"MARVEL'S Magnificent Movie Marketing"

Before I go on, my letter about LGBTQ "Pride" does appear in today's local paper (I wrongly predicted that they wouldn't print it, in my previous blog.) To view the letter online, go to  https://www.jerseyshoreonline.com/themanchestertimes/, click "READ THIS WEEK'S EDITION" (June 22nd, today's date) and check out page 8.  And now, for what I really want to write about today...

...MARVEL'S Magnificent Movie Marketing!!

When I was a kid reading Marvel Comics they were GENIUSES at marketing themselves.  They were the only comics that were often "CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE," making readers committing to buying each new issue monthly.  They had an entire, cohesive UNIVERSE of characters crossing over, guest-starring and cross-referencing in a way that their competitors didn't....making you collect the entire Marvel "brand," not just individual titles.  And, most of all they had STAN LEE, who personally answered letters in the letters pages and had a monthly COLUMN.  These helped build a personal connection between the author / editor and the reader which the hapless "competitors" didn't have.

Marvel STUDIOS, with their 22 movies climaxing recently in "Avengers: Endgame," has followed the same STRATEGY as in the comics, with Stan appearing in CAMEOS for each movie and the "cohesive universe of characters" all coming together to culminate a ten-year storyline. It's paid off HANDSOMELY.  As of Wednesday morning, "Avengers: Endgame" is challenging "Avatar" for the all-time global box office record...."Avatar" is at $2.788 billion and "Avengers" is at $2.743 billion.
And now to put "Avengers" over the top, Marvel is RE-releasing it in theaters next week with NEW FOOTAGE added!!

This is great marketing for MANY reasons.

1.) The new footage will supposedly contain some sort of tribute to Stan Lee, who died last November at 95.  Marvel acknowledges that for many of us who read their comics as kids, Stan was like a family member and this is like a "Public Memorial."

2.) The re-release comes just AFTER "Captain Marvel" (the movie BEFORE "Avengers: Endgame" in the ongoing storyline) has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray (it's been out of theaters since April.)

3.) The re-release comes out right BEFORE the new "Spider-Man" movie hits theaters in early July, kicking off the NEXT storyline for Marvel Studios ("Phase 2").

It's not just the CHARACTERS and STORIES that are making "Marvel Studios" the juggernaut it is...it's the brilliant MARKETING.  Because I had my own tiny service business for 35 years before retiring and because I handled most of the advertsing / marketing MYSELF, I perhaps can appreciate Marvel's Magnificent Movie Marketing more than MOST.