May the Force Be with Your Message

One thing our clients request is messaging for their new product, service or program.  We go through our careful process to come up with an alluring yet precise value proposition aimed at their target market.  All messaging then ties carefully back to it. But there is a time limit to these messages – one can’t use the same thing forever.  Factors are changing around us continuously so determining when to “refresh” messages is just as important as creating them.

This struck me when I read a recent article about the latest space drama in cinemas. Apparently, the folks at Star Wars are addressing Star Wars Franchise Fatigue with a much-needed break. You can’t keep hammering people with “from a galaxy far far away” over and over and get record-breaking crowds each time, they’ve learned.

I admit that I’m a fan (a.k.a. geek, dork, you get the idea) and have seen each movie at the cinema in first runs.  Additionally, even though I haven’t gone to the new film yet, I found the casting and subject matter for this prequel to be particularly interesting. So, its failure is admittedly depressing.

But, as a marketer, I was fearing that Star Wars was overusing their motifs, serving the market repeatedly with much of the same old thing. Although they cling to the aforementioned catch phrase, I did notice that they are finally moving away from death stars in every episode…at last! I’m hoping they are now looking at changing more tired aspects during their hiatus with some much-needed research.

You may think that this cinematic pondering is a stretch from typical business marketing messaging concerns.  But the point is still valid: keep that message fresh because even Star Wars worn theirs out!  And there is a way to learn if your message is stale: your friendly marketer can do customer research and find out for you.

We’d like to hear your thoughts on keeping your message fresh, so post a comment.

–Mark Salow, Marketing Consultant