Brand Awareness – The Lone Ranger

 

Here is the new look Lone Ranger and Tonto.  I grew up with Clayton Moore and Jay  Silverheels black and white repeats in Australia and had the Lone Ranger action figure and Silver in the early 1970’s.  Although unlike Simon Pegg I did not find Tonto sexually attractive with his clothes off…

I own DVD episodes and my mother in law bought me a complete action figure just like the one I had when I was a kid. Mine is probably at the bottom of a sandpit in South Australia somewhere. ..

I cannot relate to a Lone Ranger that does not wear sky blue.  Tim Burton kept the mask (which looks like a left over from Batman)  and the white hat but made his outfit black. I just don’t get it.   I feel angry.  He has messed with a brand that I love.  He has messed with my memory of that brand.

Bad guys wear black and why does he look so intensely depressed?

Tonto looks like The Crow meets Edward Scissor Hands on a horse.   Tonto is not meant to be scary. Simon Pegg won’t fantasise about this Tonto. Marilyn Manson might…

Branding is important from the get go.  Lone Ranger is more than a brand.  It’s an icon.  A tradition.

Imagine years from now when they do a Star Wars remake ( They will…) Chewbacca has Green Fur and Darth Vader is dressed in all white or pink or glowing yellow.  Would the fans be just a little bit disillusioned?  Their grandparents and great grand parents will have introduced them to the brand just like they were introduced to icons like Mickey Mouse and The Lone Ranger when they were kids.

Brand awareness is permanent.  Once you make something that’s popular for the world to see and the world accepts it there is no going back.  You can’t change the brand.  Imagine purple Smurfs,  Teenage Mutant Ninja Wombats, an audible Donald Duck, Micky Mouse with a low pitch voice,  A green Spiderman, Homer Simpson thin and smart. A right handed Ned Flanders.  It would not work.

What the producers of this remake are not paying attention to is the power of the brand and it’s nostalgic pull.  Lone Ranger makes me think of my child hood, of security, of happy times.  Mess with the branding and you mess with the association.  When I heard it was being remade I was excited. I wanted to go to see the movie in a flash because  it reminded me of that magical Christmas in 1976 when Lone Ranger entered my life under the Christmas Tree.

That’s a big part of the attraction, like Star Wars episode 4 in 3d when they get to it.  I’ll be there, just like I was there for the anniversary in 1996 and the original as a kid all those years ago.

Last night we watched Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris just hoping that our restaurant  might  appear.  To our surprise it did.  We saw The Shakespeare Bookshop and there right next to it was a glimpse.  The film went to a lot of places that we had been to over several visits and brought back strong and pleasant nostalgic memories.   Midnight in Paris is just like Notting Hill to us because Notting Hill reminds us of 2 years of living in London and all the sights that appear, we have been to or walked past frequently.

Nostalgia is powerful.

So Hollywood remember that when you turn our dramas into comedies and our heroes into dark depressing caricatures, you are messing with the brand and when you mess with the brand, you mess with the fans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connect Part Two

I rarely fail when I put my mind to something.

When I ask for something and I don’t get what I need, I change my approach and keep changing until I get the desired outcome.

We really need the support of our fans to drive this project forward.

We have an opportunity in eight weeks time to show just how popular Spellsinger is to the world, when Alan Dean Foster and I do a presentation at The Gold Coast Film Festival.

Two Weeks ago I posted the following:

“This is a terrific opportunity for us to promote the film to potential fans and investors and it would be amazingly cool to have something from the legions of fans to show their support on the big screen, so we are asking you to send it a video starring yourselves or holding a placard in your furry suit saying what Spellsinger means to you and why .  It can be a wav file, done on a mobile, anyway you can!!!

All we need to do is show people your support.

There will be a $100 AU prize for the best video sent to us!!!

Please send your  video to spellsingerthemovie@gmail.com”

Despite offering a prize there has not been a response.  Not a cracker. Not one of the 500+ people out there following the FB Page and the Twitter account and the blog took action.  Not a solitary fun loving furry in sight!

