Captain America: Civil War Image Courtesy of IMDBEvery year around this time, a legion of super heroes land on movie screens across the world. Evermore extravagantly, they gain greater hype, break box-office records and reap immeasurable popularity. Undeniably, ever since the new millennia, when Spidey spun onto the pop culture scene in the hit 2002 “Spider-Man” flick -- supers have been a moneymaking mainstay.
The start of the latest blockbuster season took off with “Batman-Superman: Dawn of Justice” and joining their ranks are “Captain America – Civil War” and “X-Men Apocalypse.”
“Okay, that’s nice” you say, “but what can my business learn from this geeky phenomenon? What does this have to do with branding? Allow me to explain.
The supers are heroes because they rescue the world. They are the strong that save the weak. They defend the helpless and inspire kids and, like a Bat Locater, find the little kid in all of us adults as well.
They reach inside us by being more than just cartoon cutouts. Each one has a story. And in that way, every one is their very own unique brand—with a logo—unto themselves.
Back in 1939, Batman’s parents were killed right in front of him by a petty thief attempting to steal his mother’s necklace and inspiring young Bruce Wayne to make a vow and spend the rest of his life fighting criminals. He does this not only by becoming physically strong, but mentally, he transforms himself into a master scientist with his genius intellect.
In 1939 of course, Jewish children in Europe were watching as their parents were murdered in front of them, a tragedy that wasn’t lost on The Caped Crusader’s Jewish creators, Bob Kane (born Bob Kahn) and Milton “Bill” Finger.
Likewise and that same year, a young Kal-El (known to us Earthlings as Superman) is sent off on a rocket ship like Moses from the planet Krypton (where his true parents died.) Bound for Earth, he will become a savior to humanity.
Indeed, almost every super overcomes incredible adversity to become a hero.
So what does this have to do with brands that inspire? Well, just as those super heroes inspire all of us, so too should your brand. It should solve a difficult problem, through the strategic thinking and innovative ideas that first went into its birth. Then, it needs to rescue consumers by solving a difficult problem for them - from the simplest, everyday packaged good to aspiring to build a smarter planet as in IBM’s, “Let’s Build a Smarter Planet” and like so many Israeli high-tech gadgets and ground-breaking devices have done.
In each instance, brands become the needed link to help you—the consumer—reign over your world.
So find your core consumer and focus on them and help solve their challenges with innovative and ingeniously heroic ideas, rescue them from their problems and watch as your business grows to solve the challenges of an ever-larger crowd of customers.
Abe Novick is a writer and communications consultant and can be reached at abe@abebuzz.com.