Remember that fun game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? You’d see how many actors it took to connect, say, Stockard Channing, to the ubiquitous Kevin Bacon.  But I don’t hear people talking about that game much. Maybe it’s because we’re all no more than a couple of connections away from Kevin Bacon ourselves.

Me and Kevin? Yeah, you could say we're close

Celebrities have seen tremendous financial gains in recent years – Celebrity Reality shows, selling baby pictures to tabloids, etc. – but they’ve also lost something powerful… mystique.

When everyone can be a star, or every star is just a tweet away, it’s hard to be transcendent.  It’s hard to imagine Bogie and Bacall updating their Facebook status. 

Magic and mystery should have their place still, especially in Hollywood. But really, any brand should consider how close it really wants to get to consumers. As consultants rush around telling brands to engage with consumers, perhaps we should consider some of the possible repercussions, especially the loss of magic.  While Scott Monty does a great job tweeting for Ford, would you really want to see @Ferrari or @RollsRoyce? 

By leaving some things to the consumer’s imagination you create the opportunity for developing a Deeply Immersive Narrative Universe (DINU) where consumers can participate and bring something new to the brand.

So, farewell Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you’ll be missed.