Fan fiction is nothing new. For years fans have been adding to entertainment franchises by creating their own story extensions. One would think content creators and marketers would love this type of promotion, however this has not always been the case.
Prior to George Lucas’s complete adoption of fan fiction he was not a proponent of other’s taking part in his storytelling process. While this is certainly understandable, as marketers we need to be more sensitive to those who may want to tell our stories with us, as the way a consumer tells the story may be more inline with what they actually want.
Take the recent success of Transformers. While I have not yet seen the movie, and cannot judge it based on it’s cinematic integrity, I know is that it’s early success was due, in part, to the many stories told by fans.
Take this fan created clip for example (there is no mention that this was commissioned Paramount):
Fan fiction does not have to start and end with entertainment. Take the hype surrounding the recent release of the iPhone. I don’t have an official number on the amount of media Apple bought to advertise it’s new product, but I know that most of the hype was created for no money, by people not working for Apple. The result was a technology product release with more buzz than I can remember.
For example:
You never know who will want to tell your story with you. It is important to keep your eyes and mind open at all times!
Tags: transformers, fan fiction, marketing, co creation, apple, paramount, storytelling, iphone, technology, advertising, george lucas, star wars