Brands Should Embrace Being The Villains In Their Own Stories – Here’s Why

Last month I caught the new racing flick Gran Turismo in theaters. By all accounts the ‘true story’ was fun, if unremarkable – but one thing stood out. Unable to shut off my brand storytelling brain, I was struck by the plotted presence of character Danny Moore. Moore, played smartly by Orlando Bloom, is a Nissan marketing exec who, in the film, proposes that Nissan tap the best Gran Turismo players in the world to become real life racers on the Nissan racing team. Bloom’s character is a fictional amalgamation of real people, and for the sake of storytelling, liberties were taken with Bloom’s character. He plays Moore as a marketing-first go getter whose goals are at times in conflict with the film’s protagonists. There are more than a few moments where the character Danny Moore is there to create tension, being in favor of the superficial while the protagonists pursue something more ‘authentic’.

This characterization of a corporate executive stuck with me as I left the theater. Upon returning home, I hopped online to see what Nissan had to say about their presence in the film. The consensus was singular: Nissan seemed happy to have their one-of-a-kind program and success story realized on the big screen – and took ample opportunity to share that opinion in all the press generated by the premiere of the film. What’s more is that people’s affinity for the film, Nissan, and Sony (the film’s producer and maker of the Gran Turismo game) were all up after viewing. The latest iteration of the game, which came out nearly a year ahead of the film, saw a 13% boost in players after the release of the film. The film to date has grossed over $100M worldwide.

It occurred to me that the inclusion of this character and the choice to position him as one with interests that are in conflict with the film’s heroes, something that might be a small detail to some, wasn’t a small detail at all. It was a decisive, calculated choice. It was a choice that, though subtle, played to great effect. Because while the character representing a brand heavily featured in the film was depicted as an antagonist, the real-life brand didn’t seem to object to this characterization at all. In fact, not only did they not object, but they celebrated the film and capitalized on every opportunity to associate themselves with it. It made me wonder, why would a brand behave this way? Ultimately, I think answer is so obvious and simple that it’s practically funny: brands are happy to play the antagonist in their own stories, so long as the story yields real-world brand affinity and brand lift.

The choice to position the brand as antagonist isn’t unique to the Gran Turismo film. Just look at Air, the film about Nike’s Air Jordan shoe. Sonny Vaccaro (played by Matt Damon) is positioned as the protagonist maverick in pursuit of an authentic superstar that will represent the brand with a signature shoe. Nike founder Phil Knight (played by the film’s director Ben Affleck) is skeptical of Vaccaro’s choice, depicted as thinking only of the company’s bottom line. The audience is invited to side with Vaccaro over Knight. Vaccaro wins out in the end by signing Jordan and creating the Air Jordan 1, which would go on to be one of the most popular and influential sneakers of all time. It’s no accident that the story is told this way, and Nike surely had no problem with having its founder play a conflicting character because with this story came a slew of press and pieces on the enduring legacy of Nike and the AJ 1. The movie did pretty well, too, cracking $90M worldwide.

Of course, the mother of all examples here is Barbie. In an almost cartoonish fashion, Mattel is painted in the Barbie movie as a colorless money-making enterprise run by foolish suits and completely disconnected from Barbie’s authentic journey into self-discovery. Once again, the authentic hero’s journey of the protagonist is positioned starkly against the brand antagonist’s marketing-motivated, capitalist goals. My fascination with each of these examples comes from the outside observation that none of the characterizations of these antagonists would be possible without the approval of the real-world counterparts these characters represent. And yet they were approved, and as a result, audiences across the world rooted for ‘the good guys’ and lambasted ‘the bad guys’ without necessarily considering the whole experience is made possible by the real-life brand’s approval.

As an avid movie viewer and observer of brand storytelling, the aforementioned phenomenon is what fascinates me. I am fascinated by the notion that although audiences are more discerning about being advertised to than ever before, ultimately the power of storytelling is so great that it can override logic and reason with the pure power of emotion. Audiences are willing to flock to theaters in pink, cheer for Barbie and boo at Mattel for 113 minutes without considering that the whole experience wouldn’t be possible without Mattel’s express approval. And Mattel, who said yes to director Greta Gerwig’s depiction of the company in the film, is happily reaping the benefits of massive press, boosted sales, and a film that’s done nearly $1.5B worldwide at the box office. The fact is that in the estimation of the average person, corporate America can have a negative connotation. That same average person will set aside the reality that Mattel produced the very film they’ve come to see and poke fun at the brand in. The savvy viewer may well recognize it for what it is and still come out with greater affinity for the brand for allowing itself to be roasted in such a fashion.

If there’s a message to brands in all of this, it’s a simple one. What these films have in common is that the brands involved relinquished control to creators. Creators, when given the proper amount of space, can do an incredible amount of heavy lifting around telling stories that relate to audiences. And herein lies the most important message brands can come away with – brand marketers are wired to put the brand first, to position it in the best possible light, and to make it shine, but creatives are wired to speak to the human condition, to create emotional moments that put the audience first, and to leave people with something they can emotionally relate to and understand. Storytellers know better than anyone that sometimes, that means making brands the bad guy. And while it shouldn’t be taken as a hard and fast rule, the brands that have found and will continue to find success like that of Sony, Nissan, Nike, and Mattel, will be the ones that lean into the idea of letting creators do the heavy lifting of relating to audiences, even if it means playing the villain.