The Bigger The Better

In a previous post 'Ah Mr Brand, We've Been Expecting You', I wondered which of the ingredients in the traditional James Bond franchise were essential to the brand. I read an excerpt today from Simon Winder's 'The Man Who Saved Britain' (courtesy of the resourceful Delancey Place) who suggests that "In the hierarchy of reasons for Bond's endurance his villains perhaps stand the highest". He goes on to say that "this sense of tremendously clever men, caged in by the dreariness of the diurnal, planning vast and devastating schemes more for their own pleasure than for any rational gains...is enough, in my view, to justify Fleming's literary career".

I think Winder is on to something (and it's perhaps no accident that Pixar's The Incredibles, which enjoyed sensational success at the box-office, tapped into the same villain-source for its Syndrome character). Maybe there's something in there too for the everyday brand which must conjure up a compelling nemesis or run the risk of being dismissed as an irrelevant sideshow.