Whenever a new trailer for an anticipated film arrives, the internet explodes into a flurry of fans talking about it. The new trailer for the Star Wars movie may, at first, appear to be a bit of a hodgepodge. There are strange environments with an unknown narrator talking about things like “the force” and no shot in the trailer seems to stick around long enough to piece together exactly what is going on. So why on earth has it been viewed over 10 million times?
There are a number of factors that make this trailer popular and, for today’s blog post, we’re going to take a look at a few as well as delve in to how they can help make your marketing more effective.
Star Wars knows its brand reputation
Star Wars: The Force Awakens as a movie is in a very difficult position as far as reception goes. It needs to delight both diehard fans of the original series as well as intrigue those who are not aware of the series at all. In regard to the older fans, the original star wars movie was created over 35 years ago and a large part of the fan base of the original Star Wars movies are wary of additions to what they consider “canon.” In the trailer, all the diehard fans know exactly what the force is, know what planets the spaceships are flying over, and the names for each of the space ships that are featured. So in order for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens to succeed they will need to appease that part of the fan base’s need for nostalgia.
Likewise, the new movie will have to offer an interesting story without relying on the audience to have knowledge of the old series to appeal to new audience members. The trailer accomplishes this by developing intrigue. It hooks the audience’s interest and makes them want to learn what the force is and the story that will weave all the shots of the trailer together.
Similarly, you need to know your brand reputation in order to succeed in your own marketing. If your business has a reputation of protecting the environment and being a good corporate citizen you need to keep that in mind when designing any marketing campaigns. Your current customers will be aware of your reputation and will be upset if your marketing doesn’t jive with the “canon” of your company reputation.
Star Wars knows its scope
This point is related to knowing your brand reputation. Due to the fact that the new Star Wars movie realizes its brand reputation, the people making it know how big of shoes it has to fill, so to speak. Damon Lindelof, Hollywood writer and television showrunner once stated, “Once you’re spending more than $100 million on a movie, you have to save the world.” In the original Star Wars series, the events that occur are felt across an entire galaxy. For the new Star Wars movie, the creators know that in order to be seen as a legitimate part of the series by the fans, the movie will have to be epic in scope.
Similarly in your business practices, you know your brand reputation and in order to maintain that reputation, you need to recognize the scope of your business practices. If your brand reputation includes incredible customer support (and it should), you have to come to terms with the fact that you will have to provide excellent customer support every time and possibly “one-up” yourself on a regular basis.
Star Wars leaves the fans wanting more
The most important factor that Star Wars uses with their new trailer is that they just tease what is going to happen in the movie. The music in the trailer is exciting, the scenes are visually stunning, and it leaves the audience wanting to know more. When the trailer was unveiled, forums, comment sections, and social media sites simply exploded with hundreds of thousands of people discussing and dissecting the trailer scene by scene and practically frame by frame.
When you are marketing, you need to intrigue your audience, evoke positive emotions, and leave them wanting to talk about your business at every point of the buyer’s journey they went through with you. Your customers, no matter what part of the buyer’s journey they’re on, will be talking to others about you. So make the effort to make sure they’re having a positive conversation about your businesses and keep wanting to interact with you more.
May the force be with you
It’s a little bit late, but May 4th was Star Wars day. We hope you celebrated this quirky holiday and that the new Star Wars trailer gave you a few ideas about your own marketing plans.