Tag: Marvel

Weekly Best in Movie Marketing 'Daredevil Born Again', 'Thug Life' and more
Weekly Best in Movie Marketing: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, ‘Thug Life’ and more

Weekly Best in Movie Marketing: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’, ‘Thug Life’ and more

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Hello! Welcome to the fourth blog post in my series, ‘Weekly Best in Movie Marketing‘. In this series, I highlight my favourite movie marketing initiatives from the week in my book. I also explain why they stand out to me.

In this article, I will discuss the online promotions for the Irish black comedy television series, ‘Bad Sisters‘ by ‘Apple TV’ and the upcoming Tamil-language movie, ‘Thug Life‘ by ‘Raaj Kamal Films International‘ (RKFI), as well as the on-the-ground on-brand activations for the American television series ‘Daredevil: Born Again‘ by ‘Disney+‘ and for the upcoming Tamil-language sports drama film, ‘Test‘ by ‘Netflix‘.

Promotion for the ‘greenest show on TV’ Online:

On St. Patrick’s Day i.e., March 17, 2025, Apple TV‘s social media channels shared a promotional video for the Irish series ‘Bad Sisters‘, dubbing it as ‘The greenest show on TV‘. Each frame of the video prominently features a bright green colour, honouring Ireland’s nickname, ‘Emerald Isle‘. I love the brilliance behind the idea and the effort put into executing it.

Watch the video below on the ‘X‘ channel of ‘Apple TV‘…

Impressive mural for the ‘Disney+‘ series, ‘Daredevil: Born Again‘:

‘Daredevil: Born Again‘ is the 13th television series in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe‘ (MCU), which premiered on Disney+ on March 4, 2025, with the release of its first two episodes. To promote the series, the streamer collaborated with the street artist, ‘Insane51’, creating a huge mural in Manchester city. This artwork showcases the series’ main characters, ‘Daredevil‘ and ‘Kingpin‘, in a unique ‘double exposure’ style, layering two images over one another. Daredevil’s image appears in red, while Kingpin’s photo shows up in blue. These primary colours, which are placed far apart on the colour wheel, symbolize the stark opposition between the two characters. Viewers can see the mural with the naked eye and through red and blue lenses, enabling them to experience three different perspectives.

‘Daredevil: Born Again‘ mural (Pic Source)

The mural not only conveys a hidden meaning, but it also includes a tactile feature to allow people with visual impairments to engage with the art through touch. Visitors can experience the mural through sound by scanning a NaviLens code with their smartphones to access an audio description. This interactive experience was created in collaboration with the British charity, ‘Royal National Institute of Blind People‘ (RNIB).

On March 17, 2025, influencer KittysBlind from Manchester unveiled the mural. She has 550,000 followers on TikTok alone and was among the first to experience the tactile version of the mural.

Influencer ‘KittysBlind‘ while unveiling the mural (Pic Source)

I love two this activation for two aspects. One… I view the effort as a way to promote inclusivity. Two… The protagonist, Daredevil, is a blind lawyer. He possesses heightened senses, which align with one of the series’ core elements.

Imaginative billboard for the upcoming Netflix movie, ‘Test‘:

Netflix will premiere its Tamil-language sports drama ‘Test‘ on its streaming platform on April 4, 2025. To promote the film, the streamer has installed a creative billboard at Marina Beach in Chennai. I’ve always been a fan of Netflix’s imaginative billboards, such as the TARS-inspired billboard for ‘Interstellar‘. Another one I enjoyed was the ‘One Piece of Advice: Reach For Your Dreams‘ billboard for the series ‘One Piece‘. I’m excited more this time because an imaginative billboard has been installed in my neighbourhood for ‘Test‘.

The text on the billboard is particularly interesting; when viewed diagonally from the right, it reads ‘Herona Nallavara?‘ and when viewed diagonally from the left, it says ‘Kettavarna Villain-a‘. In ‘Google‘ search results, the meta description for the movie’s Netflix page shows: ‘The worlds of three ordinary people converge during a historic cricket match, ultimately forcing them to make life-altering decisions‘. Now, it’s quite evident that the clever advertising aligns perfectly with the movie’s theme. This makes me even more intrigued.

