Note: This is an excerpt from my book SEO & 80s Movies: An Old School Approach to SEO and Content Marketing.
You want to get organic links.
Sure, there are some nights when we’ll take just about any old link, but when we’re in our right frame of mind we usually have standards that are typically quite high.
So how do we get those organic links? I mean, yeah, I know I’m supposed to wait and all, but jeez, that takes so long!
Why not do what Sue Charlton did in Crocodile Dundee? See, in that movie (which is really about a female reporter trying to make it in a man’s world) we see Sue chase down what she wants, and then become attached to it.
Mick Dundee may be a hapless bloke from the Outback of Australia, but he sure is likeable, as near anyone on the streets of 1986 New York will attest. I mean, just look at how their faces light up in this 80s gem!
That said, what was it about Mick that was able to draw such amazing and widespread organic links from people? Aside from the easy smile and ashtray-for-a-hat, is there anything else we can learn from him?
I think so, and that’s why we’re going Walkabout with Crocodile Dundee for organic links!
Sure, there are some nights when we’ll take just about any old link, but when we’re in our right frame of mind we usually have standards that are typically quite high.
So how do we get those organic links? I mean, yeah, I know I’m supposed to wait and all, but jeez, that takes so long!
Why not do what Sue Charlton did in Crocodile Dundee? See, in that movie (which is really about a female reporter trying to make it in a man’s world) we see Sue chase down what she wants, and then become attached to it.
Mick Dundee may be a hapless bloke from the Outback of Australia, but he sure is likeable, as near anyone on the streets of 1986 New York will attest. I mean, just look at how their faces light up in this 80s gem!
That said, what was it about Mick that was able to draw such amazing and widespread organic links from people? Aside from the easy smile and ashtray-for-a-hat, is there anything else we can learn from him?
I think so, and that’s why we’re going Walkabout with Crocodile Dundee for organic links!
Seeking Your Target
The film was made with a budget of just $10 million and its aim was to appeal not just to Australians, but to Americans as well. It released on April 30, 1986, in Australia and then on September 26 in America.
Even though it got a late start, showing for just about three months, it managed to become the second-highest grossing film of the year in America, making $174 million. It was just $2 million behind the $176 million Top Gun made, which had been released way back on May 16.
What’s more, Top Gun had been shown in 1,028 theatres while Crocodile Dundee was shown in just 879, a difference of 149 theatres. To come within $2 million of the, well, top gun, is therefore quite impressive.
Even though it got a late start, showing for just about three months, it managed to become the second-highest grossing film of the year in America, making $174 million. It was just $2 million behind the $176 million Top Gun made, which had been released way back on May 16.
What’s more, Top Gun had been shown in 1,028 theatres while Crocodile Dundee was shown in just 879, a difference of 149 theatres. To come within $2 million of the, well, top gun, is therefore quite impressive.
Building Your Myth
When the film finished the lead writer and actor, Paul Hogan, said he expected it would make millions of dollars around the world. He had his sights and expectations set high.
Hogan knew the film would be big when it wrapped, and said so.
"I'm planning for it to be Australia's first proper movie,” he told reporters at the time. “I don't think we've had one yet—not a real, general public, successful, entertaining movie.”
A whopping $47 million of the gross that year came from theatres in Australia. Hogan had managed to far exceed his and everyone else’s expectations with the film. After all, it made more than 17 times what it cost to produce.
The film was also a hit with critics and those in the industry. It was nominated for two Golden Globes, two BAFTA’s, and one Academy Award. It won just one award, which was the Golden Globe for Paul Hogan for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
Hogan knew the film would be big when it wrapped, and said so.
"I'm planning for it to be Australia's first proper movie,” he told reporters at the time. “I don't think we've had one yet—not a real, general public, successful, entertaining movie.”
A whopping $47 million of the gross that year came from theatres in Australia. Hogan had managed to far exceed his and everyone else’s expectations with the film. After all, it made more than 17 times what it cost to produce.
The film was also a hit with critics and those in the industry. It was nominated for two Golden Globes, two BAFTA’s, and one Academy Award. It won just one award, which was the Golden Globe for Paul Hogan for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
Stepping Outside the Norm
Kakadu National Park The film was made for nothing and no one thought much of it. It was shot in an abandoned uranium mining camp, a forgotten relic in the equally forgotten Kakadu National Park.
Money came from the Australian government, in the form of 10BA tax concessions through Morgan Sharebrokers. It was a shoestring affair, a real underdog with fleas, a failure before it even started.
They shot six weeks in Australia and six in New York, with a week in between for any changes.
That’s not normally how big Hollywood blockbusters are made, and yet it was done. Huge amounts of organic links were produced for the Crocodile Dundee brand that year, in the form of loving and adoring fans. And how many of those links continue to pay off each year, in the form of additional DVD sales and the like? Lots.
Money came from the Australian government, in the form of 10BA tax concessions through Morgan Sharebrokers. It was a shoestring affair, a real underdog with fleas, a failure before it even started.
