NORTHERN PLANNER

It’s not unusual to love the Star Wars films for people my age, they remind us of a happy time when the biggest worry was getting the Millennium Falcon for Christmas. What is unusual is being thankful for the second trilogy too like I am.

I don’t like the films themselves, but  this back story makes the first three even better. When you watch them again, the events and characters have been given a deeper significance. Darth Vader was always a great villain,  but now you know how he got the suit he’s a more interesting, tragic figure with a planet of regret and rage on his shoulders. 

I think this is useful way to look at brands. A back story makes them more real and adds a deeper meaning our relationship with them. I’m a fan of Nike for example, but my memories of Agassi in denim shorts 16 years ago are at least as important as anything they do today, and makes it better. This takes consistency and I don’t mean design guidelines. I mean having a consistent tone of voice; not sort you find in a brand framework, but the sort that comes from real people. Maybe it’s not the really big ideas that matter, maybe it’s having lots of good ideas that feel the same and makes a rich picture over time.