So I started off my weekday doing my normal routine of job-hunting, until I decided to take a break and watch a random episode of SouthPark.
While I sat at my desk with my cold Big Red in my hand with left-over Valentino Pizza, I ended up watching season 10 episode two aka Smug Alert.
Season 10, Episode 2: Smug Alert
The synopsis of this episode is how Kyle's dad, Gerald Broflovski, buys a hybrid car and showcases the vehicle throughout the town of SouthPark. Since he believes he is ahead of the curve in being more green and fuel efficient resulting in him thinking he is better than others (showcasing his smug), Kyle's Dad soon becomes alienated by the locals of the town. He decides to move his family to San Francisco where he aspires to live among the progressors of the new-age liberal city who also drive hybrids and think they are better than others. A marketer would surely conclude this DMA's social class as innovators.
The Broflovski's interacting with new neighbors in San Francisco
As Stan, Kyle's friend and confidante, finds out about his move he attempts to bring his friend back by getting the town into accepting and driving hybrids. In marketing words: he attempts to change the town's social norms through altering it's socio-cultural influences. He does this by making a song about buying hybrids and promoting it through the towns local radio station, a standard and traditional grassroot publicity tactic.
Random and weird for a person to see: YES. But is it strange for a marketer to see this: NO.
What triggered this thought process of mine was a particular scene where Randy Marsh drives around town with his new hybrid and comes across other locals who drive hybrids. I noticed their acknowledgement and acceptance of each other's vehicle and the fulfillment of being among a higher elite group/social class. Each person driving a hybrid felt accepted among their peers which is an effective marketing tactic if implemented well.
Implementation is the difficult part in this process since the message is extremely viral and vague to measure. What makes a message viral is that consumers can be very irrational and motivated more so by their family-cultural norms, consumer behavior patterns and their surroundings. This is also shown through the SouthPark episode.
Only in a crazy world like SouthPark would a little song work in changing the town's perception and acceptance of hybrid vehicles. However in the real world, multi-million dollars are spent doing this through a trickle effect of what most marketers call the Integrated Marketing Communications plan.
Deemed a curse at times, a marketer will always view their surroundings (even a cartoon show) from a marketing perspective.
Feel free to watch the full link episode: Smug Alert
For those of my generation as well as generation X, Mortal Kombat was the ultimate rebellious game that pushed the limit of mature video game content and as a result opened the door for more brutal, violent and dark video games to exist.
I strongly believe that the Mortal Kombat franchise as a whole is underminded, while stating that, the franchise has the capabilities to come back around and prosper once again not just within the video gaming industry but also in motion pictures.
Before I get into that, I want to mention some historical highlights that occurred when Mortal Kombat was released.
Due to the franchises use of digitized sprite, blood and gore, Mortal Kombat caused the creation of the Electronics Software Ratings Board in 1994 after Mortal Kombat II was released.
Lets be honest traditional Mortal Kombat gamers, this was a bumber since it restricted the game against young video game enthusiasts, but from a marketing standpoint, the controversy of MK's strong violent gaming content helped construct the Mortal Kombat brand as the rebellious game for kids to play.
Much like the controversy with Charlie Sheen, I find this to be one of the underlying variables as to why the young franchise at the time recieved so much attention and publicity to where it was an advantage for it against other video games.
However, due to newer, more fun, interactive, and violent video games; the franchise lost its touch and is now a laggard within the gaming world. However, I believe one thing can be used to revitalize Mortal Kombat and bring back the good old days into the new and more technologically advanced world; an in-depth and integrated storyline.
Storylines are key when it comes to any form of entertainment. This is what made Metal Gear Solid a huge success. It is the lifeline of any form of entertainment/media. If you don't have an intriguing story, you lose the attention and interest of the audience. Another example of a video game franchise that utilized a compelling storyline to become almost a conglomerate within the gaming world is the legendary Halo series.
Like Halo, the MK franchise should develop better quality literary material that will strengthen MK whether it's through novels or the continuation of the Mortal Kombat comic book series.
The key is it needs to contain literary elements of deep characterization that will make audience relate to the characters. This is what moves and attracts an audience. The more they can relate to a character's situation or problem, the more intrigued they are. For instance, in the comic book series Battlewave, Liu Kang faces personal issues of wanting to live a normal life as he attempts to pursue his passion as an architect back home in Chicago instead of a champion fighter in Mortal Kombat. This is a personal struggle of a person unwilling to accept their own fate and responsibilities. It would be interesting to develop in literary material a more in-depth story of this as well as other personal challenges in a dark, realistic and gritty form.
What will help the franchise in making the necerray changes to do this is the current production of the third installment of the Mortal Kombat motion picture series Mortal Kombat: Rebirth.
What I think will be cool is if a literary novel was made that complemented the mini-tv web series (Mortal Kombat: Legacy), which is a prequel to the upcoming movie and another literary series that followed the outcome of the movie.
The novels can focus specifically on each character's past while being realistic, dark and gritty. I think traditional Mortal Kombat fans would actually take their time and read the novels because the personal lives of the popular Mortal Kombat characters have never before been told. This will increase its awareness and carry along a compelling story that can be applied to all the Mortal Kombat characters in the long-term. Imagine how successful MK would be.
This is what made Batman Begins such a huge success! Christopher Nolan took a dark, gritty and often realstic approach to the prequel and re-defined the Batman franchise by focusing upon Bruce Wayne's troubled past and presenting it in a form where the audience can relate to the character on a deeper level.
If the MK franchise implemented the approach of a deeper, darker, and empathic storyline within the characters and the tournament as a whole within literary novels and even newly developed video games (like the continuation of such games as Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero) then the franchise will be extremely successful and prosper with future MK projects.
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