– 16th May 2018 –
This year’s Marvel films have already been record-breaking. With Black Panther being the highest-grossing solo superhero film ever and Avengers: Assemble being the highest-grossing superhero film ever, Marvel films have cumulatively grossed just under $3 billion so far this year… and this will surely go higher.
One of the big winners so far is Lexus who, in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience, partnered up with Black Panther to promote their LC500, both on and off screen, with product placement. Not only can you see the Black Panther himself surf on the roof of the car (dont try this at home!) through the streets of Busan, his sister is behind the holographic steering wheel in Wakanda, thousands of miles away.
Avengers: Infinity War is said to be Marvel’s biggest promo campaign yet, with partners such as Coca-Cola, Quicken Loans and Infiniti, it is said to have a combined media value estimated at over $150 million. The partners all have an on-screen presence in the film, including Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage who can be seen in the opening scene.
To build on their placements, each partner created several television spots inspired by – or featuring – the film’s characters and themes; once again proving how much brands see the value and the benefits of partnering with a Marvel property.
While Marvel films usually skew to younger demographics (and their parents), one Marvel film is definitely appealing to the older 15+ audience. That’s right, the man in the red suit and mask is back in Deadpool 2, which is hitting our screens this week. While traditional partners take advantage of the family-friendly Marvel titles; Deadpool, and his anarchic way of dispensing justice, opens the door for less obvious brands to make their big on-screen product placement debut.
Deadpool 2 will see partnerships with Mike’s Harder alcohol and Trolli sweets. The brands are not what comes to mind when you think of a superhero film, in the same way that Deadpool is not your typical superhero. The brands’ advertising campaigns stay true to Deadpool’s dry sense of humour and sarcasm, with Trolli making ‘tiny hands’ into sweets, with reference to a hilarious scene in the first film. Meanwhile Mike’s Harder produced a television spot, limited edition cans, St Margarets bar take-over in LA and numerous online content.
The latter relating to the audience’s meme-culture, where more and more youngsters spend their time on scrolling through social-media looking at entertaining pictures and videos. Partnering up with an anti-hero such as Deadpool allows these brands to relate themselves to younger audiences, audiences that often use sarcasm to joke around with their peers.
Deadpool is not the last we will see of Marvel this year, as Paul Rudd dons his spandex suit in Ant-Man and the Wasp whilst Tom Hardy swaps DC’s Bane for the Marvel anti-hero to beat them all Venom. With both films likely to push Marvel closer towards the $4 billion mark at the box office, it’s not only the studios that will be smiling, but the brands who appear alongside their characters will be too.