Selling Stories: Harry Potter and the Marketing Plot

Stephen Brown
University of Ulster

Anthony Patterson
University of Liverpool

ABSTRACT
Most families in the Western world are aware of Harry Potter, the stupendously successful stories about a boy wizard who lived. Most families are familiar with the shadow tales attached to Harry Potterthe tales of the rags to riches author, the mega-blockbuster movies, the forthcoming theme park in Florida, the long lines of enthusiastic consumers outside book stores at midnight. Harry Potter, in short, is a Niagara of narratives, a sea of stories. This paper plots the Harry Potter stories onto Bookers seven-element theory of narrative emplotment and considers how consumers interact with the Harry Potter brand phenomenon. Three consumer narratives of engagement are evidentdiscovery, diachronic, and denialas is the disagreement between battling plots. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

ONCE UPON A MARKETPLACE

The German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin (1973) once famously bemoaned the fallen state of storytelling. The ancient art of telling tales, he claimed, is in terminal decline. The rise of mass production, the emergence of mass consumption, and the technologies of mass communication have undermined humankinds ability to weave compelling yarns. Less and less frequently, Benjamin (1973, p. 83) stated, do we encounter people with the ability to tell a tale properly. More and more often there is embarrassment all round when the wish to hear a story is expressed.
Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 27(6): 541556 (June 2010) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20343 541

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2003459

Although he brilliantly anticipated the advent of the Internet and although his interwar cogitations on consumer society are now considered remarkably prescient (Gilloch, 2002; Leslie, 2000), Benjamins pessimistic predictions about storytelling failed to come to pass. We live, Fulford (1999, p. 149) observes, in a Niagara of narratives, in a world where stories are ubiquitous. Stories occupy not only our every waking hourin newspapers and magazines, on television and radio, at the movies and the water cooler, while surfing the net and navigating the blogospherebut, if dreams and nightmares are also included, our sleeping hours as well (Abbott, 2002; Vogler, 1998). The kudzu vine of storytelling has similarly invaded the sylvan groves of academe, where discipline after discipline increasingly acknowledges that, if not quite poets who dont know it, theyve been surreptitious storytellers all along (Cobley, 2001; Nash, 1994). Some even go so far as to claim that the human brain is hard-wired for narrative (Turner, 1998). It is nothing less than the central function, or instance, of the human mind (Jameson, 1981, p. 13). According to Benjamins seminal essay, the ancient art of storytelling owes much to itinerant traders, who not only circulated stories throughout the prehistoric world but employed their sales pitch prowess to improve the telling of the tales. This view may or may not be correct, but theres no denying todays managers have been bitten by the narrative bug (e.g., Denning, 2000, 2004, 2007). The best-seller lists are replete with beast fables (Tolkien, 2001, p. 15), uplifting parables about finagling squirrels, cubicle monkeys, and corporate mice whose cheese has gone missing. The stories and myths and allegories that advertisers concoct and brands embrace and consumers co-create are insightfully analyzed using every qualitative and quantitative technique in the academic arsenal (e.g., Adaval & Wyer, 1998; Hirschman, 2000; Holt & Thompson, 2004; Mark & Pearson, 2001; Woodside, Sood, & Miller, 2008). Textbooks too are moving away from to-do lists and inventories of take-aways and attempting to engage readers with thrill-filled narratives, corporate conspiracies, and marketing derring-do (Arnould, Price, & Zinkhan, 2003; Brown, 2006; Trout, 2003). Theres a growing recognition, in short, that for all our talk of goods-dominant and service-dominant logic, the real driver of marketing endeavor is its storydominant logic (Brown, 2007, pp. 296297). Nowhere is marketings story-dominated logic better illustrated than in the case of Harry Potter, a multi-billion dollar brand that not only epitomizes the rags-toriches archetype but incorporates several seminal master-plots (Booker, 2004). The aim of the present article is to consider Potters principal plot patterns and to assess their implications for marketing practice. It commences with a brief overview of the Harry Potter phenomenon; continues with an outline of Potters primordial master-plots; turns to a discussion of the authors empirical research program; culminates in a consideration of three key subnarratives that underpin consumers Potter stories; and concludes with some reflections on contradictory narratives, arguing that inter-story strife is not necessarily a bad thing.

