Entrepreneur.com
"If you take a look at the Indiana Jones series, it truly is a franchise," says John Martin, president and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, a Texas-based cinema-eatery franchise that expects to have 30 locations nationwide by 2010. "You can put up Harrison Ford's silhouette, but you have the fedora and possibly a whip behind him, and you'd know it's Indiana Jones. If a customer were to drive by in a new market and see [an established business'] iconic brand or sign, they'd know what to expect and will feel good about going to it."
Another benefit of staying true to your brand is that it becomes a symbol to remind you of where you've been and where you should be going. "The hat, you've got to really look at why it's symbolic to that character -- it's how he got it," Maddalena says. "It's almost like his albatross because he got punched around and the guy stuck the hat on his head. He learned such a valuable lesson from that, the hat is almost like his constant reminder of, 'You've got to keep going. You've got to keep moving forward.' It's his persona." Above all, the underlying quality that makes Indiana Jones a legend is the same thing that makes a truly great entrepreneur. After all, while most people chase metaphorical Holy Grails, this guy found the real thing -- and still wasn't satisfied. "Indiana Jones is always looking for the next undiscovered artifact," Maddalena says. "That's what makes him tick. An entrepreneur is usually driven by one of a few things. Success is usually one of them. But entrepreneurs get more satisfaction from the challenge than they do from success. As an entrepreneur, the success is a by-product of the challenge. We thrive on the challenge. That's what makes Indiana Jones tick. If there was no challenge, he wouldn't know what to do."
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