The Star Wars brand has been extended into an empire of galactic proportions. Fans can choose from 12,243 Star Wars products on Amazon.co.uk alone. This includes 1803 products for their homes as well as 432 DVDs and 269 computer games. They can even dress their baby up as Darth Vader or buy a Princess Leia slave girl outfit for their dog, if they so wish.
But how can this be possible, let alone profitable? The films are fun but are they really so powerful that they have engendered this level of passion and devotion on their own? Well, ‘no’ is the answer to that one because behind the scenes the Star Wars marketing team has worked hard to keep their original customers and to use those customers to recruit new customers.
Feel the force
Fans are able to immerse themselves in the full Star Wars experience if they want. They can dress up at conventions across the globe or take their kids to special weekends in Disney’s Hollywood theme park. They can listen to John Williams’ famous score at the live music show or see original props and special effects in the touring exhibition.
These experiences help build immense loyalty to Star Wars. Fans are able to live the brand and be part of larger community. My guess is that they also generate quite a lot of profits too.
Joining the rebel alliance
Star Wars celebrates the passion and creativity of its fans. Its website has a special section for fans where they can participate in forums, post blogs and upload profiles. The official fan club also publishes an online magazine, Bantha Tracks, which is filled with photos and stories from fans around the world.
Do the fans like being creative with Star Wars? Yes, very much. On fanfiction.net, only a few films have more than a couple of hundred stories written by fans. Star Wars has over 21,000.
Jedi-get-Jedi marketing
Many of the original fans are now parents. Star Wars cleverly facilities them sharing the brand with their children by producing hundreds of toys and books for the under 5’s. By the time that they get to school, these children have become fans themselves. The most popular playground game in my 8-year-old son’s class is Star Wars.
These little fans are big customers with their own demands. And boy, do they demand! My son and his friends have - or are campaigning to get - the Clone Wars DVDs, the Star Wars Nintendo wii game, Star Wars Lego, the Boba Fett books, the toy Light Sabres, the R2D2 alarm clock, the Luke Skywalker pyjamas ….
The dark side
Star Wars fanatics - I mean fans - are legendarily devoted. Two of our friends actually flew to New York so that they could see The Phantom Menace there because they couldn’t wait the 56 days for it to be released in the UK. However, even the most loyal customers still want a good deal.
My son complains bitterly that the Star Wars Lego figures that he wants so much are not at pocket money prices. The single figures range in price from £4.25 for Mace Windu to £16.85 for Darth Maul. This is more than he can afford to pay and more than I am willing to pay.
The pricing structure for the Clone Wars DVDs has also attracted complaints from fans. Some are unhappy that each DVD only contains four episodes of the series. These customers feel forced into buying more DVDs and spending more money than necessary.
Products should be cash cows, not customers. Sometimes, the Star Wars brand makes me feel like I am being milked.
George Lucas is the Master
The development of Star Wars is a master class in how to build a brand, with a few lessons along the way on how not to do it. No matter how loyal your customers, you still need to offer fair prices and reasonable pricing structures. However, when you get these things right – and Star Wars mostly gets it right – you can not only keep your existing customers but also utilise them to recruit new customers for you.