BRAND AND DELIVER

Few stories have attracted as much attention in the past ten years as the truly astonishing story of the Harry Potter brand (Gunelius, 2008; Gupta, 2003; Terego & Denim, 2006). A decade ago, Joanne Rowling was a penniless single parent who
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scrimped and saved while scribbling in Edinburgh coffee bars, and whose offbeat manuscript about a boy wizard at boarding school was spurned by publisher after publisher after publisher (Smith, 2001). The book was too long, they said; the plot was old-fashioned, apparently; the market for kid-lit was moribund, dont you know (Nel, 2001). Ten years later, J. K. Rowling is one of the richest and most influential women on the planet, with a personal fortune greater than the Queen of England. She bestrides the worldwide best-seller lists, having sold 450 million copies of her seven-book series. The six movies released to date have garnered $5.4 billion at the global box office, making Harry Potter the most profitable movie franchise in history. Approximately $1 billion worth of tie-in merchandise, everything from computer games to cuddly toys, has been sold thus far and, with a Florida theme park opening in 2010, the scope for further ancillary sales is considerable. All told, the Harry Potter brand is worth $4 billion, which is fairly inconsequential in the great marketing scheme of things but pretty impressive for a fairy story about a British teenage boy with bad hair, broken glasses, bullying stepparents, and a bolt of lightningshaped scar on his forehead (Gunelius, 2008). Its narrative superabundance is perhaps the most striking marketing thing about the Harry Potter phenomenon (Brown, 2005). Harry Potter is not simply a single, seven-episode story of good versus evil but a veritable narrative incubator, where stories are rapidly hatched, batched, and dispatched across the rumor-, gossip-, and twitter-hungry Potterverse. For example, when Warner Brothers decided to divide the final novel into two separate movies, there was much discussion in the fan community about their decision (Gunelius, 2008). Some saw it as a good thing, since it meant even more Potter product to enjoy; others were dismayed by Warner Brothers apparent attempt to squeeze every last dollar out of the boy wizard franchise. Yet others wondered whether the teenage actors who starred in the earlier movies would be too old to play themselves when the eighth picture went into production and, if so, who should be their replacements? Likewise, the acrimonious 2008 court case between J. K. Rowling and RDR Books, which planned to publish a compendious Harry Potter companion, divided media pundits and cultural commentators alike (Caldwell, 2008). Was the billionaire author right to protect her intellectual property when author Steve Vander Ark had spent ten years of his life assembling the resource that Rowling herself made use of and commended on occasion? Was it fair to describe his anthology as wholesale theft or to reduce a middle-aged Potter lover to tears in the courtroom? The theme park too is much debated, not least among those who wonder why the facility is so small (20 acres); why its rides are not bespoke but refits of Universals existing attractions (in its Orlando operation, Islands of Adventure); and why the park is opening after all this time, when the outcome of the final episode is already known, when theres comparatively little product in the pipeline, and when many fans of Harry Potter are, presumably, moving on to other things (Adams, 2008). Is Warner Brothers hedging its bets on Harry? Regardless of the intricacies of such discussions, stories beget stories, and the stories about stories beget stories about stories about stories. So prodigious is the swarm of stories around the wizard brand that it is easy to be deafened by the buzz. A moments reflection, though, reveals that the Harry Potter master narrative is made up of several subsidiary stories. These are the story in
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the novels; the story of the author; the story behind the books, the story in the movies; the story about the merchandise; the story of its critics; and, not least, the all-important cyber story. Although these stories are far from free-standingthe authors experience of clinical depression, for instance, features in the early novels, and events in the later episodes are shaped by prior cinematic representationsthe plots of these subsidiary stories are sufficiently different to warrant separate treatment.

