For some of the younger readers of this blog, you may be wondering who Cameron Crow – the person I reference in the title of this post – is.
Well, he’s a famous film writer/director, responsible for movies including:
+ Almost Famous
+ Jerry Maguire
+ Singles
OK, so he’s also responsible for the car-crash that was Vanilla Sky, but let’s ignore that …
Anyway, I recently read an interview with him where he talks about how he came up with the name ‘Jerry Maguire’ and it’s fascinating.
Not really because of the story behind the name, but what he says at the very end … how movie companies now operate and what the outcome of their modern-day marketing approach would result in.
The thing is, I can so imagine the focus group/movie company preferring ‘You Complete Me’ to ‘Jerry Maguire’.
I can hear the feedback …
“Who the hell is Jerry Maguire?”
“Jerry Maguire is such a boring name, so it must be a boring film”.
“I can’t think what a film called Jerry Maguire would be about?”
“You Complete Me sounds so romantic”
“You Complete Me sounds like a film that is happy and positive”
“You Complete Me is a film I want my whole family to see”
And while I accept I’m being biased – having seen the movie many times – I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have wanted to see a movie called ‘You Complete Me’, even if it still contained one of the iconic scenes of my generation.
[Which would probably be left on the cutting room floor these days, see below]
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of research … but focus groups aren’t really about that, they’re about being progress killers.
