It was 39 years ago this Memorial Day weekend that Star Wars first opened in theaters. The first of the Star Wars series of movies, released in 1977, was officially dubbed A New Hope, but it was just called Star Wars when it opened. It was a ground-breaking piece of cinematography for several reasons. First, it used a language all its own. You almost needed a Star Wars dictionary to understand what Jedi, wookies, TIE fighters, Tatooine, light sabers, droids that were identified by numbers and letters, and something called "the Force” were. It ushered its own version of sci-fi geeks that immersed themselves in the nuances of the storyline. Second, the special effects were like nothing that had ever been seen before. Light saber battles and Death Stars being attacked by X-winged starfighters were believable. Third, a previously unknown cast of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford became overnight movie icons. However, the biggest impact Star Wars had was on the way the movie and its myriad of merchandise was marketed.

The marketing of Star Wars took the world by storm. Anything that could bear the image of Darth Vader, Luke, Leia and Han Solo were fair game. The sales from Star Wars toys alone from 1977 – 1985 (encompassing the first trilogy) outsold the box office over 2-to-1 (toy sales grossed $3.9 billion and the box office grossed $1.8 billion.) In the past 39 years, the Star Wars franchise has generated over $30 billion in revenues. Only 20% of that came from box office ticket sales.*

What can you learn about the marketing of your products and services from Star Wars? Lucas Films proved that you could break the marketing mold to promote your product. Movies had traditionally been marketed in previews of other movies and in newspaper print. Lucas Films promoted Star Wars with T-shirts, action figures and lunch boxes. They sold licensed merchandise prior to the release of the film and it worked to build momentum for the opening on Memorial Day weekend in 1977. This is the norm for movies now, but it was innovative in 1977. To be effective in marketing, you have to do something new to build up to the launch. They also got people to talking. The unique lexicon of Star Wars became a mainstay in our culture. We understand what it means when someone is turned to the dark side or has the wisdom of Yoda by putting the spoken subject at the end instead of the beginning of sentences ("Happy you are” instead of "You are happy.”) Even the U.S. Missile Defense Shield in the mid 80s was called Star Wars. Whenever you can get your target market speaking your branded lexicon, a winner you are.

For all of you Star Wars fans, here is a little trivia from the movies.

1. What does TIE stand for? 

2. Where did George Lucas come up with the name R2D2? 

3. How many actors made up the villain Darth Vader? 

4. Whose eyes were used as a model to create those of Yoda?

5. Originally, Luke Skywalker was to have which characteristics that were later discarded?

6. How many puppeteers made Jabba the Hut move?

7. What was considered offensive about the costume for Chewbacca?

8. What line is used in every Star Wars episode?

9. What animal noise was used for the sound of a TIE fighter in flight?

10. How many toes does Yoda have?

Answers: 
1. Twin Ion Engines

2. While making the movie American Graffiti, someone called for Reel 2, Dialogue 2 of film.

3. Five: James Earl Jones was the voice of Vader, while David Prowse played Vader in most of the scenes of the original trilogy with the exception of the fight scenes. Those were performed by Bob Anderson.  When Darth Vader was unmasked in Return of the Jedi, Sebastian Shaw was the actor who portrayed the dying Vader. One more actor contributed the breathing that is iconic of Darth Vader. That actor was sound artist Ben Burtt.

5. He was to be a dwarf and a woman.

6. Up to 10.

7. He was not wearing pants.

8. I have a bad feeling about this!

9. An elephant’s bellow.

10. In The Phantom Menace, he has three toes per foot. On every other movie in which he appears, he has four.

* According to Statistic Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-revenue