Editor's note: True was originally a magazine, but later it was discontinued due to development issues. Geoffrey Gray has injected new blood into the magazine, turning it into a non-media company based on media services. This article is compiled from an article originally titled "True.ink is a horse-buying, whiskey-bottling non-media media company" on Fastcompany.
I have had a total of four conversations with Geoffrey Gray, as well as several email correspondences. The two of us first met in a coffee shop on New York's Lower East Side. The second time, I called his US cell phone number, the call was transferred, a non-US English ringtone rang in my ears, and he answered the call in Mexico City . I think when he answered the phone, he must have said the word "muchacho" (muchacho means young man in Spanish), but I can't remember exactly. The third time we video chatted on FaceTime while he was walking along a horse farm in Kentucky. The most recent meeting was at the Explorers Club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which is rumored to be a secret gathering place for adventurers, scientists and others.
Gray just flew back to the United States from Mexico City and didn't return to his apartment in Lower Manhattan until almost early in the morning. I walked up to him and shook his hand, but he hinted that there were other ways to say hello. This made me very embarrassed. I didn't know whether I should clap my hands or what, and I suddenly became exhausted. Gray told me how Mexicans say hello. Their greeting combines a handshake, a high-five, and finally a "heart-to-heart" hug. I performed these movements clumsily, but it was somewhat decent.
We were walking in a weird and scary building in New York. The wooden corridors were old and there were images of dead white people and dead animals above our heads. We decided to sit on chairs outside, right in the shadow of the Explorers Club and some of the surrounding buildings. You can hear the screams of urban children playing in the nearby school, you can hear the sound of electric drills coming from the street, and where we are is a bit of a haven: a castle of nostalgia against the passage of time. After chatting briefly for a while, we stood up and Gray asked me excitedly: "Do you want to see some teddy bears?" Of course I did.
This meeting is very interesting and may explain why I am so interested in Gray. He's so interesting - I've wanted to write a story about him since I first met him, but I never knew what I wanted to write about. Gray is the founder of True.ink, but in some ways the company feels like a revival of an old magazine, but that's not really the case.
A long time ago, True was originally a publication. This is a monthly magazine that chronicles some of the adventures of men. This is an extremely masculine magazine that ideally interprets the definition of a legendary fashion man in the 20th century. I haven't exactly researched this yet, but the full name of the publication is True: The Men's Magazine. It was originally famous because the magazine would record some tragic adventures in the world. The magazine closed in 1975, and I feel that even if the magazine survived to this day, it would have difficulty adapting to contemporary life. Like most beers (which are often enjoyed by macho men), some beers don't just get better with age. The old True certainly featured some truly charismatic celebrities, with Ernest Hemingway, Aldous Huxley and Winston Churchill all writing for the magazine. This publication could have perfectly explained what a wise man should live like. Gray later told me that other magazines like Playboy and Hustler surpassed True in their obsession with women. But he said, "True has never considered such a development direction." He adds that personal adventure stories—the “I did this” perspective—have fallen out of favor with editors, except for a few blogs that take the story in a different direction. The behind-the-scenes story told by
Gray is very interesting. He was a professional writer for most of his career.He began writing about boxing for the New York Times, then moved on to writing about crime and urban eccentricities for the Village Voice. He later spent nine years covering police crimefighting at New York Magazine. Gray's Wikipedia entry (he told me that it was written mainly from an interview with a friend of his) adds some magic to it. "Gray's choice of subjects is extraordinary, and this is one of the reasons why he is famous. He has written articles about the king of Nigeria , the world's most daring odor expert and the world's bloodiest bullfighter. Gray's love for the weak Interest runs through his work. “He’s also someone who wants to express his love for a good story. So it's not entirely unexpected that he would be interested in the defunct True magazine.
Granted, Gray is a quirky and interesting guy, but that's not the only thing that interests me about him. In fact, it was the revival of True that attracted my attention. Of course, it was not because the old magazine had made a comeback, but because the new version of True was no longer a magazine. Every time when Gray explained this project to me, I couldn't quite understand it. In one of our early conversations, he told me, “True is like a spirit—a state of mind.” It’s “the feeling of having done something remarkable.” But what does this mean? ? ? For Gray, the company he created is about selling experiences.
True sells a wide variety of tours, activities and unique once-in-a-lifetime events. People pay a fee and receive a lucky piece of paper. In fact, this is a disk, marking the channels for enjoying the company's business. If it's a pass to a cool club, then members can show off. Each Lucky Pass costs $249. After that, they can choose other experience projects, which of course also require payment. They can also see content written by Gray's editorial team.
When we first met, Gray was talking about all his plans. This also includes a horse program where members can purchase a pre-born horse that is expected to become the fastest horse. He also plans to move back to Mexico City with his team. By the way, why don't they move back? There, he can investigate various popular projects and may arrange the next member's tour here.