THROWING STORY SHAPES

According to Christopher Booker (2004), seven basic master plots occur in the Western cultural tradition, plots that are constantly recycled in various representational forms, from gothic novels and grand opera to computer games and situation comedies. These plots are rags to riches, rebirth, the quest, overcoming the monster, tragedy, comedy, and voyage and return. Bookers classification, like most typologies of this type, is open to question (e.g., is there any real difference the quest and voyage and return?). Booker, moreover, is just the latest in a long line of plot spotters, cultural commentators such as Northrop Frye (1971), Joseph Campbell (1972), Tzvetan Todorov (1975), and Roland Barthes (1977) who formulate a framework and somehow fit every story into it, usually with a bit of gratuitous shoving and squeezing and shoehorning (Brooks, 1992). Nevertheless, Bookers analysis is unusually compendious and more catholic than most, insofar as it ranges from the highest of high culture to the lowest of the low. As Harry Potter is a pancultural, multiplatform phenomenon, having exercised the minds of patrician literary critics and proletarian podcasters alike, Bookers schema is as good as any and better than most. He even refers to Harry Potter, albeit in a dismissive, seen-it-all-before manner (Booker, 2004, pp. 319320). The most impactful stories, Booker maintains, are those that contain more than one master plot, and the more master plots they contain the more impactful they are. If this contention is correct, then it goes some way to explaining the staggering reaction to Harry Potter, since the seven basic plots can be readily mapped onto the seven core stories of the Harry Potter brand. As Table 1 illustrates, the story in the novels is an exemplar of overcoming the monster; the story of the author is rags to riches writ large; the story of the books is rebirth plain and simple; the struggle to make the movies is a still-unfinished quest; the story of the tie-in merchandise is nothing if not a comedy; the story of the critics is a tragedy in its own way; and the story of Internet activity is analogous to voyage and return. In addition to the archetypal master plots in Table 1, the Harry Potter brand narrative has another important component. And that, of course, is the consumer. Overstating the part that consumers play in the Harry Potter saga is impossible (Brown, 2005). Granted, many cynics and churls have contended that Harry Potter is a PR creation, a marketing-manufactured monster akin to boy bands, girl power, and assorted American Idols. But billions of ostensibly satisfied customers indicate otherwise. HP has been astutely marketed (Haig, 2004); however, the genuine grassroots enthusiasm for the boy wizards adventures cannot be gainsaid. The well-attended fan conventions, the manifold tribute Web sites, the wizard rock sensation (garage bands like The Moaning
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Table 1. Plot Till You Drop. Novels story. If ever a series of novels epitomized the overcoming the monster master plot, it is the Harry Potter novels. From the first chapter of the first book to the final chapter of the final book, the core story consists of the boy wizards struggle to defeat Lord Voldemort, an unimaginably evil magician. The Harry Potter narrative is a classic case of good versus evil and, although there are many adventures and escapades along the way, each individual novel climaxes with a PotterVoldemort confrontation. It is the uncertain eventual outcome of this David/Goliath clash that kept readers addicted when the author herself lost the plot during the writing of book five. Authors story. When the American rights to J. K. Rowlings first HP novel were sold to Scholastic for a then-record sum ($105,000), the British media went to town on the authors rags-to-riches story. She was a modern-day Cinderella, nothing less than a literary lottery winner. Although Rowling has since stressed that the single-mother-onwelfare-writing-in-a-caf story was an exaggeration, it resonated so powerfully with the press and the public that the truth has never been allowed to stand in the way of the Pretty Woman/Ugly Duckling archetype. If anything, in fact, the rags-to-riches narrative has become more and more entrenched as Rowlings personal fortune has waxed and waxed and waxed, alongside the exponential increase in her celebrity status. Books story. Rebirth is the key word here. Prior to Harry Potters arrival on the kidlit scene, the entire genre was sleeping like Snow White in a drab casket of realist narratives and amateurish promotional tactics. Todays Internet-acquainted kids, everyone said, prefer not to read boring old books. However, Harry Potter not only proved them all wrong but even brought teenage boys back into the eager reader fold. The scenes of prepublication frenzy, where long lines of wand- and broomstick-wielding Harryheads gathered at midnight for the latest release, speak volumes about the rebirth of reading and book marketing in the aftermath of Rowlings kiss of life. The frog prince is alive and well and swimming the Amazon. Movies story. Viewed in retrospect, the Harry Potter movie franchise seems like the surest of sure things. With strong, CGI-friendly source material and a huge, readymade teenage audience, it is situated in the center of Hollywoods target market sweet spot. HP was as close to a guaranteed success as the movie business ever gets. Hindsight, nevertheless, obscures the enormously onerous quest that turned the raw literary material into motion pictures that met the expectations of their audience. Every aspect of the casting, the content and, not least, the overall control of the franchise was fraught with difficulty. The behind the scenes heroics on HP screenplays make Heart of Darkness look like Disneys Jungle Cruise. Merchandise story. Comedy is the prevailing plot where tie-in merchandise is concerned. This comedy is found in numerous tongue-in-cheek products that accompany the release of the books and movies (e.g., Bertie Botts Beans with booger and earwax flavors). Theres more to the comedic genre than funny ha-ha, however. The characteristic feature of comedy is reversal or inversion, and once again the merchandising of HP adheres to this template. Whereas most blockbuster movie franchises seek to saturate the market with soft toys, T-shirts, promotional tie-ins, etc., the merchandising of Harry Potter has been comparatively restrained. This restraint was adopted at the insistence of J. K. Rowling, but ironically the very lack of ancillary overkill has ensured that the market has never been sated, nor has consumer disillusion set in. Critics story. Few contemporary novels have attracted as much opprobrium as Harry Potter. It has been attacked by Christian fundamentalists, who object to the ungodly descriptions of witchcraft and what have you; it has been condemned by literary critics for foisting badly written balderdash on impressionable children; and it has (Continued)
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Table 1. (Continued) even been denounced by bona fide witches and warlocks for its erroneous portrayal of magic. Such criticisms, most neutrals might agree, are a travestypossibly a tragedybecause for all her literary faults, J. K. Rowling has succeeded in turning a new generation of children on to the joys of reading. However, the ultimate tragedy (from the critics perspective) is that the attacks on Harry Potter have merely increased the products appeal. Tragically, scandal sells, and the more scandalous the product the more appealing it is to onlookers, who understandably wonder what all the fuss is about. Cyber story. In a world where surfing the Net is the norm and cruising through cyberspace an everyday occurrence, it is perhaps appropriate that the I-brand strand of the Harry Potter story should be predicated on the final primordial plot, voyage and return. It is no accident that the inexorable rise of Harry Potter coincided with the inexorable rise of the Internet. Chatrooms, Web sites, blogrolls, podcasts, fan fora, and so forth have done much to propagate HP. The brand handlers reaction to this development, however, is characterized by a there-and-back-again propensity. When the tribute Web sites first appeared, Warner Brothers sought to crush the interlopers who dared trespass on their intellectual property. Such was the online outcry, though, that WB themselves ceased and desisted and decided to use the fan community to its promotional advantage. Unfortunately, with the ending of the seven-book saga, the old draconian mindset has reasserted itself, most notably in a 2008 court case against the publisher of an unofficial Potter lexicon.
Source: Authors.