Watch the video from ‘Netflix India South‘ on the installation below…

‘Raaj Kamal Films International‘ skilfully rides the wave of high-profile events for its upcoming movie, ‘Thug Life‘:

I have observed that ‘Raaj Kamal Films International’ (RKFI) excels in positioning and marketing films. I’ve blogged about RKFI‘s marketing efforts for ‘Vikram‘ and ‘Amaran‘. So, I can say that it’s uncommon for them to ride the wave of high-profile events in the process of promoting their movies. I also mean that they’ve done in the past. But the reason for the same was so convincingly intertwined with the related movie. When Vijay‘s film ‘The Greatest of All Time‘ was released in theatres last year, RKFI shared the below post on its social media channels.

Sivakarthikeyan made a cameo in ‘The GOAT‘, and at that time, the RKFI team was producing the venture ‘Amaran‘. RKFI seized this marketing opportunity for ‘Amaran‘ by showing its teaser alongside ‘The GOAT‘ in cinemas.

Now, with its upcoming theatrical release, ‘Thug Life‘ scheduled for theatrical release on June 5, 2025, RKFI has rode the wave with a couple of videos this week to promote the film. The events on which the videos are based are high-profile but entirely unrelated to the movie. However, RKFI skillfully connected the events to the film’s aspects.

The first video is unveiled as a congratulatory message to Sunita Williams on her successful return from space. Watch the video below to know how deftly RKFI has intertwined its message for ‘Thug Life‘…

The second video rides the wave of popularity of the Indian Premier League franchise, the ‘Chennai Super Kings‘, by drawing a parallel between Kamal Haasan and STR with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The cherry on top of the effort is that the video releases on the same day as the highly anticipated match between the two most successful teams in IPL history: the ‘Chennai Super Kings‘ and the ‘Mumbai Indians’.

Watch the video below…

Brand Activation: ‘Show Us Your Package’ campaign of ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Trolli’

Brand Activation: ‘Show Us Your Package’ campaign of ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Trolli’

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Deadpool 2, a sequel to the 2016 film Deadpool, opens on May 18th, 2018. As the date is nearing, like other superhero flicks, marketing for Deadpool 2 are at full throttle. But, what makes the promotions of Deadpool 2 sound unique is the aspect of quirkiness. In fact, this has been nature of the Deadpool franchise’s marketing. Of late, Deadpool partnered with the confectionery brand, Trolli for a crossover campaign… a campaign to make the new line of snacks, Sour Brite Tiny Hands active.

It all started with the Deadpool’s ‘Tiny Tease’, SOMETHING TINY IS COMING in Trolli Candy’s social media. The tease contained the date, 5.7.18.

On May 7th, Trolli Candy asked people to show off their package of Trolli on two giant billboards, with Deadpool, in Times Square. In parallel, Trolli’s Twitter account encouraged people to strike a pose in Times Square.

A chance to be on the big screen in Times Square, by showing a package, made people to care about the event and strike a pose. Also, the event included a sweepstakes and photo contest.

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On May 8th, a video showcasing the snacks along with Deadpool was put up in Deadpool’s social media.

On May 9th, a video, which briefed on the event, was released in social media.

The website, www.weirdlyawesome.com contains few photos from the activation event. One could either swipe right or left, on the package pics, to give either thumbs up or down.

Also, Trolli encouraged netizens to flaunt a package for the cam and share the pic on Instagram or Twitter. To enter for a chance to win a VIP Deadpool Experience, Trolli asked them to tag ‘@trolli_usa‘ and use ‘#PackagePose‘.

Social media of Trolli kept the conversations, about the campaign, go through in online. They did so by sharing select photos from the event and certain photos put up by fans in social media. Thereby, Trolli identified and celebrated milestones of its campaign, which created news.

This unconventional and unpredictable campaign complemented the anti-mainstream natures of Deadpool and Trolli. The campaign was more impactful, as it drew in more audience, and related to what both the brands are.

The idea of creating Tiny Hands finds its reference from a scene of Deadpool. Wherein, Deadpool equates his then small hands to a KFC Spork.

Conclusion:

The campaign increased customer’s awareness about and engagement with Trolli‘s Tiny Hands. In other words, the campaign ‘activated’ the new product. Foremost, it created an emotional connection between the brands and their customers… an emotional connection where customers will remember the experience and the brands longer.

