Obsession comes in many forms: celebrity, movies, sport, relationships. The media often say that obsession can be detrimental to our health, impedes on society and its norms. (I read all the time that marketing & advertising is bad for society – I think I have learnt that it’s not). But, is obsession bad?
Personally, I don’t think so. Take the example of movies. Movies make us happy. They allow us to escape, to dream.
Take Marvel comics. We love The Phantom, Green Lantern, Iron Man, and Batman (and heaps more). We also love James Bond. We love Edward (or not), we love to hate the Orcs in Lord of The Rings. I could go on with more examples of love, but just look below!
Fan love, or obsession, helps build marketplace excitement for movies, creates new content for posters, communication, marketing and creates entertainment brands. Fan obsession creates two way communication and crowd sourcing.
Fan obsession in turn creates brand obsession. Brand obsession allows brands to have exposures in different audiences, community, media and stakeholders creating connections and emotion.
Emotion is such a powerful way that brands can connect with us. They allow memory transfer of pure enjoyment through family, friends and online groups’ chat.
Disney is one of the most recognized and largest entertainment brands. Buying Marvel for a hefty $4b actually seems rather cheap when you look at the action heroes that Disney have acquired in this purchase. Connecting with audiences can occur in many ways. But getting your audience fanatical and obsessive is not a reality for all. Having obsessive fans is a goldmine for brands as they will always be loyal to you. They will always love you.
Brand obsession also creates a culture. Where else would someone know what you are talking about if you said, “I am your Father” or “May the Force be with you”, or “I’ll be back”?
Long live obsession.
A little bit of luck 