Myrtles), the admittedly ludicrous LARPs (live action role-playing games), and the mile-long lines outside bookstores at midnight bear witness to Potters prosumer power. However, perhaps the most astonishing customer testimonial of all is the fan fiction phenomenon (Lanier & Schau, 2007). These are full-length novels written by Potter lovers and posted on the Web. Employing the canonical characters and settings (albeit with occasional cross-franchise appearances from, say, Captains Kirk or Sparrow), these works of consumer art take the Potter storyline to places where Warner Brothers and J. K. Rowling fear to tread. So raunchy are some of the 100,000-plus stories posted thus far that a voluntary classification system, similar to that for movies and computer games, has been introduced in an attempt to ensure that younger readers arent corrupted by the eye-popping antics in the slash fiction sub-genre.

HAIL HARRY POTTER

Consumers storytelling propensities hardly come as news to marketing and consumer researchers (e.g., Escalas & Stern, 2003; Fournier, 1998; Holt, 2004; Stern, Thompson, & Arnould, 1998). What is newsworthy about Potter-related storytellingin addition to its sheer scale and worldwide scopeis that consumers are telling stories about a seven-episode story, itself made up of seven intertwined stories that collectively encapsulate every plot permutation known to the Western literary tradition (Table 1). Harry Potter is story central and it
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provides a marvelous opportunity to empirically investigate the character of consumers narrative urge, or aspects of that urge, at least. The following results draw from a wide-ranging, in-depth, seven-year study of the Harry Potter brand. This research program ranges from content analysis of the marketing-replete novels, via participation in the promotional circus during new book release frenzy, to tracking studies of media representations of the ever-burgeoning Potterscape (on tribute Web sites, in fan fiction, though analysis of extras on DVDs). Empirical data were also gathered (from Harry Potter lovers, Harry Potter haters, and Harry Potter indifferents) by means of focus groups, depth interviews, netnography, and introspective storytelling techniques. This information was acquired at various points in the Potter product release cycle (it commenced prior to the publication of the fifth book and concluded in the immediate aftermath of the final episode) and involved consumers of diverse ages, genders, and nationalities (the youngest informant was 7 years old, the oldest 62). All told, the data set consists of approximately 1000 singlespaced pages of empirical interviews, introspections, and suchlike, as well as photographs, podcasts, video mash-ups, a sizable mound of press clippings, and a collection of 34 books on the Harry Potter phenomenon, everything from anthologies of fan letters to a spoof trilogy about Barry Trotter. Although this represents the merest drop in the ocean of Harry Potter narratives, the study is sufficiently deep to hold a shoal of striking brand stories. These stories pertain to every strand of the HP master narrative, everything from fundamentalist Christian concerns about the irreligious ingredients in the books to unbelievers fear that Harry Potter enthusiasts are themselves worryingly evangelical about the boy wizard:
I like to think that I have managed to remain neutral about Harry Potter, but because I am not a devout fan this can be very testing. Its a bit like Christianity. Harry Potter lovers feel that they must spread the message of the good book. They automatically make a dash for non-believers with the aim of saving them from their nonHarry Potter ways. (Irish female, 23, introspection)

TENACIOUS 3-D
Interrogating the Potter data set in accordance with established narratological research procedures (Escalas & Bettman, 2000, Fournier, 1998; Stern, 1995; Thompson, 1997) yields three noteworthy subnarratives: the discovery narrative, the diachronic narrative, and the denial narrative, each of which is made up of sub-subnarratives, sub-sub-subnarratives, and so on ad infinitum.

Discovery
The discovery narrative, as the name implies, is an account of the informants first exposure to Harry Potter and the Hogwartscape generally. In keeping with the prevailing lore of Rowlings literary creation, most of these encounters are precipitated by word-of-mouth recommendation. Close friends, extended family, zealous school-chums, enthusiastic coworkers, and even ardent casual acquaintances such as impassioned strangers met on planes or trainsprovide the ringing endorsement that propels most people headlong into Harry Potter. Indeed, almost
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everyone seems to know someone who is not only a rabid Potterite, but who decided to convert the entire world to the boy wizards cause:
I was doing very well at escaping Harry mania. I could go about my daily business with not a mention of Harry Potter. However this all changed when my lovely friend Emma became a Harry maniac. I could not remember the last time Emma, my best friend of 20 years, had picked up a book. She spent most of her time sleeping or watching reruns of Sex and the City. But all this changed when Harry Potter came on the scene. These days she is a bookworm and completely obsessed with Harry Potter. It was Emma who raised my awareness of Harry Potter or rather forced me to pay attention. She makes sure I know when all the books and films are coming out and keeps me updated on the plot. And I must pretend that I am interested, as any good friend would. Every day she will give me a little snippet of Harry Potter information. And in my head I am screaming How do I make her stop? (Irish female, 23, introspection)

