Late last week I read about the death of Charles Lippincott, the man who both George Lucas and Mark Hamill called one of the most valuable, if not the most valuable, members of the launch of the Star Wars series. Actor? Producer? Sponsor? Nope.
He was the communications guy.
I did not know much about Charles Lippincott, so we did some digging, and uncovered such a treasure trove of 1970’s success in promotion of film. He worked on campaigns for Westworld (1973); Family Plot (1976); Alien (1979); and Flash Gordon (1980). But it was his work on Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) that left the biggest mark, and he helped reshape how movies are marketed.
Lippincott joined the Star Wars galaxy in 1975 as Lucasfilm’s vp advertising, publicity, promotion and merchandising. To publicize Lucas’ then-unknown property, he went outside normal practices for the time, teaming with Marvel Comics for a series that came out ahead of the release and organizing partnerships with The Richard Pryor Show and The Donny & Marie Show. He also teamed with CBS for the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special — all to keep the property in the public’s consciousness…and he brought the actors, unknowns for the most part, to Comic-con at a time when the festival was just starting. All of it at the time was disruptive and challenging and groundbreaking, and Lucas admitted that without the efforts well BEFORE the film was released, Star Wars might never have gotten to where it was.
I read his obituary and the tributes with great wonder, because it is that sort of unique proactivity in telling the stories of the stories that sometimes gets lost in the way projects come to the forefront. Many times, people follow the script…this is what has worked before, lets make sure we do the minimum and ride the curve for what has worked. Lippincott did none of the regular…he talked to the actors, read the script and followed his creative imagination to build storylines well beyond what people would see on a screen, or read in a book or see on a stage, or even find out about when watching on a streaming service today. He left little to chance, and was able to extract exposure, and brand partnerships, that built a franchise as a startup. Now of course over time the stars of the series drove much of the attention itself, and those deep dives may not have been necessary, but it seemed like the man as a proactive storyteller with some of the biggest franchises of his heyday, found ways to get people interested and excited in the technology, the characters, and the people, who were involved, not just the film that played out for two hours on a screen.
Those deep dives at the start…well before the game gets played or the movie gets made or the product gets launched…sometimes get lost in the marketing mix in a risk averse culture. It is EASY to say no to creativity sometimes, because the effort of storytelling in the creative process can be time consuming. Sometimes also it’s hard to track ROI…if you spend x dollars on a marketing campaign you can see tangible results…for a communications campaign sometimes the hard numbers can’t be measured in dollars. Now today tracking things like share of voice and sentiment are becoming more valuable, especially with the growth of self-storytelling and social media. You can create conversations and drive interest in a project well before the lights go up, if you take the time to LISTEN to all involved, and then find places to drive a narrative. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes interest and engagement from the participants, but it can be very rewarding, if you are storytelling about a brand, a team, an athlete, an educator, a film, a book and on and on. You can marry stories, interesting stories that everyone has, to a platform where they may be an interest, and now using social media, you can magnify the exposure.
It takes time…effort and a creative drive, but it can be very rewarding.
Now I don’t know what pushed Charles Lippincott from the creative spotlight as his career went along. He lived a long life and even had a blog which he posted pieces on from time to time. Maybe Hollywood became too big and the projects more risk averse…but it seemed like during a golden period Charles Lippincott got it…he saw the long-term storytelling value, had engaged participants and built and built.
I’m sure he would have had a field day using the tools we have today as well, but regardless of the tools, he knew how to extract elements from a narrative and push them wide. The result was clear…ask anyone what Star Wars is, even today. Even the recognition from Lucas, its creator, was impressive last week.
As we move further into murky waters in the coming months, the ability to story tell and drive interest in properties in a cost-effective manner is going to be very important. For those on the storytelling side the effort to drive that interest and cut through clutter is going to be even more important; saying “no” to a little more of a push on the creative side to drive attention is going to be tougher…there will need to be more creative “yeses” to draw attention.
How to do so? Study a little Charles Lippincott. He pulled lots of blood out of a Star Wars stone by listening and asking questions and then finding ways to expand a franchise… it’s that creative and proactive push that can be rewarding for all and make the storytelling effort even bigger over an extended period of time.
The push you may find out, is a great part of the creative fun.
