Avengers Endgame is one of the biggest films in movie history. It broke multiple records, one being the number of pre-sale tickets sold. It’s also the film Marvel Studios spent the most on marketing, with a whopping $200M budget. Needless to say, that investment paid off. However, the film interestingly did not take conventional marketing routes. It even limited the film content released in its digital marketing campaign compared to its predecessor Infinity War. How then were they able to promote the film so well? This article will take a look at how Marvel’s Avengers marketing strategy through various noteworthy techniques.
Brand Tie-Ins
Deadline claims that Endgame created tie-ins with brands as part of its digital marketing campaign. German car brand Audi released an online video featuring Robert Downey Jr. and an Audi executive discussing the possibility of Tony Stark driving an Audi in Endgame. That tidbit itself sparked anticipation among Avengers fans who last saw Tony Stark stuck in outer space. The brand also created an ‘in-car virtual-reality experience’ for backseat passengers, making one of their cars function like the Guardians of the Galaxy space ship manned by Rocket Raccoon.
Marvel was also able to work with brands that would help them capture a market segment they needed help in attracting. For example, the film realized that its demographic leaned a little more towards males than females. Therefore, Endgame tactically partnered with Ultra Beauty to come up with an exclusive Avengers-themed cosmetics collection complete with a 15-shade eye shadow palette, a highlighter palette, lip-glosses, lipsticks and a cosmetic bag.
Social Media Marketing
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo know how to tease their social media fan base, and used it to promote the film multiple times. Fortune details how the brothers have 1.7 Instagram followers and dropped hints about the film before it came out. The obscure clues on Avengers Endgame would get people from all around the world talking, trying their best to decipher how the film would pan out even before its release.
Working with Search Engines
Marvel understood that in order for something to gain traction online, you need lots of media sources and blogs to write about a particular topic. The popularity of Avengers Endgame was largely due to the amount of content posted about the film. Many people were speculating about the film a year before it was released, and more were discussing the ending online right after watching it. This ensured the film was a popular trending topic in the build up to its highly anticipated release. Search ‘End Game’ on Google and there’s a whopping 5 billion results. CBS News notes how Google even helped in boosting worldwide searches through launching an awesome feature the week of the film’s release. Open Google search and type in ‘Thanos’. Click on the Infinity Gauntlet to the right to watch half of your search results turn to dust. Another click reverses it, bringing back the content that was lost.
The Expanding Superhero Industry
Surprisingly, Avengers Endgame doesn’t see other superhero content as competition. In fact, they recognize its contribution to the Endgame excitement. The Daily Q’s article on the rise of superhero movies, reflects on how ‘we now live in a world where comic-book and graphic-novel adaptations have taken over Hollywood and have fixed themselves into mainstream pop culture’. In fact, superhero movies have become an industry in itself. This has led brands to join in on the hype and create their own versions of superheroes, which has had a positive impact on the Marvel film in general. The Thunderstruck slot game on Slingo is inspired by Marvel’s Thor, with the character design very similar to Chris Hemsworth’s portrayal of the Norse god. Whether it mentions the character name or not, the similarity to the Avengers leader is enough marketing in itself for both the game and the new Avenger’s film.
The filmmakers understood that they needed the film to connect with audiences on multiple levels during its promotion. This is why the Avengers marketing strategy campaign was so effective. They advertised the film across every type of digital promotion while still keeping the fans guessing over what would happen.
