Bugs BunnyWarner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
The Warner Bros. franchise produced some of the funniest cartoons of the 20th century. Two decades ago, a cable deal largely purged Looney Tunes from the airwaves, and WB is now trying to rebuild the nearly 100-year-old brand with film releases like 2021′s Space Jam: A New Legacy and the series Looney Tunes Cartoons. Here are some looney lessons on how to build a successful brand—and make sure it stays that way.
Follow the leader (with a twist)
Looney Tunes borrowed heavily from Walt Disney. The name itself was a play on Disney’s Silly Symphonies, and Bugs Bunny was influenced by a character from Disney’s The Tortoise and the Hare. But Looney Tunes soon identified an unmet consumer demand: Disney’s cartoons were rarely laugh-out-loud funny. So it became the home for Disney-style talking animals who were much more cynical, violent and funny than Disney could ever be.
Don’t micromanage
Producer Leon Schlesinger didn’t pretend to be an expert on animation, so he put talented young directors in charge and told them what they needed to do to keep their jobs: Stay under budget and stick to the house style—anything for a laugh. Then he left them alone to do things their own way.
Go ahead, be trendy
Do topical references damage your brand in the long run? Looney Tunes suggests they don’t. The creators filled their cartoons with references to comedians, actors and current events. But that didn’t hurt their longevity. Foghorn Leghorn is based on two long-forgotten radio comedy characters, but apparently kids find a loudmouthed Southern rooster inherently funny. Keeping your brand up to date doesn’t mean it’ll go out of date.
Stay consistent
Since the 1989 death of Mel Blanc, who voiced almost every major Looney Tunes character, Warner Bros. has been unable to settle on permanent replacements. Billy West voiced Bugs in the original Space Jam but was replaced by Jeff Bergman in the sequel and by Canadian Eric Bauza in Looney Tunes Cartoons. Good as all the actors are, the lack of a definitive voice makes it harder for audiences to know what to expect from the characters.
Maintain visibility
Though the original Warner Bros. cartoon studio shut down in the early 1960s, Looney Tunes remained a huge money-maker for decades, thanks to endless broadcasts on many different channels. The brand didn’t falter until the turn of this century, when one U.S. cable network got exclusive rights to the cartoons. Most kids grew up not knowing Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam or Wile E. Coyote. A deal that reduces your brand’s visibility can cost you in the long run—and that’s, as Daffy Duck would say, despicable.
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