Using The Force: The Power of Creating a Marketing Universe

Hollywood blockbuster franchises can teach brands about their marketing practices.

SPONSOREDUpdated 4:16PM • 01/08/16

By now if you haven't seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you enjoy the lifestyle and blissful ignorance of a log cabin dwelling hermit, or you're one of those "too cool for school" kids who justify poor parenting and pop culture exposure by saying things like, "I just don't care," or "I don't get what the big deal is." The rest of us weep for you.

It is a big deal. But it is also a great example of the shift in Hollywood blockbusters that's taken place in the last decade or so.

Hollywood is no longer making movies. They're not just making franchises. They're creating universes.

The success of this can be seen with the superhero genre that exploded with the advent of the new Marvel universe. In years past we might see Iron Man come out and then get a few sequels. But now, producers are looking for a universe they can create to roll out spin offs and interconnected films that serve the overall narrative.

This is how you should approach your marketing strategy.

No campaign should be a one-off. No LTO should exist as a stand-alone. When approaching marketing planning, the modern marketing professional should be looking at the big picture. They should be creating a base to continue layering on to serve a variety of mediums, reach a diverse array of consumers, and ultimately to build the brand story while looking at each campaign as a chapter in the overall narrative of the brand.

We exist in an age where it's no longer effective to create a great TV commercial campaign. That campaign has to have spin-offs, has to be something engaging and digestible in the digital and social realm, and ultimately has to be something that impacts consumers in a way that they feel like they are experiencing, and are part of, a bigger narrative.

Let's take a classic example, for instance. One that is long, long ago, but in a universe not too far away: the "Where's The Beef" commercial that Wendy's rolled out in the 80’s - partly a direct attack on McDonald's and some of their more established fast food competitors, but also a genius piece of using humor to engage the consumer.

What would that look like today?

On social media, that could serve a campaign focused on discovery and value. Okay, that just sounded like some super roided up PR buzz word vomit. Granted. But there are infinite ways you could play off that simple idea. An Instagram campaign encouraging guests to prove that they had, indeed, “found the beef” at Wendy's with a little food porn shot. On Facebook that could exist as shareable content in a "Where's Waldo" style to literally allow newsfeed surfers to “find the beef” in a busy, crowded scene. This could have also led to city-wide scavenger hunts focused on "finding the beef" with a series of clues and tasks. A charitable partnership with a group geared toward feeding the hungry with a donation of a ton of burgers would go a long way. From a franchise development perspective, this could play out in a "Find Your Beef" campaign highlighting the ways that investing in a Wendy's franchise will "beef up" your bank account, pointing to the (within legal limits) sales success of the brand. You could have a "free burger" day for people who come into a Wendy's dressed up like the "Where's The Beef" old lady. A promotional campaign could include a game piece with each value menu with a scratch off to "find the beef" where a burger icon would mean a cash or prize reward.

In a bigger sense, this same theme of expecting more from your fast food visit could play out in other areas. A "Where Are The Fries" campaign could roll out next and directly point out that an average McDonald's small fry contains X number of fries, but at Wendy's you always get more. A whole universe devoted to the narrative that Wendy's is a place where you get more than you do at the competition could run for the course of a year, or years, and keeping that strategic focus would not only validate the decision for loyal customers - but create a new crop of fans based off of a simple premise, marketed in an effective manner.

The new Star Wars created a whole new generation of fans. The machine behind the Star Wars reboot has taken the creation of this universe in a direction where they have recaptured the original fans of the first trilogy, in a way provided redemption for a generation turned off by the prequels, and created a new market of children who will be loyal Star Wars fans as they continue to roll out more movies.

This wasn't by accident. There was a plan put in place that will ensure that while the children of this new generation of Star Wars fans will be spending their money on the sequels and spin-offs to follow, the next generation will already have buy-in to keep that dough rolling in for years to come.

If you treat your franchise marketing like a universe, and create chapters that exist in a variety of mediums, you won't need the Force to keep guests coming back.

Using The Force: The Power of Creating a Marketing Universe

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