Helloo0O Ladies
and Gentlemen!
Welcome back to
another week at Graceland Ontario, where you research the success lessons
of Elvis Presley so to better YOUR life. Today, as promised, we're going to
dive straight into our Halloween series with our second October post, symbolism
and marketing at Halloween.
Now, for anyone,
one of the big rules of winning boils down to this: 'You ain’t nothing if you
ain’t marketable'. I mean, it's true. Whether you're a big corporation like Wal-Mart or McDonald's with your trademarks, a band with your emblem or simply an
individual, like Elvis, with sideburns and a jumpsuit, symbols are the way you
get across; everyone who's successful has some trademarks. Maybe not
intentionally, people just noticed them overtime and attributed them as
trademarks of a person or company, like linking the way someone does their hair
to a person. But once they've become that person's trademark, the person gets
linked up when someone mentions it. It's like in my country of Canada we have this politician, the son of one
of our notable Prime ministers, called Justin Trudeau. He, like me, has curly
brown hair and is relatively young and handsome. So, when people see my
handsome face, they say 'you look just like Justin Trudeau!' Trudeau's coined
those trademarks as his own, largely unintentionally, yet even I, as a regular
guy, become advertising for him. And that's why people have trademarks - to
remind others of who they are. And, better yet, to use those trademarks to make
money.
Let's look at
Halloween. Items like Jack O Lanterns, witches, vampires, ghosts,
ghouls, graveyards, etc. make Halloween a store owner's dream. And the best
part − those symbols, trademarks of the season, can be added to essentially
anything (like how the MGM film The Wizard of Oz starred the Wicked Witch of the West). Bedding, clothes, movies, food… you name it and a symbol, when
distinctive enough, can be supplemented. People see those symbols and it
reminds them what time of year it is. And then, they spend money on it.
Unfortunately for everyone who creates Halloween stuff, there isn't one sole
copyright holder for all those items - a lot of the ideas are public domain so
anyone can make money off it. If, on the other hand, one person holds the
rights for all of it, like Warner Brothers does for everything based off the
movie Casablanca, starring Humphrey
Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, that one company (Warner Brothers in Casablanca's case, or Elvis Presley
Enterprises for Elvis) makes a fortune off merchandise and books. It doesn't
take much either - simply a likeness to Humphrey Bogart could become fair game
for a lawsuit. For Warner Brothers and other film and music companies,
trademarks are a goldmine others often never see.
Elvis had the
same thing − a brand and trademarks. The poses, the jumpsuit, the hair, the
sideburns can be added to anything to move it from a plain piece of
nothingness, sold bottom price at any street market, to an Elvis item. Get
official permission from Elvis Presley Enterprises and you can charge top
dollar for your ‘Official’ Elvis Presley merchandise (all royalties being paid
to EP Enterprises). The symbols and stances, the looks and logos Elvis created
during his lifetime might make more money now than even his music does. Music
has to be listened to and enjoyed depending on a person's taste - anyone can
buy a cool Elvis clock.
And besides,
people feel a likeness with a symbol. Sure, you've never bought an Elvis clock
before or a Jack o' Lantern and you might have been apprehensive if a vacuum
salesman had tried to sell you a cut-price cleaner at your door. But when you
see something familiar, with a Halloween symbol or, perhaps, Elvis symbol, your
guard goes down a bit. You were brought up with this, like Christmas pudding,
and despite your unfamiliarity with the brand, it looks and reminds you of
something you had in the past, something safe. And your security, false as it
might be but brought about by the packaging of a product, might lead to a sale you'd
never have been pushed into had it been plain.
So, what's the
point?
Get with the
season! Halloween and Elvis are only two of a billion different examples of how
symbols can be used to make money. The symbols can be used to create
merchandise for your particular brand, or a brand you want to use on your work
(make sure you've got the copyright owner's permission... you don't need any
Warner Brothers pattern lawsuits on your back). Also, the addition of a symbol,
when familiar to a customer, can lower a customer's apprehension about a
product. They recognize the symbol and therefore feel a little closer to the
product than if it had been blank and from a random company.
And if you
don't have any symbols, any witches to paste on, this would be a great time to
start designing some. The symbols you create now can be used forever and create
a common thread among all your work. Even when others use your symbols (as
they use Elvis’s logos), they’ll have to pay you for the rights. Then, as you
build up a customer base (if you don't already have one), people start getting
attached to your brand. They feel they're part of something, like Elvis fans do
when they visit the real Graceland.
And when people start feeling they're part of something, they get the old
family security feeling. And people who feel secure are more likely to pay you
for it. Nice!.
Elvis's Lessons:
Both Halloween
and Elvis use symbols to get people to recognize them. The recognition makes
them less apprehensive about buying because they feel a familiarity with the
product - not because of the ACTUAL product but because of the symbols on it.
The less apprehensive they are about buying, the easier it is to sell your
product to them. Besides, when these symbols are licensed to you, as all
Elvis's symbols are licensed to Elvis Presley Enterprises, you stand the chance
of making royalties even when someone else makes something but sticks your face
on it. Furthermore, it's free advertising every time someone recognizes someone
else's work looking like yours. They say, "hey that looks like a
*whatever*" and your name spreads all the more. Symbolism is important for
marketing at Halloween. It's important for the people at EP Enterprises.
Perhaps it's time for it to become more important to YOU.
P.S. Leave a comment, if you dare! Just kidding - love to hear what your opinions on this post are.
P.P.S. If you're interesting in seeing some witches, here's a Youtube link to the famous scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth when the witches brew up trouble.
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