What Has Alice in Wonderland the Movie Got to Do with Branding? EVERYTHING...

I just saw Alice In Wonderland, the film, and though I have not read it in years I think I may have missed something. 

I was looking forward to seeing Alice peek out of a doorway too small for her newly big self and glimpse a verdant vista, hedges and lawns and brightly colored flowerbeds. Of course in this well done but not surprisingly creepy Tim Burton version, verdant anything was kept at a minimum. And then there was the big-time creative license TB took with the various creatures and overall timeline. To be expected? Probably. That's TB for you.

Here's the thing... AIW is a classic, and as a fairly strong brand you can do what you want, the song remains the same, so to speak. So, Tim Burton could borrow elements from Carroll poems, insert them in the story line and voilà! It works, no matter how random. Like I said, that's a strong brand for you.

So, how did AIW become such a strong "brand?" First, I think the story tapped into a place we all go at one time or another, our dream life. It did a nice dance with our various inner selves, the ego, id and all that, and then produced an adult parable masquerading as a child's fairy tale. But here's the important part, it gained followers. Maybe not so many at first, but the cult gained momentum overtime, as cults do.

Brands, steal a page from Carroll's fable - make it mean something, stand by it and never lose heart. Even Tim Burton can't mess up your version of the truth...