Word of mouth isnt the only motivational mechanism, though. Idle curiosity (wondering what all the fuss is about), sheer boredom (nothing else to read on holiday), authoritarian insistence (course requirement in school or college), the acquisition of interpersonal capital (reading to hold ones own withor mess with the minds ofthe HP fixated), and painfully humiliating encounters with diehard Potterphiles are just some of the many reasons for purchasing a season ticket on the Hogwarts Express:
Let me set the scene: it was the summer of 2003, a long hot summer where I was bored out of my head. [My boyfriends] sister had just bought the fifth book and we were all talking about it over dinner one Sunday. I tried to keep out of the conversation as much as possible as I didnt know a thing about the books and these people were obviously avid fans. No matter how much I tried to keep quiet I was uncovered as a Harry Potter virgin when I was asked who my favorite character was. The only character I knew was Harry Potter and I think they were looking for some more in-depth answer than that. So I had to confess that I had not read even one page out of the Harry Potter books, never mind have a favorite character!! Oh the look of shame! (Irish female, 22, introspection)

Sheer bafflement sucks some in. Consider the case of a 30-year-old office worker who started reading Rowling because the 8-year-old daughter of a colleague reckoned Potter might appeal to his personality type. Huh? Who wouldnt read the books after a recommendation like that? Theres more, of course, to the boy wizard than books. Contrary to pedagogues propaganda about Rowlings reinvention of reading as a fashionable teenage pastime, numerous consumers catapult into the Potterverse by nonliterary mechanisms. The movies, the DVDs, the soundtracks, the computer games, the media brouhaha, the soft toys and T-shirts, catching a trailer on television, or good old-fashioned serendipity (such as being given complimentary cinema tickets) are no less important points of entry than the novels themselves. Countless consumers read the novels, or attempt to read the novels, after seeing one or more of the movies. Others find their way to Hogwarts by a decidedly circuitous route. One adult informant, for instance, was asked to purchase a Potter-themed gift for a distant cousin, only to discover that the requisite item had sold out months before. Dazzled by the array of Potter merchandise on display in a department store and astonished that the stuff was selling like hot pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, she was sufficiently intrigued to start reading the novels. And, hey presto, another Potterite was born.
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If the vehicle that transports consumers to Rowlings magic kingdom isnt necessarily the novels, theres no denying that when people fall for Potter they fall big. Almost without exception, informants find themselves spellbound, enraptured, caught up in the wonderful world of Muggles and Mudbloods, Hagrid and Hermione, Albus Dumbledore and Dudley Dursley. Even life-changing events like going on honeymoon cant compete with the Hippogriff grip of Hogwarts fellowship:
In April this year, my girlfriend had just become my wife and we were about to set off on honeymoon. We had an hour or two to kill in Gatwick and I did some last minute panic buying for some holiday reading. . . . I decided to buy the first two Harry Potter books, the Philosophers Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. I have got to say I was something of a Harry Potter virgin, that is to say I had never read anything by JK Rowling, hadnt seen the films or knowingly bought any affiliated wands or broomsticks. I was however only too aware of the publicity surrounding the books and who the author was, as well as some of the characters. . . . When I got down to reading, I felt the books were brilliant. I could really see how the books appealed to adults and children alike. Needless to say that my new page turning obsession did not go down too well with my new life partner. When on our first night in the Maldives and expecting some form of conjugal rites found herself in second place to a fictional 11-year-old trainee wizard and something called the Sorting Hat. (Irish male, 31, introspection)

Many informants surprise themselves by the intensity of their reaction to Rowlings invention, since they dont ordinarily read or watch such stuff. The very unexpectedness of their reaction renders it all the more intense and, as often as not, the first hit of Harry precipitates an orgy of reading or viewing, where episode after episode is wolfed down. Harry Potter may not be the cultural equivalent of crack cocaine, but hes a literary version of Pringlesonce you pop Potter, you cant stop:
Moderator: What age were you when you started getting into Harry Potter? Participant #1: I kinda knew about them for ages, and I wanted to start to read them. But I didnt actually start to read them until I went on holiday last year, and then I literally couldnt put them down. It was like one after the other. . . . (English female, 20, focus group)

