of the 10 percent will fail, but that doesn’t mean content strategists should be discouraged. Any innovative and successful content strategy needs this element of risk to thrive.
Applying the Rule to Tom Cruise
The Benefits Outweigh the Risks
Risk mitigation doesn’t mean to avoid any risky behavior. Rather, it means to effectively manage risk by deciding when to back off and when to come at content development with a strong and risky approach.
70 percent of his roles represent The Movie Star. The Tom Cruise™ brand: That cocky, loveable scoundrel who is exciting and risky, but inevitably on the side of right. These Cruise personas – Maverick in “Top Gun,” Ethan Hunt in “Mission: Impossible” – often have tragic backstories that enable us to look past their initial conceit, waiting for a denouement that always proves the Cruise character to be heroic, self-sacrificing and truly good.
For example, the role of Les Grossman in “Tropic Thunder” saved Tom Cruise after the notorious couch-jumping incident. The performance made him accessible; it showed people he could laugh at himself. Now they’re talking about developing a Les Grossman movie. After trying and succeeding in that role, Les Grossman no longer represents 10 percent content for Mr. Cruise.
20 percent of his roles represent The Actor. Tom is still Tom – generally looks like him, sounds like him, acts like him – but he’s taking a chance. Maybe it’s a period film like “The Last Samurai,” or working in an unfamiliar genre like “Minority Report” or spending half the movie in a mask (“Vanilla Sky”). Tom does these films both to challenge himself and to increase his “brand reach” to various demographics who may find his 70 percent films cloying or predictable.
The most successful 10 percent content can (and should) be replicated, joining the 20 percent, and sometimes even the 70 percent.
10 percent of his roles represent The Iconoclast. Tom isn’t Tom. In fact, Tom is trying to tear down Tom Cruise™. Here’s where the “art” happens. He takes big risks like ranting about his manhood in “Born on the Fourth of July,” or playing a misogynistic, manipulative motivational speaker in “Magnolia.” Both of those films landed him Oscar nominations, so while there is a huge upside to 10 percent content, but the downside is just as large. This also is where he could fall on his face (see “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Rock of Ages”… on second thought, don’t).
The lessons brands can learn from Tom Cruise’s career and the 70-2010 rule is to take risks occasionally -- not foolishly, but strategically, deliberately, measurably. The audience gets bored of the same old content. Let Tom Cruise be an example for content strategy, or understand that the brand will never attain A-list status. Instead, the brand and company will be relegated to the direct-to-video shelf. n
Katie L. Fetting is the Senior Copywriter at Portent, a Seattle-based, full service Internet marketing company. She has more than 10 years of experience in copywriting, SEO, media and the movie industry.
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