Star Wars Stays on Message

George Lucas certainly knows how to stay on message when marketing his Star Wars franchise.

A story in the latest issue of Wired magazine features a man named Leland Chee, whose title at Lucasfilm’s Lucas Licensing arm is “continuity database administrator,” which is a fancy way of saying that he makes sure the franchise stays on message.

Chee maintains a database of 30,000 entries detailing every aspect of the Star Wars universe, cross referencing everything from movies to video games, novels to toys. Says Chee in the article, “Someone has to be able to say, ‘Luke Skywalker would not have that color of lightsaber.’”

While all of this might sound a bit geeky, it’s actually serious business in matters of branding and messaging.

Consider another anecdote from the article, where Chee talks about a colleague noticing an issue with the brand logo while previewing a new Star Wars video game: “It was off by only a few pixels, but someone in Licensing noticed it and submitted a report.”

By carefully guarding the consistency and continuity of its product, Lucasfilm has managed to maintain a strong brand identity for Star Wars for more than 30 years. This is one reason why Star Wars continues to net billions of dollars each year in retail sales.

While Jedi knights and Jawas may not seem applicable to your business, the principle of staying on message is universal. By caring about every pixel of its brand imagery and every word behind its message, Lucasfilm sets a great example for any marketing effort.

The NFL Scores in Marketing

On the eve of a new season, the National Football League can seemingly do no wrong. Professional football has eclipsed all other sports when it comes to making money and earning converts. More than 97 million people watched the most recent Super Bowl, which logged a television rating of 43.3.

It wasn’t always like this, as football once lagged far behind baseball, the original American pastime. Television ratings for baseball, however, have recently dropped to record lows. In 1977, the television rating for the World Series was 29.9. In 2007, it was 10.6.

So how did the NFL overtake baseball? One reason is that the NFL has a message and stays on message.

The NFL is exceedingly organized and consistent, which always goes a long way toward staying on message. For example, the NFL promotes parity, the principle of equal and open competition among all teams. Meanwhile, Major League Baseball’s economic system favors larger markets, making it much tougher for small-market teams to compete for a championship. Similarly, the NFL’s official fan merchandise is available for every team, while Major League Baseball’s fan merchandise is often only available for New York, Boston, Chicago and other large-market teams.

In other words, the NFL consistently courts the entire nation while baseball inconsistently caters to elite markets.

These are just a few of many examples of how the NFL maintains a strong message and identity. In comparison, Major League Baseball often appears to be random and inconsistent, a fact that no doubt undercuts its marketing potential.

What the NFL realizes is that it is a product as well as a sport. Therefore, unlike Major League Baseball, the NFL is militant about protecting the integrity, clarity and consistency of its product, as well as making sure the product appeals to the broadest possible customer base.

In other words, the NFL knows how to stay on message, and the evidence is in the ratings.

Empower Your Messengers

Your company may have a message, but is it staying on message?

 

One simple test is to query your frontline employees about your message. In other words, if you are a winery, talk to your tasting room employees. If you are a bank, speak with your tellers. If you are hotel, chat with your reservations staff.

 

Kindly ask them to tell you, in no more than a few sentences, what your company stands for, and what makes your services or products different from the rest. If you get vague or inconsistent replies, then you have a message problem (which shouldn’t be confused with an employee problem).

 

A crucial part of staying on message is making sure that all of your employees are on the same marketing page, communicating your message in roughly the same way at all points of public contact. After all, your employees are your biggest marketers, as they interact daily with your customers.

 

We’re not talking about giving your employees a forced script, but simply empowering them with a collective understanding of your company’s message. This will not only help your employees effectively communicate your message, but also act in a way that is consistent with that message.

 

P.S. Please feel free to contact us about strategies for getting your employees on the same marketing page.

Honda Reaps Message Rewards

In the wake of soaring gas prices and a corresponding surge in environmental consciousness, Honda Motor Company is reaping the rewards of staying on message.

 

As recently reported in Newsweek, “Honda is in high gear, reporting record profits and sales up 3 percent this year, while overall U.S. auto sales are down by 11 percent.”

 

So how has Honda managed to defy the downward trend? By staying on message.

 

As Newsweek noted, Honda has been “all about the mileage” since the 1970s. Even during the SUV boom, Honda refused to build any vehicle with a V-8 engine, earning ridicule from its peers along the way. Remarked one Honda executive, “They said we didn’t understand the market.”

 

What Honda really understood was the future, and now the company is suddenly ahead in the race to meet the surging demand for high-quality, fuel-efficient vehicles.

 

Honda’s story is a reminder that staying on message often requires time and patience.

 

A common temptation in business is to overreact to market trends, get off message, chase the immediate sale, and try to please everyone. Companies that do this may win the first lap, but it’s the Hondas that win the race.  

A Different Kind of Brew

When Dave Beckham (not the soccer star!) started a coffee house, he took a chance by having a unique message. Indeed, his Conservative Café in Crown Point, Indiana serves “coffee with a conservative flavor” along with related literature and merchandise.

 

Nevertheless, Mr. Beckham welcomes customers on both sides of the political aisle. A Democrat state senator even recently held a fundraiser at the Conservative Café.

 

As reported in a story in the Chicago Tribune, friends warned Beckham to stay away from the political theme before the café opened in October, fearing that he was courting financial doom. Yet business is now booming. A nearby Starbucks recently closed its doors, and Mr. Beckham is considering franchising his business.

 

According to the story:

 

Even if the name turns off a few folks, Beckham believes the moniker will help him much more than it will hurt.

 

“If I called it ‘Dave’s Cafe,’ no one would talk about it,” he said. “There’s nothing intriguing about that.”

 

Mr. Beckham clearly understands the laws of publicity, as well as the power of cornering a niche.

 

However, his success is ultimately rooted in the fact that his business is driven by a passionate message that stands out from the crowd. The lesson here is that whether you are a Republican or Democrat, a coffee shop or a winery, the marketing advantage of a unique message is universal.