Photo Courtesy: Marvel Entertainment and Trolli
What YouTube Marketing Lessons can one learn from ‘DC’ and ‘Marvel’

What YouTube Marketing Lessons can one learn from ‘DC’ and ‘Marvel’

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A collage featuring photos from ‘Justice League’ (Above) and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (Below) (Image Source: DC Entertainment and Marvel Studios)

Of late, in 2018, I could see a considerable number of deliberations going around in online, in favor of video when it comes to online contents. YouTube seems to be the go-to video platform for certain brands especially in cases where the brands target a younger audience. Also, YouTube seems to have a leg up on other video-viewing platforms as it has a more established ad monetization system.

So, when I was casually going through some write-ups in the online space concerning YouTube Marketing and assimilating ideas as mentioned above, a thought just did spark my mind. The thought is on the similarities that exist between the working of ‘DC Entertainment’ and ‘Marvel Studios’ in rendering superhero movies and the usage of YouTube as a marketing platform by brands. You will get to know more about my underlying thoughts as we deep dive further into the article. Now, let us start taking a look at my thoughts one-by-one.

Focus on creating video series to cultivate viewership:

‘DC Entertainment’ and ‘Marvel Studios’ have been producing series of super hero films based on characters that appear in their respective publications. The efforts of these two production companies are keeping their audiences engaged over a period of time.

Likewise, brands like ‘Refinery29’ (An American digital media and entertainment company focusing on young women) are creating a series of videos, relevant to their business, in their YouTube channels. In the second half of 2017, ‘Refinery29’ created a series of videos with the goal of cultivating a regular viewership.

Explain dense topics in serialized videos:

‘DC Entertainment’ and ‘Marvel Studios’ unite their respective superheroes and render ‘Justice League’ movie and ‘Avengers’ movie series respectively. At the same time, they are also making movies that are exclusively centered on a particular superhero character. In such movies, they depict the backstory of the superhero. Thereby, they lay a firm foundation around a character among the audience. While watching ‘Justice League’ movie and ‘Avengers’ movie series, this approach helps the audience… helps in understanding on ‘why’ and ‘how’ the superheroes gathered together and what makes them special as an individual.

In the similar way, when a brand has got to explain dense topics to its audience, it can explain them in serialized videos. ‘Financial Times’ has created a series of videos to explain dense topics like blockchain or Cryptocurrencies. As per the report of Digiday, it seems like the videos explaining dense topics are driving a high click-through rate.

Also, serialized videos ensure that your audience comes in contact with your brand on various occasions. This is what ‘Financial Times’ estimates, which is, its readers come in contact with the brand between six and eight times before subscribing to it.

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Split up video contents into verticals to target more specific audience:

There are some movies of DC and Marvel that had or seem to be having sequels. In this case, the fans of such movies will feel excited when announcements on those movies pop up in media. They get driven in a state of ecstasy to catch with those movies soon after their theatrical release. Here, one could see the audience getting consolidated under the umbrella of a particular superhero character.

In the same way, you could split up your video contents into verticals in your YouTube channel. Thereby, you could hope to target a specific audience more. ‘Financial Times’ has its video contents split into various verticals such as ‘FT Life’ and ‘FT Transact’, in its official YouTube channel. The videos in ‘FT Life’ provide coverage on arts, style, travel and food and drink .Whereas, the videos in ‘FT Transact’ focuses on the future of finance.

Deliver a subject in multiple formats:

In spite of producing live-action films, DC and Marvel produce animated films too. Wherein, most of them are released direct-to-video. The companies sense an opportunity in showcasing their contents in multiple formats and they deliver the same.

In a like manner, a subject could be delivered in a range of videos like short explainer videos, news-related quick videos and longer mini-documentaries. Going by the ‘Digiday’ article, ‘The Financial Times is splitting up videos into verticals’, I affirm that ‘Financial Times’ had leveraged these video formats in an effective manner in covering the 2017 French and U.K. Elections.

Leverage YouTube End screens to cross promote your contents:

Recently, when I went to watch ‘Black Panther’ in theatre, trailers of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ were screened. This practice of promoting the upcoming Marvel movies by showcasing their trailers to the audience who have come to the theatre to watch ‘Black Panther’ is what I term a simple illustration of the marketing technique, ‘Cross Promotion’.

