Marketing yourself as a Supervillain: 6 lessons from The Joker
I’ve seen the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight” twice. The big story about the movie was the death of Heath Ledger before the movie even came out. No one will ever know how Ledgers’ performance would have been viewed had he still been alive, but people smarter than me say he’ll probably get nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as the Joker.
A minor plot point is Batman has one rule he has to follow (he won’t kill anyone) but because Joker has no rules, he will ultimately triumph over Batman. Far be from me to correct a lunatic (although fictional, I know) murderer, but supervillains have to play by the same rules every other independent contractor in the world plays by.
Here are a few Supervillain business tips I picked up. Let me know if you’ve got more.
Supervillains work on 100% Commission. As a real estate agent, if I don’t make a sale, I don’t get paid. As a Supervillain, if Joker doesn’t rob the bank, he doesn’t get paid.
Supervillains must be masters of marketing. You must stand out from the crowd. If every other mobster is wearing a plain gray suit, wear a purple one so your clients won’t forget you.
Supervillains must be able to tell a good story. As a bad guy, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. Everyone loves a good story, especially if it’s personal, memorable, and terrifying. If you’re not in the supervillain business, substitute humorous for terrifying.
Supervillains know to grab their prospects attention immediately. Whether it’s with a snazzy magic trick that they’ll never forget or hanging your nemises in effigy, make sure you GRAB their attention.
Supervillains know to hire the best help, but keep the employee count low. Especially if you’re robbing a bank.
Supervillains know the importance of building their brand. Jokers’ hencemen all wore clown masks. Notice how none of the clown masks looked anything like the Joker, but everyone knew who they worked for. On the other hand, the batmen wannabes did nothing but dilute Batmans’ “brand”.
It’s worth noting the difference between “Supervillain” and just plain “villain”. I would say there were plenty of villains in the movie, but Joker was a “Super” villain, because he was willing to go the extreme edge of villany, much like Seth Godin regularly preaches with his “Purple Cow” concept. If someone did the things Joker did in the movie, he’d just be a real bad guy, a villain among villains. But because he did it with face makeup, lipstick, a purple suit, and a killer magic trick, Joker rises to the level of “Super”villain.
Love it Will, but alas you forgot the most important “super villian” rule. A REAL SUPER VILLAN under promises and over delievers!
Millie
In looking back at the movie, I’d also note that Supervillans get the word out on the street: “Effective Promotion” in a similar way to how you promote a listing. Not just on the Web, but all-out, even in print. Very cool – dastardly!
In fact, as I look at your blog, I’m starting to see the similarities even more now that you point them out. Here’s how I see it – click .
great stuff! I will be wearing my skunk suit today. If that doesn’t stand out I don’t know what will…
Dave, that is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day.
Matt, I wish Crye-Leike had a little critter mascot like Pugh’s does.
Millie, your marketing point is true, but in the context of the flick, I think Joker went to the opposite extreme. The henchmen in the bank robbery, which hostage was in which location, there’s speculation that the triggers on the boats wouldn’t have blown up the other boat, but the boat that the actual trigger was on. Maybe Supervillains work the other way sometimes.
All good points Will… Haven’t considered the purple suit as a marketing tool as of yet… But I might not be far away from it!
Great movie by the way… Hate that the series has lost a wonderful villian.
This is the best thing to hit the internet since Ironman handed out copywriting tips. (http://tinyurl.com/5h5vwx)
Ariel, too funny. Anything to write off the cost of a movie ticket. I was watching the X-Files flick and was STRAINING to pull something useful out of it. I’ve got nothing.
Cameron, I think the purple suit is a great example of going to “The Edge” with your personal marketing. How many agents dress nice with a shirt and tie to “set themselves apart”? A lot. So many in fact, that the ones who do just blend in with the rest of them.
But how many agents wear a Tuxedo? None that I know of.
Cool Super-villain Business Tips, well!!!
[...] it’s being used as a comparator-slash-lesson by real estate salespeople. Tell The World: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
Mightygodking.com » Blog Archive » How You Know When Something Goes So Mainstream That Simply Calling It “Mainstream” Isn’t Good Enough Any More said this on August 17, 2008 at 5:02 am |
ah yes.. real estate agents are evil. i get it!
[...] “love” for a lesson in marketing Somehow, MightyGodKing stumbled across my post on Marketing yourself as a supervillain. They’ve got it filed under “How you know when something goes so Mainstream that simply [...]
A little geek “love” for a lesson in marketing « Commercial Real Estate in Memphis and our Galaxy said this on August 18, 2008 at 4:06 pm |