Diachronic
The problem with infatuation, of course, is that it is comparatively short-lived, and consumer narratives consistently exhibit a diachronic component. Consumers relationship with the wizard brand is not stable. It waxes and wanes through time. It is less of an unbreakable pact than an ongoing process. In addition to the above discovery archetype of doughty resistance and sudden surrender, numerous informants report that their attitude to Harry Potter has changed considerably. Either their initial enthusiasm for the series wore off as the stories became longer and darker and more repetitive, or their instinctive antipathy ebbed when they actually read the books, or watched the movies, and (grudgingly) recognized their merits:
Watching the film provided me with a glimpse of why so many older people worship Harry Potter. On one hand it may be the idea that takes them back to their childhood days. I can relate to this theory. On the other hand it may be that it takes them
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away from the mundane reality of their own lives. As you get older it gets increasingly harder to have fun. Worries about the mortgage, worries about the kids, worries about the kids having kids, and so on. So for those few brief moments I realized that perhaps it wasnt just a stupid childish fad; it had a real offering for the older generation too. (Dutch male, 24, introspection)

This inconstancy is perhaps not surprising, since the Harry Potter books are part of the Bildungsroman tradition (Gray, 1995). They are narratives of growing up akin to David Copperfield, Tom Browns Schooldays, or The Sorrows of Young Werther. As the protagonist develops and matures, readers feelings for the central character change in concert, either positively or negatively. The cyclical character of the Harry Potter release scheduleseven books and five movies in a ten-year periodmean that the target audiences connection with the franchise is subject to peaks and troughs and fluctuation. The children who were 11 years old when the first book about an 11-year-old boy wizard was published are now leaving college. With childhood, puberty, and higher education behind them, it would be strange indeed if their Potterphilia hadnt subsided or their Potterphobia hadnt tempered to some degree. Interestingly, the much-vaunted maturation of the Harry Potter stories which famously get darker through time and feature adult themes like sexuality and deathprovoke a reaction that is contrary to expectation. Older readers of Harry Potter, those who might be expected to appreciate the grown up stories of the later novels, invariably express a strong preference for the earliest books, those that transport them back to the innocence of youth. This appeal to the inner child attracts them to Harry Potter in the first place:
I got uncomfortable with the third from last one. The one that was very dark and was more about the witchy side of things. I kind of was a bit uncomfortable with that, because, um, Im more, kind of like . . . the Enid Blyton innocent, um, approach, and I felt all of that was kind of, it struck a discordant note with the other books. And it was very dark, very heavy, and kind of depressing. . . . I think if all of the books had been like that, I would have stopped after the first two, because that lightness was part of the effect, um, kind of a window into childhood. (Nigerian female, 34, interview)

Younger readers, on the other hand, those whose ability to cope with the adult themes of the darker, later books (and movies) has often been debatedto the extent of issuing official warnings and slapping a 12A certificate (equivalent to PG-13) on movie fiveinvariably prefer the later books because they are more exciting, because they are more frightening, because they are signifiers of grownupness:

Do you like the films?

Um, yeah, but theyre not, kind of, the same, because ever since theyve had the first one, they get scarier and scarier every time. Do you find it too scary? No. It is all right. Would you prefer it, if it was less scary? I like them to get scarier and scarier. Even if you have to be 12 to see them. Im not even scared. (English male, 9, interview)

Above and beyond the shifting of pro and anti opinion, the continental plates of Pottertectonics contain another important diachronic componentprolepsis.
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Prolepsis is the technical term for flash forward, anticipating an element of the narrative that is explained later. Obviously, much of the appeal of Harry Potter is attributable to its proleptic power (i.e., debating what will happen next, wondering how things will finally work out, etc.), but even the ending of the saga hasnt stopped proleptic speculation, since enthusiasts wonder whether Rowling will write more stories in due course. This prospect isnt always welcomed, though. Sorry as they are to say goodbye to Hagrid, Hedwig, Hogwarts, and all the rest, many Potterphiles fear that extending the franchise beyond the sevenbook series or bringing Harry back like Sherlock Holmes or Star Wars will result in comprising the book series value:
And how do you feel now that this is the end? Now that she has written them all? Awww. Sad. Theres this void in my life [laughs]. I dont want it to be the end but I know that she only planned the seven books, and the story has come to an end and I think she would just be selling out if she started writing more books. It would just get disappointing because the stories wouldnt be as good. So even though I dont want it to be over, oooh, I dont think I would be very happy if she started writing other stories about them. (English female, 28, interview)

