Friday July 15th, 2011 - Cary, IL Everyone and their uncle is buzzing about the new Harry Potter movie, and even though the movie itself could not interest me any less - I absolutely LOVE the way the brand was built over the last decade. I believe this is the eighth movie of the series, and according to my friend Jerry Agar’s son Cooper the brand is still strong. He’s seen every one of them. I saw the first one when it came out, but don’t remember a thing about it. I was living in Salt Lake City then and was in the Big Brother program. The twelve year old I was paired with begged me to take him, so I did. I remember thinking it was entertaining, and wasn’t a waste of time or money. The kid loved it, and talked about it for weeks. He was thrilled. I haven’t seen any of the others, and had no desire to. Still don’t. I wouldn’t have a clue how to distinguish a Hogwart from a hog’s ass from a vaginal wart. Those kind of movies just aren’t my thing. Never were. I barely made it through the first Star Wars as a kid and Star Trek interested me even less. I’m a geek, but not that kind. My geekdom is in sports. What I love about Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, Shrek and all the rest is the marketing angle. I know how difficult it is to build a brand in entertainment as I’ve been feverishly trying my best without success to do it for a quarter century now. For whatever reason, I haven’t been able to resonate and connect with a significant base group of fans who will support what I do and follow my development. All the brands that I mentioned did exactly that. They’ve captured a fan base and kept them for many years. I have nothing but respect and admiration for anyone who’s been able to hit on anything that sticks in the public’s eye for years. It’s anything but easy, but I’m sure the payoff is a feeling of pure ecstasy - at least for a while. Harry Potter’s franchise is still going strong a decade after it started, and I’m sure it will be passed down to future generations as well. Kudos to J.K. Rowling. What a great story she has. It’s a fairy tale that came true and it still is. Most people have heard the stories of how she was broke and wrote the books in a diner when she didn’t have enough money to order breakfast, and no matter how much of that is true it doesn’t matter. She had the ideas and the public bought them. They still are. I’m a big fan of anything that strikes a major marketing cord, entertainment or not. The George Foreman Grill is a great example. I have no idea if George Foreman actually had a thing to do with inventing or perfecting it, but that product was a gigantic hit and still is. I so want to create a product line of my own that has a big time following. I don’t know if anyone can have another hit as big as Harry Potter, but I don’t need one that big. I want to come up with something that has a loyal fan base, and I want to please those people. Maybe the King of Uranus is that character. Can I squeeze seven books and eight films out of it? I’d be happy to squeeze enough money out of it to pay my rent and buy a pizza.
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