They shot six weeks in Australia and six in New York, with a week in between for any changes.
That’s not normally how big Hollywood blockbusters are made, and yet it was done. Huge amounts of organic links were produced for the Crocodile Dundee brand that year, in the form of loving and adoring fans. And how many of those links continue to pay off each year, in the form of additional DVD sales and the like? Lots.
Getting Edgy, Pushy – Defensive
We’re dealing with tired American models, tropes, and stereotypes in this film, exactly what your site will be battling against as it steps onto the landscape of battle and takes aim at those higher, mightier, and more well-endowed sites in its campaign for organic links.
Here are some key examples of how the organic links were made in the film:
Each of these links took time, just like it takes your site time. But with good cheer and a can-do attitude, you can succeed.
Here are some key examples of how the organic links were made in the film:
- Mick befriends New Yorkers at the bar and earns their trust by fending off malicious links;
- At a dinner party Mick again thrills with his uncanny ability to keep unsavory content away;
- By the time Mick leaves the hotel he’s won over both the doorman and the towel-woman, two extremely powerful forces in that institution;
- The limo driver goes from thinking Mick uncouth and strange to a real knock-about guy, one of the tribe if you will.
Each of these links took time, just like it takes your site time. But with good cheer and a can-do attitude, you can succeed.
You have to realize that many 1980s stereotypes are turned on their head in Crocodile Dundee, and that slights are not insults upon the recipient but upon the giver.
The Americans in the film browbeat the Australian savage but in doing so only showcase their own ignorance while making him more powerful.
Each of these references in the film comes from older cultural references glimpsed or heard in the movie. And each is an example of what can happen with organic links. After all, for you to gain them, someone else probably has to lose them. This causes backlash.
Each of these references in the film comes from older cultural references glimpsed or heard in the movie. And each is an example of what can happen with organic links. After all, for you to gain them, someone else probably has to lose them. This causes backlash.
Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and Davey Crocket are names Mick is referred to throughout the film. Usually he takes pride in other characters trying to shoot him down, such as when he beats his chest at Sue’s joke or shows up Richard after the mishap with the escalator.
After all, Jungle Jim would never have been able to ascertain and then master such sophisticated equipment. Our hero does, however, showing he’s adaptable and able to play his adversary’s game. Can your site say the same?
After all, Jungle Jim would never have been able to ascertain and then master such sophisticated equipment. Our hero does, however, showing he’s adaptable and able to play his adversary’s game. Can your site say the same?
Finding Your Crowded Hall
The beginning of the film depicts Sue sitting in a chair, a wide window behind her showing the immensity of Sydney Harbour in the background. Even with the solid glass there’s limitless potential there behind her.
At the end of the film it’s the opposite. She’s boxed-in underground and has nowhere to go.
Whereas before she could pick up a phone she no longer has those luxuries – remember, this was the 80s and super-large cell phone days.
She does have her bushman wisdom, however, and makes a distinct Australian birdcall to Mick. He hears her, and together they talk over the aboriginal grapevine, sharing their private information in a very public way.
Whereas before she could pick up a phone she no longer has those luxuries – remember, this was the 80s and super-large cell phone days.
She does have her bushman wisdom, however, and makes a distinct Australian birdcall to Mick. He hears her, and together they talk over the aboriginal grapevine, sharing their private information in a very public way.
When the situation proves too much to overcome, however, and when Mick and Sue aren’t able to push through the “packed-in-here-like-sheep” crowd, Mick simply goes over their heads like any right-minded rancher in Australia would do with such unruly and stupid beasts.
The New Yorkers have become the weak folks while Australia now revels in the glory. And there’s nothing like defeating your opponent on their home turf and then having them applaud you. Yet that’s just what we see in that subway tunnel.
The music starts upon the still-screen and we know we’ve won.
A feel-good movie of the year is born and what seemed impossible before now looks simple with a little outback thinking and bush humor.
Even the music is rustic, quaint, and rather staid. Is it no surprise this movie was so popular or produced so much love and affection – and organic links?
A feel-good movie of the year is born and what seemed impossible before now looks simple with a little outback thinking and bush humor.
Even the music is rustic, quaint, and rather staid. Is it no surprise this movie was so popular or produced so much love and affection – and organic links?
I mean, really, in the 1980s organic links didn’t exist as we know them now. But all the same things that make organic links possible today – word of mouth, marketability, and long-term value – were evident with in everything that Crocodile Dundee was.
It’s a great recipe to follow, and perhaps your site can learn a little something from this 80s smash.
It’s a great recipe to follow, and perhaps your site can learn a little something from this 80s smash.
Notes
Harper, Graeme & Rayner, Jonathan. (eds.) Cinema and Landscape. Gutenberg Press: Malta, 2010. p 246.
Morris, Meaghan. The Pirate’s Fiance: Feminism, Reading, Postmodernism. Bookcraft: Avon, 1988. p 248-58.
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