A work obsessed hedge fund manager boards a train with his daughter. As they prepare to depart, a young woman stumbles on with a bite wound on her leg. The nightmare begins.
This is the set-up for the South Korean-made zombie movie Train to Busan, which has smashed all box office records in that country. Busan’s success provides valuable lessons for corporate marketers who subscribe to the importance of story telling in their communications programs.
Lesson #1: If you exist in a crowded market segment, play up a unique attribute – either real or perceived.
Let’s stick with zombie movies for comparison. Night of the Living Dead created the modern genre in 1968. The movie was fresh and innovative, which is why it attracted hordes of fans.
To garner interest today, zombie fare most sport some sort of creative distinction (i.e. zombies on a train) or be presented in a different media, such as AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Lesson #2: Give your audience what they want…and lots of it. Zombie movie fans want to see the undead chasing and biting. That’s why they plunked down their money.
Marketers should follow suit. Understand your company’s value proposition to key audiences and lead with it in Web, digital, social and sales-related communications.
Lesson #3: Star power drives interest and attention. Train to Busan features one of South Korea’s rising talents. World War Z had Brad Pitt.
This is the business case to invest in thought leadership to enhance the visibility, reputation and credibility of your company’s senior team at corporate and customer facing field reps.
