The preparation for the launch of the Avengers: Age of Ultron campaign have started long before the movie was introduced to the public. It stems back to the entertainment and comic convention, where Iron Man – another Marvel product – was first presented in 2007. The movie became a hit and gathered almost 100 million dollars. After this success, the executives of the Marvel Studios revealed their plans to make few more movies, all of which were intended to prepare the audience for the final climactic hit.
The Avengers characters appeared in movies like Captain America and Thor, providing references for the future team-up. Using the hints and references in the prior movies, the creators of the Avengers won the interest of the viewers, making many of the Marvel fans count days till the movie hit the screens. The four Marvel movies Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor were marketed to lead up to the Avengers. Starting from 2007 each of this movies made its contribution to the astonishing success of the Avengers. Another factor that benefited to the Avengers’ breakthrough was the variety of the characters who appeared in the movie.
The creators of the Avengers had a long-term strategy in mind and were preparing the success of the movie long before it came to the theaters. The company develop a long-term marketing approach, that has recently become renowned by the marketing experts: “Traditional marketing has focused on generating quicker profits, but a longer term strategy is now more likely to unlock new markets and communicate a company’s vision” (Drummond, 2012, para.1). The marketing team thoroughly developed a master strategy for the movie and gradually implemented it through years.
Another important aspect is that the marketing team used a variety of sources for the promotion of the movie. They used both traditional marketing like TV, trailers in the movie theaters, entertainment conventions, and modern sources like social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and other social media and internet communities. Promoting the Avengers through the social networks proved to be effective: it created the hype among the potential audience and got people discussing the product, which most of them probably went to see later.
Thus, one of the reasons behind the success of the Avengers is the use of combined resources to promote the product and engaging the social media into the marketing campaign. The marketing team reached out to the potential audience through all the possible means and made sure that the public became aware of the upcoming premiere of the movie.
The marketing experts acknowledge the rise of the social media marketing and its significance to the film industry: “Movies have always provided brands an opportunity to ride the wave of popular culture, and with social media, they can reach already engaged audiences” (Lafferti, 2015, para.7). The company created The Avengers Facebook page in 2011 and gathered more than one million followers. New posts appeared regularly on the page, keeping the fans updated with the most recent news and promotions.
It was an important factor since the marketing team did their best to keep the audience interested. Besides that, the Marvel posted diverse content, such as movie trailers, posters, behind-the-scene pictures, etc. The Facebook page was not just updated frequently but also contained different information that was of interest to the fans. Apart from posting various material, the Marvel often encouraged page followers to participate in discussions related to the movie, for example, by asking their opinion on their favorite moments in the trailers or their favorite characters. In such way, the creators of the movie showed that the opinions of their fans mattered to them and it encouraged the audience to invest in the movie even more.
The fans were able to engage with the content and interact with each other. The Marvel’s effective Facebook campaign is an illustration of the results of the studies on social media marketing, which have shown that “users’ needs are gratified by the content provided in Facebook virtual brand communities especially in contexts in which users mean to socialize, connect, and share information when hanging out on social media” (Chi, 2011, p. 56).
Another important marketing tactic that were used for the promotion of the Avengers is that the Marvel provided the fans with some exclusive offers: for example, the followers of its Facebook page had a chance to see the movie weeks before the date of the official release. There were also competitions held by the Marvel among the students of colleges and universities: the winners could see the movie earlier than the rest of the country. The fans were rewarded for their loyalty to the product, which have benefited to the success of the movie and to the image of the company.
R. MacKenna, one of the leading specialists on marketing stated: “Marketing job is everyone’s job, marketing is everything and everything is marketing” (as cited in Viardot, 2004, p.1). The marketing campaign for the Avengers: Age of Ultron indeed used all the possible resources for the promotion of the movie: starting from conventional trailers and posters to engaging social media, turning the fans of the movie into marketing campaigners.
The effort has paid off and the film seen tremendous box-office results. One of the key elements that benefited to the success of the movie was a long-term marketing strategy, which enabled the creators of the Avengers launch a campaign years before the movie reached the theaters. Another important element was the effective use of the social media marketing, especially Facebook.
Reference List
Chi, H.H. (2011). Interactive digital advertising vs. virtual brand community: exploratory study of user motivation and social media marketing responses in Taiwan. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 12(1), 44-61. Web.
Drummond, J. (2012). Long-term marketing: a new paradigm shift. The Guardian. Web.
Lafferti, J. (2015). These 3 brands capitalized on Avengers: Age of Ultron social buzz. Adweek. Web.
Viardot, E. (2004). Successful marketing strategy for high-tech firms (3d ed.). Norwood, MA: Artech House.