explorers On The Moon' and 'Tin Tin And The Lake Of Sharks') and even a book where in the final analysis the reader goes through the entire plot to realize that in truth, nothing much happened in the book at all ( 'The Castafiore Emerald'). Successful products are similar – they offer great variety and hence value for money.

The other thing I must mention about Tin Tin books is the subtleness with which they offer political and cultural commentary – in 'Tin Tin In Tibet' , Captain Haddock finally gets his own back from an irate porter on the road who yells at him in Hindi saying , “ Well Sir, don’t you see what lies ahead when you walk ?!!” In the same book, Captain Haddock observes an airport desk officer fiddling with a rubber band and bursts out laughing when it comes off suddenly, slamming in to the officer’s nose. When the officer looks at the Captain rather sternly the latter apologizes. Product inventors and entrepreneurs should maintain awareness of political and cultural nuances when they develop their products or ideas.

Throughout the series, slapstick humor alternates with swashbuckling enthusiasm only to be followed by sophisticated and at times hidden satire. Tin Tin is always very alert and open – in 'The Calculus Affair' he realizes that Professor Calculus’s release warrant is in Colonel Sponz’s coat which is hung in the very closet where he and Captain Haddock are hiding. He swiftly takes it in to his possession and proceeds to obtain Calculus’s release, accompanied by Captain Haddock. In ‘The Crab With The Golden Claws’, he explores the possibility of hollow wine barrels with hinges being a passageway to underground cellars , a situation that is repeated in ‘Cigars Of The Pharoah’ where he discovers a round opening in a hollow tree leading to a similar underground cellar. Product inventors and entrepreneurs could do something similar – explore the possibility of the improbable.

Tin Tin's support cast is strong - Jolyon Wagg, Nestor, Bianca Castafiore, Irma, General Alcazar, Rastapopulos, Alan and Mueller are all very real life characters that the reader can relate to.Tin Tin is as much a product of effects as it is of graces, a fact that product inventors will find particularly useful. A Tin Tin book keeps you enthralled and seldom if ever would you put the book down without finishing it end to end, a tribute to Herge's story telling skills.

Moreover, Tin Tin is not all success either. If he has his moments of intuitive brilliance, he also has his moments of failure, as in ‘King Ottokar’s Sceptre’ when he deliberately misses a step while alighting from a small airplane in an attempt to remove Professor Alembic’s false beard. The man was actually the professor’s twin , the beard was real and Tin Tin falls flat on the ground. That’s fine – failures are a part of life and need to be taken for what they are – stepping stones to success.

Finally, Tin Tin is a comic book, first and last. The hero of the adventures is a very human personality with a genuine Boy Scout feel about him. Tin Tin does not have the supernatural powers of a Superman nor is he assisted by pygmy bandar like Phantom nor does he have the hypnotic powers of Mandrake nor for that matter does he have the magic potion of Asterix. While he has his dog Snowy who helps him in tight situations by biting through ropes and also by being his constant emotional support, Tin Tin essentially makes his own luck by being street smart and plucky. Successful product inventors and entrepreneurs do much the same.

Indeed, Tin Tin is always seen to demonstrate timely common sense, keen presence of mind, unflinching determination and a cool temperament.I guess entrepreneurs and product innovators will take heart from all this – they need neither magic potion nor hypnotic magic to succeed - only common sense, loads of enthusiasm and sincerity while retaining their hold on real life.

If at all there is an anomaly in the books it is simply this – while Tin Tin is a reporter and excels at investigative journalism, he is never depicted as actually turning in a story or a report to a boss or manager at the end of his adventures – rather he appears to be caught in them quite by chance, investigates events as they occur and wins the day in the end.

That then is Tin Tin , an inspiration for start ups, entrepreneurs and product inventors in today’s technology based and technology driven world where everyone is trying to come to terms with the challenges posed by automation, changing job profiles and changing work places. If he were an actual living being, he may well have said, “Snowy, I never thought we would become something of a B School discussion item! ”.