Star Trek’s Surprising Brand Insights
The true essence of a brand can be elusive.
I’ve been a Star Trek fan for years–not a costumes and conventions fan, but I watch all the movies and notice the new series. But all this time I’ve thought the essence of the show was the Star Trek world: warp drives, the federation, the enemies du jour, the allure of civilized space, the optimistic future.
The new prequel is built on a more powerful insight: the essence of the Star Trek brand was the characters, their flaws and clashes. Yes, the new movie gets all sorts of other things right–deft plotting, cool effects.
But its real inspiration seems to be not the various spin offs but the human stories which Tom Wolfe wrote about and Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, and Ed Harris embodied in The Right Stuff—the clash between cowboys and Boy Scouts in our actual space program.
Star Trek has always been more about chemistry than physics. Through an ingenious sci-fi plot twist, the latest version of Star Trek can tap into that chemistry for years to come.
If branding is understanding the core of a product’s appeal, J.J. Abrams is not simply one of our most gifted filmmakers, he is one of our best marketers.
Star Trek’s Surprising Brand Insights
The true essence of a brand can be elusive.
I’ve been a Star Trek fan for years–not a costumes and conventions fan, but I watch all the movies and notice the new series. But all this time I’ve thought the essence of the show was the Star Trek world: warp drives, the federation, the enemies du jour, the allure of civilized space, the optimistic future.
The new prequel is built on a more powerful insight: the essence of the Star Trek brand was the characters, their flaws and clashes. Yes, the new movie gets all sorts of other things right–deft plotting, cool effects.
But its real inspiration seems to be not the various spin offs but the human stories which Tom Wolfe wrote about and Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, and Ed Harris embodied in The Right Stuff—the clash between cowboys and Boy Scouts in our actual space program.
Star Trek has always been more about chemistry than physics. Through an ingenious sci-fi plot twist, the latest version of Star Trek can tap into that chemistry for years to come.
If branding is understanding the core of a product’s appeal, J.J. Abrams is not simply one of our most gifted filmmakers, he is one of our best marketers.
Posted 2 years ago Notes
