Within 10 days of its opening, the movie Star Trek grossed over $147 million in the U.S. and $216 million worldwide according to The Numbers, a box office tracking site.  This latest movie has helped Viacom, which owns the movie franchise, gross approximately $1.3 billion while merchandise licensing, owned by CBS and others, has grossed billions more.  These numbers are a testament to the enduring power and advocacy of the franchise’s fans over 43 years — a level of evangelism few brands can claim — with the possible exception of Apple.

A Little History

Star Trek, developed by Gene Roddenberry, first aired on September 8, 1966 and ran for three years, even though it was not a ratings or advertising hit.  As early as the beginning of the second season, NBC was planning on canceling the series only to have fans inundate the NBC mail room with over 150,000 letters — no small feat in the pre-digital age.  These letters convinced the studio to keep the show on air not only for a second season but also for a third.  Unfortunately, the show did not improve in ratings and was canceled at the end of the third season despite a second letter writing campaign, headed by Bjo and John Trimble.

While the Trimbles were not successful in securing a fourth season, their efforts led to the creation of the first Star Trek fan club, the establishment of Star Trek fan conventions and the pick up of Star Trek in syndication by the then fledging UHF stations.  Fan clubs certainly existed at the time — particularly for musical groups — but the Star Trek fan club was unique in the volume and quality of the user generated content as well as the scope of its influence.  Fans created and produced novels, comics, scripts, movies and games — formats that the official owners of the Star Trek franchise would eventually come around to embrace.  For a show with a lackluster beginning, it managed to spawn six television series that ran continuously on network television from 1973-2005, 11 films and countless fan conventions and merchandising opportunities.

The “Secret Sauce”

And how did the fans reach such influence and durability?  It appears to have been a “secret sauce” combination of shared ideals, active engagement from key “brand” members and the ability to connect in real life with other like minded fans.

• Shared Ideals:  According to Tim Cavanaugh, former editor at the LA Times and Reason Magazine, Roddenberry’s Star Trek was a “galactic Great Society” staffed by a multi-racial crew who — despite orders to the contrary from Prime Directive — managed to intervene on whatever planet they were visiting to eradicate hatred, fascism, and religious extremism; they left the planets restored to a just order.  ”Trekkers” — as early fans are known as — take this vision seriously.  Indeed, Ron Moore, a fan who later become the script writer for Battlestar Galatica wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece: “Star Trek painted a noble, heroic vision of the future, and that vision became my lodestar.”

• Active engagement by key brand members:  Gene Roddenberry, the creator, personally provided information to the Trimbles for dissemination to fans.  He even participated in the first fan convention in New York City in 1972.  In subsequent years, he was joined by members of the original cast, including Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, whose appearances added legitimacy and drove attendance.

• Real Life Connections:  Long before online communities, the Trimbles used the fan club to connect the fans to one another through the newsletters and conventions.  Fans used these venues to showcase their own work:  artwork, stories, costumes — even their own produced episodes and movies — as well as support the work of fellow fans.

Ironically, though, this brand evangelism was never officially instigated or sanctioned by the “brand management” – i.e., the networks.  Rather, it grew organically — albeit aided by Gene Roddenberry — by the Trimbles who tapped into the collective zeitgeist of science fiction fans.

There are few brands today who can boast of this level of advocacy and commitment — with the possible exception of Apple.  Like Star Trek, Apple appears to have the “secret sauce”:  a shared vision with its fans that technology cannot only be helpful but it can also be beautiful; active engagement by key brand members in fan activities — e.g., Apple’s participation in MacWorld, a fan based conference; and the ability for fans to connect in real life through online communities, fan magazines and fan conventions.

Perhaps, in this user-generated, digitally connected age, more brands can tap into their fans’ content and enthusiasm to spawn their own Star Trek-like evangelists.

Anne Mai Bertelsen is the Founder and President of MAi Strategies, a marketing consulting firm specializing in integrated marketing strategy development and implementation.