What Brands Can Learn from Star Wars in 2017

Before diving into a marketing perspective of the series, I’d like to pay tribute to Carrie Fisher. She was more than just Princess Leia, she will be most remembered not only for her role, but her endless fight for mental illness, and for teaching young girls everywhere Princesses can fight for themselves.

Carrie Fisher may have passed away, but her presence will live on forever. And her famous line, recited by Meryl Streep at Golden Globe Awards captures it all: “Take your broken heart, and make it into art..’’

Over the recent holiday break, my family and I (along with the rest of the world) watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

As I walked into the theatre, I noticed a vast age demographic before my eyes. There were children, teens, young adults, parents, even grandparents! It was in this moment that I realized exactly how many generations Star Wars has managed to captivate over the years.

After the movie, my father, my brother, and myself morphed into our teenager alter egos gushing about how the storyline fit into the larger Star Wars plot, correcting each other, tying together bits and pieces of a four decade journey, and attempting to help my brother’s girlfriend (a recent Star Wars recruit) understand the entire series. This is when, once again, I realized that Star Wars was still gathering newbie fans and adding to their everlasting fan loyalty.

So what can brands and marketers learn from Star Wars? How can they enamour audiences over decades and gain immortality for their products? These three things:

1. Stay Relevant, Become Generational

The First Generation

The first trilogy consisted of episodes 4, 5, and 6 and spanned from 1977 to 1983. My dad’s first experience with Star Wars was in 1977 while he was still living in East Africa. He was only19 years old when he stepped into the first movie of the series that would eventually garner audiences from corners of the world. He was 19…!! I wasn’t even a mere thought at this point in his life, yet here I am, 40 years later, equally mesmerized by the same galaxy, stormtroopers, and Jedi’s as he was then.

The Second Generation

The second trilogy consisted of episodes 1, 2, and 3, spanning from 1999 to 2005. Within each trilogy, the movies were released 3 years apart. However, between the first and second trilogies, there was a 16 year gap. During this gap, my father–who was part of the OG Star Wars audience — had now transitioned into a new stage in life. He was now in his 40s, with two children. My brother was the tender age of 13, and I was just 5 years old. During the second trilogy my father introduced us to his childhood memories, which in turn became ours.

The Third Generation

40 years later, Star Wars has come out with the prequels and sequels of life before and after Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now my father is 60, my brother is 30, and our little nieces and nephews are the same tender ages we all were during our first Star Wars encounter. By coming out with a storyline that bridges the gaps between the two trilogies, our childhoods are once again seamlessly passed on to a younger generation.

Star Wars, as a movie, could be an individual experience, but it became a shared experience surrounded by a community aspect. The introduction of new characters in “The Force Awakens” creates an opportunity for young fans to feel a connection with characters they can call their own, like the rolling droid BB-8.

Star Wars has created a storyline that traveled through time with us.

2. Don’t Underestimate Nostalgia

We’ve seen firsthand exactly how each generation has come together through Star Wars. Nostalgia creates a feeling, which is keen to humans. Because we crave a sense of belonging and community, when we experience nostalgia, we are taken back to a time where we felt those things.

There’s a science behind why longtime franchises like “Star Wars” can summon this very specific emotion, according to Dr. Clay Routledge, a social psychologist and associate professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, who researches nostalgia.

“Nostalgia is defined as a sentimental or wistful longing for the past,” Routledge said. “It is a largely positive but bittersweet emotion for something we don’t have in our lives all the time, which makes it even more meaningful to remember.”

Sensory triggers can evoke powerful nostalgic feelings, especially sights such as watching the two suns set over Tatooine in “A New Hope” or hearing the distinct sounds as Chewbacca groans and R2-D2’s beeps. These triggers engender the warm, happy glow we associate with the favorite things from our past.

“While Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millenials and the new up-and-coming Gen Z may not share many common interests on the surface, there remains a vast opportunity for us to adopt cross-generational engagement”

Bringing in the same characters years later not only triggers nostalgia for OG fans, but it also creates curiosity for new fans to go back and learn where the story began with the same protagonists. For parents, introducing their child to an old memory creates a bridge of shared memories they can carry into the future.

By targeting an old audience, and by tweaking content to acquire a new audience, LucasFilms and Disney successfully used nostalgia to keep their brand alive for almost half a century.

3. Break the Rules

The marketing done by LucasFilms in the early stages of the series was brilliant. The first being the order in which the films were released. Think outside the box, don’t follow the norm, take the risk!

The first Star Wars movies were released out of order with the 4th episode premiering as the first. The story line was mid climax. Lucas thought by doing so he would capture people’s attention in the center of the action in his storyline. Once he had our attention, he took us back to the beginning of the story where we put the pieces together. The order the movies were released was untraditional, but it worked. It kept us interested, it engaged us, and it reeled us in during the midst of intense action.

In Summary

Marketing isn’t just about pushing your product or services. It’s about connecting your brand to your audience in an authentic and relevant way.

Market your products like Star Wars and remember, the Force will be with your brand — always

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Rabiah Damji is currently a Senior at UC Berkeley studying #MediaStudies, with an emphasis in #Marketing.

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