Comic books sometimes provide useful ways to think about telling brand stories. Well, in creative terms, at least, thinking like a comic book writer, editor, or illustrator can be enormously helpful.
Consider the inspiration of Qahera, the hijab-wearing super heroine fighting sexual assault against women on the streets of Cairo. The character and web-based comic are the brainchild of graphic novelist Deena Mohamed, a graduate of the American University in Cairo. Fighting injustice in Egypt is risky business. The choice of comic book medium makes the story powerful, vivid, and accessible, which are certainly attractive brand attributes. The approach likely protected Qahera, too, at least initially, since a comic strip can seem far less threatening than, perhaps, a tough newspaper column or Tweet by a young woman about Cairo’s rampant climate of sexual assault and harassment. Some might recall how science fiction movies such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and TV series such as "Star Trek" were used in 1950s and '60s America to confront the folly and pain of ignorance, racism, trumped-up fear, and war. The censors simply didn't take science fiction seriously.
The 2013 film “CBGB” occasionally used a comic book motif to help tell the story of Hilly Kristal and the founding of the famed CBGB punk rock club. If not handled well in non-animated movies, however, comic book panels and thought bubbles can seem little more than a film school cliche. It worked well in this case, however, because the approach was authentic and true to the punk rock brand. Central to CBGB’s growth - and with it that of Blondie, Talking Heads, Police, Ramones, and Patti Smith - was the infamous, graphic-novel-like fanzine Punk Magazine - arguably the real genesis of the punk rock scene. And yes, punkers would have recoiled at the thought of building a brand, but that's exactly what they did on a powerful, global scale.
So don’t dismiss the simple power of the comic book template, at least in thinking through your brand story. If nothing else, consider as a thought experiment how you might develop and deliver that brand story in just four or five panels, placing your narrative on a compelling story arc worthy of Qahera or Hilly Kristal, making the design clean, interesting, and accessible, and keeping the writing tight. Roy Lichtenstein, anyone?
This is not an argument to adopt the comic book medium in marketing media and materials, per se. It's been done plenty of times, though generally not well. Rather, this is a suggestion that occasionally thinking in comic book terms can help you create, design, write, and edit in a more clear, vivid, and accessible manner. It might just make for the stuff of a branding super hero.
Consider the inspiration of Qahera, the hijab-wearing super heroine fighting sexual assault against women on the streets of Cairo. The character and web-based comic are the brainchild of graphic novelist Deena Mohamed, a graduate of the American University in Cairo. Fighting injustice in Egypt is risky business. The choice of comic book medium makes the story powerful, vivid, and accessible, which are certainly attractive brand attributes. The approach likely protected Qahera, too, at least initially, since a comic strip can seem far less threatening than, perhaps, a tough newspaper column or Tweet by a young woman about Cairo’s rampant climate of sexual assault and harassment. Some might recall how science fiction movies such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and TV series such as "Star Trek" were used in 1950s and '60s America to confront the folly and pain of ignorance, racism, trumped-up fear, and war. The censors simply didn't take science fiction seriously.
The 2013 film “CBGB” occasionally used a comic book motif to help tell the story of Hilly Kristal and the founding of the famed CBGB punk rock club. If not handled well in non-animated movies, however, comic book panels and thought bubbles can seem little more than a film school cliche. It worked well in this case, however, because the approach was authentic and true to the punk rock brand. Central to CBGB’s growth - and with it that of Blondie, Talking Heads, Police, Ramones, and Patti Smith - was the infamous, graphic-novel-like fanzine Punk Magazine - arguably the real genesis of the punk rock scene. And yes, punkers would have recoiled at the thought of building a brand, but that's exactly what they did on a powerful, global scale.
So don’t dismiss the simple power of the comic book template, at least in thinking through your brand story. If nothing else, consider as a thought experiment how you might develop and deliver that brand story in just four or five panels, placing your narrative on a compelling story arc worthy of Qahera or Hilly Kristal, making the design clean, interesting, and accessible, and keeping the writing tight. Roy Lichtenstein, anyone?
This is not an argument to adopt the comic book medium in marketing media and materials, per se. It's been done plenty of times, though generally not well. Rather, this is a suggestion that occasionally thinking in comic book terms can help you create, design, write, and edit in a more clear, vivid, and accessible manner. It might just make for the stuff of a branding super hero.
Qahera image courtesy of Mvslim.