Denial
Needless to say, not every Potterite is happy to see the back of Harry. A postDeathly Hallows survey reported that many fans were suffering from withdrawal symptoms, if not outright denial (Harry Potter Addicts, 2008). Refusing to let go of what numerous consumers describe as a close friend is not only understandable but very much in keeping with the brands signature marketing strategy. Denial is the watchword of Harry Potter marketing. In sharp contrast to the customer-centric marketing philosophy, which attempts to pander to every revealed preference, the marketers behind Harry Potter have consistently made life difficult for consumers by implying that there arent enough books to meet the demand, by keeping the authors personal appearances to a minimum, and by generally tormenting the readership through cryptic hints, contrived countdowns, casting security blankets over production, forcing retailers to sign confidentiality agreements, opening bookstores at midnight, and suchlike. The tactic continues, furthermore, in the Potter aftermath, since Rowlings subsequent writings, most notably The Tales of Beedle the Bard, have been published in very limited editions, at least initially. This denial extends to consumers themselves, in as much as they tease one another. Those who have read the books at high speed threaten to reveal all to their slow-reading brethren and thereby spoil the story for them. Or, alternatively, they respond to urgent questions from friends, who anxiously ask what happens next? with an infuriating Youll just have to wait and see. In this regard, consider the behavior of a Harry Potter aficionado who took a crowd of unbelievers to see Sorcerers Stone and refused to tell them what the movie was about:
My sister Nuala had read the first book and had a good idea what lay ahead. But her being her normal self would not divulge any information about what we were about to observe. My two younger cousins were inquisitive about what they would see. Was it going to be scary? Claire, whos six, asks with her eyes wide open. Well, I cant tell you that, says Nuala, with a gentle smirk on her face. Will it be funny then? she asks with the same expression. Wait and see, Nuala replies, laughing
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at her. By this stage, I myself was intrigued by the whole affair. WHAT WAS HARRY POTTER ABOUT? (Irish female, 29, introspection)

Theres more to denial than marketese, moreover. One of the most striking things about our consumer stories data set is that almost every informant either denies or subtly downplays their connection to the Harry Potter brand. Not only do they refuse to admit that they are Harrymaniacs, even when surrounded by tie-in merchandise and well-thumbed books, but they take comfort from the fact that their obsession is really quite mild compared to some peoples. They are admirers but not love-struck admirers, so to speak. As might be expected, this denial narrative is more likely to be found among adults than teenagers or preteens. Its not cool to be seen reading childrens books, adult covers notwithstanding, or attending kiddy movies, no matter how popular or ubiquitous they are. However, even preteens go to great lengths to stress that theyre not hooked on Harry, that they can take him or leave him, that Harry is just one of their repertoire of favorites, that theyve put away their childish things and moved on to more sophisticated narratives:
Do you like the books? Um, I used to really love Harry Potter. But not so much now. Why do you think that happened? Because I found something else that Im more into, Dr. Who. So you prefer Dr. Who to Harry Potter. Why is Dr. Who better than Harry? Because its like . . . imaginative. Um, and it doesnt just . . . stay with the same thing, the same characters. Harry Potters got a bit less of more different characters, but Dr. Who has loads of characters . . . loads of different characters. I dont like Harry Potter as much because, um, that they dont have that many, more characters. (English female, 8, interview)

While it would be a gross exaggeration to state that this ritual of denial is a profane version of Simon Peters biblical betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, it is noteworthy that consumer renunciation comes in a variety of forms. Countless consumers repudiate Potter, period. Many love the stories but dislike J. K. Rowling. Some adore the books, but abominate the movies. Others enjoy the stories, both on the page and on the screen, but draw a line at ancillary merchandise. Or at the computer games. Or surfing for stuff on the net. Or writing ridiculous fan fiction. Or queuing up in costume at midnight. Or reading the copycat books promoted as the next HP. Or anything that smacks too obviously of marketing, branding, and all that jazz:
Although I would be loath to admit it in polite company, I am a Harry Potter fan, and probably always will be. By the time the last book came out, however, I had gotten wise to the marketing ploys of the publishers. Even though the hype was at fever pitch, it didnt really get through to me at all. I did buy it, and I have read and enjoyed it as much as the others, but I certainly didnt queue outside a bookstore from 12 midnight. (Irish female, 25, introspection)

Of all consumers denial devices, perhaps the most prevalent is irony. Numerous consumers adopt a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward the boy wizard and his world. In keeping with the self-mocking spirit of the books themselvesand, moreover, manifold Web sites (Table 2)they take a somewhat irreverent stance

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Table 2. Top Ten Signs Your Kid Is a Wizard. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. You catch him in the bathroom polishing his wand. His favorite excuse is that his homework ate the dog. Hes only twelve, but somehow hes dating Gwyneth Paltrow. He refers to Halloween as amateur night. Favorite discount electronics store: The Wiz. He wears shiny red satin robesand youre praying hes just a wizard. Can turn lead into gold, but he cant remember to take out the trash. He gets busted shoplifting a newt. You say, Do you think that lawn is gonna mow itself? But then it does. When he enters a room there is a burst of purple smoke.