At this time, I was very interested in his True project, but I still couldn't figure out the old question before - what kind of media company is this. True users can embark on their own adventures, a bit like what was described in magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. Members themselves can become Hemingway. The company will provide them with unknown, non-touristy experiences and provide them with content documenting such adventures. True is a non-media company based on the magazine's former fantasy.
I got the general idea, but I was still curious and wanted to know more about Gray himself and the company. I'm not quite sure how to write the story of this company yet. If this is the story of a media company, what exactly is the story? Is this medium dead? Is it true that a company can only become profitable if it takes away the writing and editing parts? For a media company that eschews the grind of press work, there's definitely something worth digging into. As tech giants like Google and Facebook win over ad dollars and attention, it's difficult for any standalone company to carve out a niche. Editorial budgets were shrinking and the magazine was shuttered. What the new company True wants to do is make its members feel like they're part of the magazine while selling some different content. Gray insists that the influence of the old magazine True still exists in terms of written content. There's still an editorial element to the company, too: there are people on staff who write about the myriad experiences the company offers, and Gray told me he thinks there will be media companies working with it in the future.
Even so, I still don't know what to write. The horse project is officially launched. Called Horses for People, Gray and his team ask users to pay at least $149 for horse embryos.The foal will be sired by two award-winning horses, including California's Chrome, which won the Kentucky Derby and Pleasant Stakes in 2014. Members place bets on foals and can watch the birthing process via camera. Once the horse is born, the True member who purchased the horse can go see the horse on the selected date and enter the horse's future events. For a $40 fee, they can even provide the horses with a bag of carrots (very expensive carrots). Of course, given the pedigree, the horse has a good chance of winning a future event - place a bet through an adventurer magazine that's not quite a magazine, and you might just hit the jackpot. Members will also have the opportunity to purchase "common shares" of the horse, Gray said.
This horse was born just a few months ago, so I don’t have much to write about. Gray and I chatted a few times via email about follow-up messages, and then we went about our separate lives - me in New York, him in Mexico or somewhere else - and I figured he'd travel a lot. . A few weeks later, he told me about another True project, about whiskey. He said he could give me the scoop. certainly! I love scoops—after all, what journalist doesn’t love the word scoop? Finally, I have a reason to write about this company.
Here’s what happened: True partnered with Buffalo Trace bourbon. Similar to the People's Horses program, this experience will give members the opportunity to purchase their own barrel of whiskey this October. Buffalo Trail’s partnership with True, like its other experiences, aims to get users to buy into a privileged experience — one they often can’t experience elsewhere.
I met with Gray at the Explorers Club to discuss the whiskey project. I was obviously disrespectful when I described these kegs as beer kegs, which is further proof that I am indeed not very literate. Gray corrected my mistake and continued to explain the concept. He told me that a barrel of bourbon takes eight and a half years to make—much longer than a racehorse's labor period, he said. “We all want to drink, and I don’t know if I could wait eight and a half years to get a taste of our bourbon. So Buffalo Trail brought select True members to the distillery and let them taste three different barrels. Liquor. During "Boom Week," as it's described on the website, participants can sample plenty of whiskey and get a taste of life in Kentucky—for only $875, this weekend tour is limited to a maximum of 18 people. Once the trip is over, these members are asked to give feedback to others - who purchased the cheaper version of the experience - with their thoughts on the three whiskey options. These members can purchase a barrel of whiskey for $129, based on the weekend. The content of the visit gets a vote. The winning member also gets a bottle of the spirit. Non-members can purchase a bottle of whiskey for $249 and a one-year membership to True's whiskey experience, which is capped at 200 people. How many bottles of whiskey can be made from a barrel of whiskey after evaporation?
After that, Gray and I talked about different plans for the development of True. From our first meeting, he has been talking about the company allowing him. A crazy attempt. Last year in Mexico, he also led a team through Tlaxcala. I can’t describe this experience clearly, so let me just quote the description on the True website:
The wisdom of the ancients continues to this day. Still inspiring, we met with the masters of Ixtenco, a traditional village in the colonial highlands of central Mexico...
Ixtenco is located in the Otomi, a tribe famous for its belief in its patron saint, which is A shamanistic belief that people can transform into animal spirits (usually cougars and jaguars) and vice versa
We travel with Don Mateo, an Otomi elder who agrees to travel throughout the year. The most sacred time to teach us the local language and customs.
But that was last year but he is ready for the next one this fall.Participants will experience a 15th-century hacienda where they can learn about Tlaxcala culture. “They revere the jaguars,” he told me. “They have some very unique local things. One of them is tequila, which is kind of like the drink of the gods. It’s fermented with sugar inside the agave plant. Got it. We will also meet a shaman named Galo who we have become friends with."
