Harvard Business Review has come out with the 2007 set of breakthrough ideas. Their selection runs across many industries, including marketing. Last year, HBR has profiled marketing to avatars, this year they offer Harry Potter marketing. The idea is to create brands that age along with the customers just like Harry ages along with his readers, which means consistently targeting age cohorts (say, everyone born between 1978-1982) instead of age demos.
The danger, I think, is that it will be increasingly harder to get new customers into your brand as its story unfolds. It's like Lost - if you miss the first season, what's the point of watching the rest of it?
