Branding Lessons from Super Mario

I can’t help but smile every time I play Super Mario Bros. Wii. Back-flips, super triple jumps, wall kick jumps, fire balls, snow balls, penguin suit, propeller mushrooms, Yoshi and more. They’ve taken all the great bits and pieces of all the Mario games in the past twenty five years and created a phenomenal four player (at the same time!) game.

What Nintendo has done is remarkably simple: They kept Mario the same. Their formula hasn’t changed for twenty-five years. Mario the plumber is still running through worlds in his red overalls picking up power-ups and fighting Bowser to rescue Princess Peach. Simple. What’s difficult is fighting the urge to change, especially when the world demands so much of it from us. Change is great, but not all the time. Sometimes brands do not recognize the value of evolving as much as they enjoy the idea of changing. The difference can sometimes be fatal, especially if you’re running out of mushrooms. Tropicana lost 35 million dollars in two months because they changed their packaging too drastically. That’s a-lot-of lives. Obviously your customers expect your brand to evolve over time. But a drastic change to your brand and you could lose that special fire-flower love between you and your market share.

Super Mario Fan-Art Video