Source: mugglenet.com/funlists.

and are ever-ready to acknowledge the absurdity of Pottermania in general and their personal involvement in particular. Its only a bit of fun, remember:
All the Harry Potter novels have provided many a laugh for me but some have spilled over into my social life. After a crowd of my mates and I went to watch the first movie it is not uncommon for the following phrase to be shouted out randomly on a night out. Youre a wizard, Harry! may seem a bit strange to onlookers but believe me it is bound to have us in stitches. And of course it is a lot funnier when you are drunk! (Irish female, 22, introspection)

NARRATION NATION?
Theres much more to the Harry Potter master narrative than the 3-Ds of discovery, diachrony, and denial (which combine into that classic anti-romantic plot, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy rationalizes his rejection). Aside from discrepancy, consumers partial grasp of the Rowling canon, and deconstruction, their propensity to ponder the Potter phenomenon per se, many consumer narratives are decidedly dissonant. That is to say, the stories that shelter under the Harry Potter brand umbrellathe author story, the critics story, the cyber story, etc. do not blend together into a coherent package. They are contradictory. They are cacophonous. They clash and crash and negate one another. In keeping, arguably, with creative writing 101which contends that conflict, conflict, conflict is the key to compelling storytelling (Zuckerman, 1994)the Harry Potter uber-story consists of a congeries of battling narratives. Agon rather than agreement is the order of the day, whether it be those who prefer Peeves to Padfoot or Philosophers Stone to Deathly Hallows, or the movies to the novels, or Dr. Who to Harry Potter, period. Just as J. K. Rowlings story is a seven-volume battle between the boy wizard and his evil nemesis, Lord Voldemort, so too the stories surrounding Harry Potter engage in an ongoing war of attrition. Indeed, the very intensity of Pottermania prompts the equal and opposite hostility to all things Harry:
The crazy over-the-top media frenzy surrounding the whole phenomenon acts as a barrier preventing me from taking the bold step of reading a Harry Potter book or watching any of the films. . . . Even if I was to sit down and watch one of the movies any enjoyment would be tarnished by the continual feeling that this is a box-office

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hit, adored by millions and a regular feature in The Sun newspaper. . . . I think I have this attitude simply because Im generally a person who doesnt like to conform with popular opinion. Its more fun to be different. (Irish male, 21, introspection)

If Harry Potter is in any way typical, then this story of struggles between stories has lessons for marketings narrative imperative. As the management best-sellers list indicates, recent years have witnessed a narrative turn in that managers are urged to weave compelling yarns around their brands, their organizations, their strategies (Denning, 2007). One-word positioning postures and twosentence mission statements are being replaced by stirring stories of the triple bottom line. The story is not only a machine to think with, as I. A. Richards (1925, p. 1) once observed, it is a machine to sell with. In addition to the general agreement that narrative is the best medicine, todays corporate storytellers tend to adhere to the notion that brand narratives should be simple, straightforward, and, if not quite simpering, certainly sympathetic. Hence the frequency with which they are cast in fairytale form, complete with once-upon-a-time home pages and happily-ever-after sales service. Harry Potter, however, suggests that plain and simple is not necessarily the best story-selling strategy. The problem with plain and simple is that it palls very quickly. Suspense, surprise, struggle, and strife are crucial when it comes to keeping readers/consumers interested, involved, and, ideally, infatuated. There may be a limited number of basic plots, as Booker intimates, but the permutations on the plots are infinite. If theres always something to talk about or argue overbe it Harry Potter or Madonna or Apple or Wal-Martthen a rolling story will continue to gather marketing moss. Brand narratives should be allowed to bloom and burgeon, like the proverbial thousand flowers. They should be urged to take arms against a sea of fables and fight each other to a temporary standstill. They should be Whitmanesque, simultaneously multitudinous and contradictory. Consistency, as Ralph Waldo Emerson almost said, is the hobgoblin of small brands.

AND THEY ALL SOLD HAPPILY EVER AFTER

At the height of the recent Disney wars, the last remaining link to the organizations golden era was asked to pass comment on the companys brand proposition. Roy Disney, the 70-year-old nephew of Walt, gruffly remarked that branding is for cattle (Stewart, 2006, p. 354). Creating stories, he continued, is what Disney is all about. Creative storytelling, and all the products storytelling generates, is the indispensable ingredient of Disneys perennial marketing prowess. Branding may well be for cattle, as Roy Disney declaimed, but todays brands are as reliant on storytelling as the denizens of the Magic Kingdom. This paper has examined some of the plots that inhere in the story-stuffed Harry Potter brand and extracted three key subnarratives that consumers share and circulate. Just as Harry Potter is, ultimately, a story of good versus evil, so too these consumer stories contain positive (discovery) and negative (denial) components that shift and slide through time (diachrony). This fluidity suggests that the traditional branding notion of harmonious core values should be replaced with a celebration of discordant consumer narratives. Rather than offering a consistent

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core value proposition, this perspective endorses engaging and enabling customized links that induce an explosion of meanings (Arnould, Price, & Malshe, 2006, p.100). Love it or loathe it, Harry Potter induces an explosion of meanings. Riotousness, not regimentation, is Potters principal plot device.

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