Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, continues George Lucas’s saga he ended in 1983 with ‘Return of the Jedi’. What were you doing in 1983? (I was gushing over my Atari 2600).
In fact, I was 6 and a half years old when my mom got on the phone with my best friend’s mom and I remember hearing her ask, “Will Darrell like Star Wars?”
She got an “a-ok” from her.
But, what most young people do not understand today, is that there had never been anything like Star Wars before.
Ships flew with grace and elegance.
Big, BOLD, symphonic theme music… in a Sci-Fi movie (what?!?)
In fact, it was said that without John Williams, 1977 would have gone down as a B Rated Sci-Fi Movie.
And when the new prequels came out, we ran to the theaters. And I don’t know about you, but I left a bit confused and frankly underwhelmed. The graphics were pretty cool. The explosions were loud.
George Lucas actually said that special effects without a story are meaningless and boring.
It seems as if he himself betrayed his own words when making the prequel movies. After all, we remember the Universal theme of light versus dark. Humans versus technology. The story that beaconed us back to ancient times and legends that moved the human race forward.
The spirit and mythology behind Star Wars is known worldwide. The fan following is huge. People live by it.
Does your brand do THAT?
How has what you were doing in 1983 changed from what you are doing now?
Back before your business started- when it was just you and a friend at a coffee house frantically asking for more napkins to scribble on.
What did it feel like? What was the inspiration that night while you sat up late with your cassette recorder and microphone, rambling your wild ideas?
And when your business first began, on opening day, how did people feel when they walked in the door?
You may not have been in business 38 years, but even in the time of your entrepreneurship, you have been in your own saga. You have seen your business shift from what it started as to what it now is. How many changes and evolutions have you seen?
Sometimes, our journey has taken us on some wild plot twists. Some of them have asked for more explosions, more cosmetics and better acting. We may have taken tangents into areas that were all about more, more, more. And yet we left disappointed. Why? Maybe because we forgot that it was about the story and not the lights. Maybe we forgot about why we started doing all this in the first place. What journey did we seek to find? Love? Connection? The Unknown?
What if you went “old school” like JJ Abrams and Disney are doing with Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. They are using Digital but keeping a foot in puppetry, real sets, real film and real epic locations.
Get it? They are using NEW technology but remembering the story.
Bring back your elders, the Jedi Knights, who began your company’s quest in the first place.
If business has become dull, the adventure began to fizzle, go back to your roots and get back in touch with the spirit that started you on this journey. What kind of passion could that re-ignite?
Let’s work together and go to Stern Storming to awaken the force that started your business. And, when you are ready, we are here to help you get on the big screen of online marketing.
And, by the way, if you do some research, Lucas did not write or direct what is in my opinion the best star wars movie to date, “The Empire Strikes Back.”