Gray also plans to lead members to experience "peyote" ceremonies. Another plan in the works is to take members to a local potter’s shop in Oaxaca. "This woman still makes ceramics by hand in the ancient way. They will use bush fires to make porcelain kilns."
Gray has a lot to say about the activities True has led the members to experience and his plans for the future. His team also plans to visit wineries in California and Uruguay. People can see the vineyards and taste the unique grapes grown by the growers.
We talked about the horse project again, and Gray told me that the foal could no longer see in one of its eyes. I think every real experience has a touch of tragedy. The exact circumstances of the incident are unclear, but the horse's cornea was injured during the night and veterinarians said the organ needed to be removed. Gray said this would not affect the horse's chances of becoming a top runner - many horses are blind but still able to compete (although not blind in both eyes, of course).
In the meantime, Gray and his team will write about these experiences and ask members to write about them. Although I couldn't go to his office in Mexico, I can imagine it was a hot room with several people focused on describing the adventure in their own flowery words. They huddled over their computers typing away, building True into a company that helps people find once-in-a-lifetime adventure opportunities. All the while, they need to insist on this kind of content editing. Gray is Hemingway's managing editor, and he can now make any paying subscriber a Hemingway. Gray told me that members in Mexico often stop by and hang out with the team.
This reminds me of the problem that I couldn't figure out since the first meeting. True has been described as an online magazine in the media world, but that's not an accurate definition - even Gray himself admits it. He and his colleagues will be responsible for updating the weekly newsletter, and they will contact other members and further expand on their stories of experiences. However, the recorded content is the experience gained by members at True, rather than documentary writing. When Gray mentioned some partners, we continued the discussion on this topic. “In the future development of True, I hope we can cooperate with some other start-ups and communities who are passionate about one thing.” He said. In addition to Buffalo Trail, he also mentioned two alcohol e-commerce companies, Caskers and Saucey. True will base advertising on relevant experiences. But True doesn't sell whiskey itself, nor does it sell tours to see wine being made. It's somewhere in between.
When describing his business, Gray often changes the subject. Sometimes I could understand what he was trying to say, other times I was confused. He feels that True is the crossroads of many products and a media channel for many companies. “I think it’s a cross between e-commerce (which needs to have its own media channels), platforms (which need to have its own media channels), us (a media-based company, but not a media company) and traditional publishers "Convergence between." Afterwards, he mentioned True's story distribution channel. Now, the company relies mostly on email and its own website — plus a few partner sites like Esquire and The Hustle. The stories published on the site are readable by members and pushed through the weekly newsletter. He believes that private messaging apps - such as WhatsApp - can be a good way to connect members together. Outside the world, Gray believes that True has become an increasingly important content creator.
“The demand for integration or high-quality content that can withstand testing has reached the height of space."There are so many publishers, e-commerce companies, hotels, etc... you know... everyone needs content," he said. And I think True can become a leader in integrated content like ours. "He said. True is already negotiating cooperation with some brands and publishers, but there is no clear news yet. "I think we may not be able to achieve this goal this year, but I firmly believe that we will be able to do it in the future.
For Gray, he envisions True as a magazine where everyone can participate. Whenever we talk about the media industry, he always mentions engagement and how difficult it is for publishers to find an audience. Question (he was right about this). I told him that maybe True is a very unique existence among media companies because it is not completely a media company. He said that there are still many things to implement. Having been in media for a long time and being this old, as the creator of True, I feel that audience engagement is a very different challenge because it involves understanding the experience that works for the user and is based on who they are. ideas that brought it into play - not mine and not the magazine's. ” He said, “True wants to be a coordinator and producer, rather than a creator of narrative documentary literature.
After our chat on the patio, Gray and I wandered around the hallways of the Explorers Club. We went to the archives, where he showed me a slideshow created by Kermit Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s son. The slides were hand-drawn old-fashioned photographic prints—kind of like first-generation PowerPoints. At the same time, Gray was describing to me a boy named Benjamin . He is the youngest member of True. The boy is only 10 years old and he will climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his father.
Gray told me that this is the perfect story and experience for True. This magical journey, then a 10-year-old member will experience the same story as you. He's nervous, he's still training and his dad will be with him. You know, there's a lot of father-son dynamics in the adventure arena. "He pointed to Roosevelt's slides. After they complete this adventure, True will record the story of Benjamin or his father. Of course, Gray will also promote this adventure, so the boy's story may be released Narrated in additional section.
We continued walking around the club, and I kept asking him for some information about the business. Gray led me out of the building and down the street again, and I held out my hand for a handshake. He wanted to use the Mexican greeting he had taught me before. We clapped our hands (a bit like a backhand shot) and I hugged him awkwardly, maybe not quite right. I'll figure it out the next time we meet. Produced by
Compilation Team Editor: Hao Pengcheng
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