Mrs. Doubtfire – the mother of reinvention

Sometimes we simply fall out of love with brands that might have previously stolen our hearts. How can such brands reinvent themselves, to win over new audiences without completely losing their old ones?

Everything I Know about Advertising I Learnt from the Movies: #5

Unless you’ve recently been abducted by aliens, and only just returned to terra firma, there’s a good chance you’ve caught some of the global shitstorm over an ionic car rebranding. You maybe even read about it in the Daily Mail. But I hope not.

Anyway, things hadn’t been going well for some time. The brand was being rejected by the people who used to love it, and ignored by everybody else. So, what was it to do: carry on regardless and change nothing, or do something really radical?

Robin Williams character, Daniel, in Mrs. Doubtfire, faced a similar dilemma. Daniel is a madcap actor, more often out of work than in, but his crazy schtick has worn too thin with his wife, who can’t stand the chaos any longer. She falls out of love with his brand, and asks for a divorce.

As a result, he loses his home too which – on top of being unemployed – means he also loses custody of his three adorable kids. Shit just got real.

Now that he has lost the attention of the people he loves, and who may have stopped loving him, he needs to do something different. Radical. Crazy.  So, when he sees his wife is advertising for a child carer – now that his services in that role are no longer required – he decides to completely reinvent himself: as Mrs. Doubtfire, an elderly Scottish widow.

He starts to charm his way back into the household and into the hearts of his kids, even his wife. And it works. For a while at least.

But even though he has changed age, appearance, nationality and gender: underneath the disguise he is still just a different version of himself. What he isn’t doing is denying his entire previous existence. He’s just manifesting it in a new way. In a skirt.

Like Daniel, some famous brands get tired and have their obvious flaws, which can cost them dearly. But underneath those there is often something still deeply lovable, which is ultimately what they need to reimagine, to win over consumers – old and new.

Ultimately Mrs. Doubtfire’s mask, literally, slips and the true Daniel is exposed, and it looks like things have suddenly gone from very bad to even worse. But, after the initial shock and horror of what he has done subsides, he is re-accepted and re-evaluated for who he is.

Daniel’s performance as Mrs. Doubtfire was not so much a strategic rebrand or reinvention, as a short-term tactic. He was not trying to make a statement about identity, gender fluidity or DEI, and the movie was not trying to make any political points either – even though the Daily Mail probably hated it too.

He had no intention of living his life from now-on as Mrs. Doubtfire, but the fact that he did for a brief period changed him, and the way he was perceived. So, in effect he did reinvent himself, just not as a wild-living Scottish widow – as he became a better person for it. It helped him win back his kids (if not his wife) and also win over a whole new audience professionally, bringing himself a secure future.

Sometimes brands also need to take such radical action, to save themselves and their futures, by exploring different identities, to refresh and evolve their personality. But they should never forget who they truly are underneath. People just won’t buy it. Or at least not for very long.