I have to ask myself: Why?

We must have done something completely wrong to not get one single response.

So we are going to ask you guys what you want?

How would you like us to connect with you and with others?

All replies and comments are gratefully appreciated.

On a lighter note maybe we should hire this guy…

The Muppets: A Case Study

Variants of the Muppets have been on Television since 1955 when Jim Henson created Sam and Friends.

The Muppets moved into guest stars on The Jimmy Dean Show, Saturday Night Live and The Johnny Carson Show, before Jim Henson got Lord Lew Grade to commit to THE MUPPET SHOW.

From 1976-1981, the Muppets ruled television and have been a part of my life since childhood.

Then came the movies.  The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets take Manhattan.  The world knew who the Muppets were.

Kids loved the Muppets.

Henson moved on.  He had other worlds to make and other achievements to pursue.

Other than The Muppets celebration of 30 years (1986)  The Muppet Family Christmas (1987) and The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990) , a few video shorts and the Cartoon Muppet Babies (1984-1991).

That was all the world had to remember the franchise other than lots of repeats and videos.

After Jim Henson passed away, there was a revival of the franchise

A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Muppet Break Out (1993)

Muppet Classic Theatre (1994)

It’s not easy being green (1994)

Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Muppets Tonight (1997-1998)

Muppets from Space (1999)

The Muppets were bought for $680m in 2000 by the German media company EM.TV

EM TV sold them back to Henson’s family for $89m in 2003.

These were produced during this time.

Kermit’s Swamp Years (2002)

It’s a very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

The Walt Disney Company bought The Muppets in 2004.  Under Disney there has been:

The Muppets Wizard of Oz (2005)

Statler and Waldorf from the Balcony (2005)

A Muppets Christmas letters to Santa 2008

After four long years, The Muppets came back in a movie simply titled “The Muppets”.

At first I was a little skeptical.  The storyline sounded a lot like “It’s a very Merry Muppet Christmas movie”, which I must say was terrible.  It was worse than terrible it was without soul.  It was a nasty little movie

But nevertheless I was curious.  This time there have been viral campaigns being muppet videos like Bohemian rhapsody since 2009, which have been crazy and designed to create awareness to the adult audience, a reminder that the Muppets had not left the building and to attract the same crowd that they did on Sam and Friends all those years ago.

Here is a link to a very good article with some of the videos

http://socialtimes.com/how-the-muppets-made-a-comeback-on-youtube_b17820

When we went to the cinema yesterday, I saw giant muppets in vending machines and muppet movie deals with drink holders and Kermit keychain clips.  All sold out.  We kept the popcorn holder…

As the lights went down we saw that there were lots of children in the audience and secretly hoped that a new generation would be interested in the muppets.

The movie was perfect.  It was very cleverly designed.

The Muppets are a faded old brand.  They knew it and pointed this out a lot in the film visually (Dilapidated theatre, characters separated for years, dissention, and a chart from a TV network showing how off the chart they were in terms of relevance/pop culture)

However what separates this old brand from others is their message.  The Muppets brand message is strong.  Family, Hope, Togetherness, Friendship.

Then finally the Muppets were being Muppets and their unique craziness and violence reigned supreme from the Swedish Chef to Gonzo and Marvin and the Muppetones.  There were many scenes paying homage to The Muppet Movie including Rainbow Connection and even Sweetums at the same used car lot!

There were lots of songs including a flock of Chickens singing Forget You (Cee Lo)

There was also star alignment from Whoopi Goldberg (A stalwart supporter) to Jack Black, Selena Gomez, Emily Blunt, Neil Patrick Harris , Judd Hirsch, David  Grohl,  and Rico Rodriguez.

Having Stars on the Muppets and brand association is a part of their original success

Kids loved it.

This movie was a lot stronger than anything the Muppets have done since Muppets from Space.  It has brought the brand back into the public eye.

The reason that I have taken the time to write this is that we are facing a similar challenge with Spellsinger. And the Muppet case study gave us quite a valuable insight into rebranding and reconnecting with our audience.