What do The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the 2022 Halo series, and the last season of Game of Thrones have in common?
Yes they all have abysmal ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly the audience didn’t like them. But why?
There’s something they all share. A common reason why the audience hates them—sometimes even without knowing why.
It’s not that they necessarily had bad writing. Or that they had lots of plot holes. It’s not even that they often felt rushed and unpolished.
No it’s something much more fundamental.
Here’s a tip. They all had previously built fanbases.
The Rings of Power has the fanbase of every Lord of The Rings lover, films and books alike. The Halo series was a highly anticipated movie by every gamer out there who, in their youth, spent hundreds of sleepless nights grinding behind their screen. And, well, the last season of Game of Thrones had millions of fans who watched all the previous seasons of course.
But then. Every single one of these managed to completely fuck up by pissing off their audience and not thinking—not even caring about what their audience wanted.
The Halo series barely has any resemblance to the original story, characters, and world that fans knew and loved from the games.
Game of Thrones managed to disregard some of the prior arcs and character-building that were built previously and made characters do things they never would’ve done with their personality, beliefs, and personal history just because it seemed useful to do so for the story.
And don’t get me started about The Rings of Power where the new show writers casually decided to do away with the decades of work Tolkien put into building the world and create his lore just because “they wanted to give add their own twist to it”—and publicly admitted to do so.
This is a common case of not thinking—not caring about your audience.
And it happens way too often.
Hollywood—and especially Marvel as of late—does it all the time. Think about how many films and shows with (badly written) heroical female leads you’ve seen pop up as of late. And how almost all of them completely flopped.
But this isn’t just limited to the movie businesses. No, no.
This is applicable to the business business as well.
And I see it all the time on Twitter. People excitedly create offers, run promotions, and pitch their services. They’re so happy to show off what they came up with they forget who it’s for.
And when it comes down to landing clients… crickets. Nobody’s interested in your stuff because it’s not created with them in mind.
See I’m all for doing your own thing and creating stuff you think is cool. I tell everyone not to listen to advice from others. Because most advice—while well-intentioned—often does more harm than good.
But you can’t run a business without asking “What does my audience want”?
And if you want to learn more about how to craft offers and come up with new and exciting products—products you think are cool and exciting—your audience doesn’t just want, but desperately NEEDS.
Then check out my Abundant-Client System today right here: https://alexvandromme.gumroad.com/l/clients/CLIENTS