There’s no doubt about it: virality rules, but it’s often as elusive as blind luck. If you’ve been reminiscing about your company’s previous brand/product stories, wistfully hoping to recreate those successful efforts – you’re not alone.
Greatness is hard to achieve and even harder to recreate. It’s why the phrases one-hit-wonder and 15 minutes of fame were coined. After all, anyone can have a successful story in the form of a song, movie, or project – but to constantly recreate that magic is challenging to say the least.
That’s why media spinoffs were created – to channel virality from previous projects without having to start from scratch. This makes marketing easier because spinoffs are built on the foundation of stories that are already trending or successful.
So, in this post, we’ll highlight a few successful spinoff stories, run through key ingredients for your next spinoff, and show you how to effectively promote it. Let’s spinoff!
Lessons from successful spinoff stories
The Fast Saga has earned more than $5 billion, and though the cast has changed and the cars have turned into space shuttles – the franchise is currently working on its tenth installment. What could it possibly be missing? That’s right – a spinoff.
Cue Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw – an entertaining spinoff starring The Rock, Jason Statham, and their trademark witty banter. The movie raked in $760 million worldwide and even has a sequel in the works. And though the story introduces new characters and villains, it still centers around the franchise’s typical theme of family and car chases.
The lesson? When stories have popular and likable characters or features, you can easily leverage them in a spinoff. This is why you’ll want to create characters that your audience
relates to and enjoys reading or watching so much they keep coming back for more.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has earned over $23 billion. The most profitable franchise ever. So, it was only a matter of time before characters from the MCU received their own spinoff shows.
WandaVision, Hawkeye, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Loki – TV shows with big names, famous characters, and typical far-fetched plots that still lure fans worldwide.
The lesson? Don’t limit yourself to one. Spinoffs can be like bottomless coffee or soda. You’ll know when it’s enough. But don’t create stories just for the sake of putting something out there. Create a solid plan of what works, why it works, and how those elements can be used to recreate virality. Successful spinoffs are always based on research, data, and timeframes.
Disney’s Luca is one of a kind. Usually, blockbusters come in a general template; big names, big studios, and big releases.
While the voice cast is talented, it’s not star-studded, was released during a global pandemic, and most of the Luca cast had to record from home. Yet, Disney successfully released Luca and its spinoff Ciao Alberto in the same year!
The lesson? Strike while the iron is hot. When you factor in script-writing, editing, production, marketing – it can take years until a spinoff is finally ready. Adding casting and filming to the mix could take even longer. So, save time and recreate virality faster by writing compelling stories while creating plans for potential spinoffs.
3 virality ingredients for your next spinoff
1. Stick to the original foundation
To recreate or channel the success and virality of an original story, your spinoff needs to stick to the same winning foundation. This could be anything from a character’s wit to a plot’s heartfelt sincerity. Do thorough research based on your story’s performance, reviews, and feedback. Then use that data to create a plan for your spinoff. But don’t fall into the copy-paste trap. Remember, branches stem from the same roots but can be of different colors, sizes, and textures.
2. Fill in the gaps
A spinoff is a perfect opportunity to add more information, shed light, or fill in gaps. For example, Ciao Alberto cleverly developed some unanswered questions about Alberto and Massimo’s life after Luca. Now, you can purposely create these holes in an original story if you’ll be following through with a spinoff. Or, if you already have a story you’re trying to build on, look for ways to add backstories or character depth and definition. Ultimately, you need to find lanes that you can turn into roads for your spinoff to drive on.
3. Add a unique touch
Your spinoff needs unique elements to stand on its own and not rely too much on its predecessor. To achieve this, you could include a video, interview, or voice over to zoom in on special components or features in your story. This can also be especially useful when promoting your story online as videos and voice overs are easy to post and share on social media.
How to promote your spinoff story
Just as a tree will never grow unless it gets enough water and nourishment, your spinoff won’t succeed without promotion. That’s because recreating virality still involves marketing efforts. This can be segmented into four key areas.
First, decide which original story to build on and how a spinoff can follow the waves of its success. Perhaps a spinoff could be used to showcase a new product or service, explain a feature, or increase brand awareness?
Second, decide where to promote your spinoff; offline channels, social media marketing, or word of mouth. Consult data points from your original story to decide the best platforms to utilize. For example, Squid Game was a hit on Netflix, so releasing the second season to Netflix users makes sense instead of launching to a new audience on Amazon Prime.
Third, set well-defined parameters to avoid wasting your bait in empty waters. Know your audience, where they will be, what they want, and use your spinoff to tell them exactly how to get it. Again, this should link back to why and where you promoted your original story.
Fourth, plan how to measure the success of your promotion efforts and include how often and how long you’ll be analyzing this data.
It takes time to create such a detailed plan, but it also saves time, gives you a birds-eye view of your spinoff’s performance, and can be used to tweak and adjust future spinoff efforts.
Final thoughts
There was once a company that built a kingdom so vast, word of its grandeur spread far and wide. As they became more majestic, they extended their kingdom and expanded their lands to become the greatest company ever to exist.
Okay – so that introduction is more like something out of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale rather than your business plan. But if you write a spinoff that recreates virality, you can keep spreading your company’s grandeur. Remember, stories bring brands, products, and services to life. It also helps to energize your brand. And promoting it helps to bring in more viewers who can ultimately become paying users/customers.
However, successful spinoffs always start with original, viral stories, which is why you’ll find our advice on How to be a great storyteller extremely helpful.
So, now that you know how to best write a spinoff, we wish you all the best as you stick to the original foundation, fill in the gaps, and add a unique touch through videos or voice overs.
May you be successful as you write majestic spinoffs to recreate virality! And be sure to check out the voice actors on Voice123 so that your next spinoff can ‘speak’ happily ever after!
