When it comes to brand development, Marvel excels. Whether it’s planning ahead, or their popular social presence, the media brand ensures it remains at the forefront of its audience’s minds.
Marvel goes from strength to strength with their marketing, especially around their films. DC however (Marvel’s biggest competitor in the world of superhero comics, films and TV) seem to have less success with brand awareness.
Marvel has executed various brand partnerships over the years by allowing their characters to be used in ads for other companies. This helps them to keep in the consumer’s mind, even when they are viewing an ad for another company, and the much-loved characters help the other company to sell more of their product.
They stay relevant with a constant social media presence, and a real life presence at events like ComicCon. On their social media, Marvel build hype for their movies with promo pictures, teasers and trailers that are highly anticipated and then widely shared by their audience. Even when they don’t currently have a film in cinemas, they ensure they are marketing all the time and keeping their brand alive. DC, on the other hand, have far fewer social followers than Marvel, and have not gained the same level of online following.
Marvel has stumbled upon an excellent tactic with their after-credits scenes in their films, allowing them to promote different films within the film itself. They have become widely known for their after-credits scenes, meaning cinema audiences stay through the credits to see them.
Marvel have also been very clever with cross promoting their films by changing their characters’ appearance in the comics to visually align with the cinematic universe. A prime example of this is the changing of the visual appearance of Nick Fury in the comics following the Avengers film.
As well as linking their films with their comics, Marvel also link their films with their TV shows. For example, there are mentions of the events that take place in The Avengers in the TV series Daredevil. Comparatively, DC comics seem to have trouble linking their TV and film ventures. They have the character of the Flash in both the TV series of the same name, and in the Batman vs Superman film, but the characters are very different and portrayed by different actors.
Marvel do a great job of targeting the right audience with their films. While most of their films are 12As, they made it very clear with their marketing for Deadpool that it was not suitable for younger viewers. In fact, the clear, exciting and innovative marketing for Deadpool ensured that it became the most successful film of its age classification ever. They made a similar effort to target older viewers with Logan. Marvel have shown how important it is to target the right audience with marketing – as the age range for a film like Guardians of the Galaxy and a film like Logan are very different, which needs to be made clear.
Marvel always have a long term plan. They plan and release details of their schedule of upcoming films several years in advance. A good example of the execution of a long term plan is The Avengers. Marvel made sure most of the main characters had been introduced in their own standalone films beforehand (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk). This made sure that audiences were already familiar with the characters, and increased the hype surrounding the film. This is a lesson that DC need to learn from when it comes to their Justice League films. It may take a long time to build appreciation for these characters, but it pays off.
In every aspect of their marketing, Marvel show the importance of building a brand. Marvel is a such a recognisable name that even films about almost-entirely unknown characters like Ant Man can garner broad success. Marvel continues to lead as the biggest success in the realm of superheroes and as a popular brand in itself.
