Reilly Newman | When it comes to fictional storytelling, a common aspect is the “canon” that the fiction is based on. The accepted rule or principle that dictates behavior and standards and by which the collection of work surrounding it adheres to. If you’re familiar with “canon” you’ll be aware of “lore” that is created for popular titles, but more importantly the intense filtering process to get more story added to the canon.
The defined canon doesn’t just bring clarity to the future content of stories but gives reason. The additional stories, characters, realms, timelines, etc. are vetted and only exist to add sound layers that fold into the canon and add depth. We see this in everything from Harry Potter and James Bond to Spiderman and Game of Thrones. Yes, these are all “intellectual properties” (IP), but what is your brand? Your brand is no different and therefore should be managed as such.
This is how you achieve seamless story expansion like following Newt Scalamander and the Fantastical Beasts series being derived from the original Harry Potter story while at the same time adding more depth in characters, history, creatures, and conflict to the overall canon of the wizarding world of Harry Potter. This increases the interest and inherent drama of the overall story. Now these added layers and depth only work due to something called “recursion.”
Recursion and You
Recursion happens when something is embedded within itself that ultimately concludes where it began.
For example, a story-within-the-story reframes the main story around it. You descend into the layers not to find the same thing again, but to find it changed and to climb back out seeing the surface differently than when you dove in. It’s like the Christopher Nolan movie Inception.
Layer upon layer we dive into recursion in realms of mathematics, literature, physics, and more. It’s not a matter of wizarding fantasy and endless layers, but actually more of a grounded “base” that then has layers folding-in like a croissant.
Recursion is interwoven in our lives and is how the universe functions in more ways than one and — to me — that is something worth taking note of! Sometimes these lofty thoughts feel like falling down a rabbit hole, but really the opposite is true. This framework of recursion is more like scaffolding you can use to strategically build your marketing, your brand, and your business.
Strategy of Recursion
This all starts with a solid base of your strategy. What’s the truth that is the bedrock of your company? This may be a simple truth that many know but never speak or it could be profound and proclaimed from the mountaintops. Either way, it should provide value to those who care. From this base forward, you can build the brand by unfolding layers from this base.
The Harry Potter base (or canon) is grounded in the spoken truth of reality of London, boarding schools, and King’s Cross Station. However, it also is based on the unknown and magical world of wizards, dragons, portkeys, and dementors — which functions due to its recursion into the truthful reality that it resides in. The story only works because the wizarding layer recurses back into reality by acknowledging real life but adding a “what if…” scenario. What if wizards do walk among us?… What if there’s a boarding school for wizards?… What if there are train stations that take you there?… What if the magical folk are aware of us (Muggles) but we aren’t aware of them? Layers not delineating from the core but expanding it while referencing back to the main base → recurse.
Recursive Depth
I always encourage founders to create “layers” in their brand. To give depth and meaning. Sometimes a founder will initially see this as a rabbit hole to throw themselves into looking for depth when all they find is madness. The goal of layering is not digging a hole to randomly find depth, but finding a solid base to scaffolding upward from to create depth.
Depth isn’t found, it’s created. The idea of going down a rabbit hole to create depth leads to ideas that seem random or meaningless and whatever story is being told, it isn’t based on canon.
An example of this is the infamous Jaguar rebrand. It failed due to its lack of recursion. Albeit perhaps that was the point — to randomly find depth of story by reaching down the rabbit hole to see what you pull up. For Jaguar it was a handful of “different” that had little to no recursion into the existing brand and its canon. This leads to a detached and meaningless brand that lacks depth and is more of a bottomless free fall into the unknown.
When building from a strategic base, there is a logical line of layering. The layers make sense because they are folding from the common base. There is a core principle and agreed upon standard. Recursion is brilliant because each layer can be different, but supports the same base. They can explore different angles and realities while folding back to the base. This allows for other perspectives to be explored because the layer has created more liberty to scaffold from. It almost seems counterintuitive, but referencing the base actually leads to further progress and expansion.
Similar to a new movie title like Fantastical Beasts and Where To Find Them that plays into the existing main storyline of Harry Potter, we see the layering taking place not just carefully, but deliberately. Fantastical Beasts is only valid because it folds into Harry Potter and adds to the collective works of its canon.
Yes, the deliberate layers will be mainly created internally, but should face the same scrutiny and vetting process nonetheless. These layers add depth and always fold back into the base to align, expand, and recurse. Every layer calls upon itself to further expand itself. This connects the dots across stories, motifs, characters, products, lands, and even timelines.
The point of recursion for your brand is not just mere expansion, but depth. Depth that compounds and appeals to more audiences on a deeper level.