Similarly, you could leverage options like YouTube End screens to cross promote your website to your YouTube audience. Thereby, you enable a gateway for your YouTube audience to help you grow your referral traffic to your site via the video-viewing platform. Also, you could point your viewers to other videos, playlists or channels on YouTube and introduce call for subscriptions to your YouTube channel.

To promote their superheroes, ‘DC Entertainment’ and ‘Marvel Studios’ seem to be spending a lot of time, money and effort. Likewise, to reach one’s business goal, one has to invest a considerable amount of time, money and effort based on the scale of the business.

I hope you found the ideas, which have been mentioned above, to be useful. Let me know your thoughts on my opinions!

What Black Panther teaches about ‘Grassroots Marketing on Social Media’

What Black Panther teaches about ‘Grassroots Marketing on Social Media’

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Black Panther Portrait
Image Source: Marvel Studios

Recently, I happened to read the article, ‘Grassroots Marketing in the Age of Social Media’. I could relate many aspects in it with Marvel Studios’ marketing efforts for ‘Black Panther’. So, I have come up with this article by jotting down my observations. Now, let us take a look at the efforts and the corresponding takeaways:

1. Understand your audience:

In Grassroots Marketing, it is of primary importance to understand your audience.

On the day of Black Panther‘s release, ‘Captain Marvel‘ star Brie Larson tweeted as below

This tweet based on the theme, ‘Pay it forward‘ did sound striking. Thereby, it generated a considerable number of comments, retweets and likes.

To come up with a campaign and result as mentioned above, you have to understand your audience.

Takeaways:

To understand your audience,

i) Know whether your audiences are available in social media

ii) In case, if they are, know which platforms (g.: Facebook, Twitter etc.,) they are using and are active on

iii) Know the person who can spur a grassroots marketing campaign for your product or service

(Here, the person could be a celebrity or an influencer)

iv) Engage your audience, using the person, in a way that relates to your product or service

2. Mobilize your audience:

When you have a considerable audience, you need to engage them via various activities. In other words, you need to mobilize your audience. Marvel Studios knows this.

Before the release of ‘Black Panther’, Twitter and Marvel hosted a live-stream Q&A with the cast and crew of the movie. To make fans join the conversation, Twitter provided the hashtag, ‘#BlackPantherLive’.

And, Tumblr conducted its first-ever video ‘AnswerTime’ with the cast of ‘Black Panther’.

Besides, Marvel is encouraging fans to submit their Black Panther arts to it in social media. It is offering them the hashtag, ‘#BlackPantherFanArt’ to share their artworks. This campaign of Marvel has been receiving a lot of submissions. The arts are being shared in the official social media pages of ‘Black Panther’ by crediting the fans.

Also, Marvel is making fans to share the photos of them dressed up in Wakanda-esque costumes. For this campaign, it provides them the hashtag, ‘#WakandaStyle’. Marvel posted few of such photos in the social media channels of ‘Black Panther’.

Takeaways:

To mobilize the considerable number of audience that you have,

i) Conduct light-hearted events related to your business in popular social networks (g. Facebook, Twitter)

ii) Encourage them to involve in the events by providing customized hashtags

iii) Leverage video features of popular social media to showcase events like Q&A sessions… sessions about your product or service

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3. Encourage your audience to speak out about your product or service:

Another important Grassroots Marketing approach is to encourage your audience to speak out… speak out about your product or service.

Marvel created customized Twitter Emojis for certain ‘Black Panther‘ characters… for characters like ‘Black Panther‘, ‘Nakia‘, ‘Kill Monger‘, ‘Shuri‘, and ‘Okoye‘. And, it encouraged the fans of ‘Black Panther’ to tweet the name of their favorite character from the movie… name preceded by a hashtag.

Also, the fans were asked to share their favourite track on Black Panther album.

And, Marvel prompted the fans to take part in a sweepstakes contest. It encouraged them to share their favourite Black Panther memory or their personal photo using the hashtag, ‘#Marvel10YearSweepstakes’. Here, Marvel advertised that the fans might get a chance to win a trip to ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ premiere.

Takeaways:

To encourage your audience to speak out about your product or service,

i) Conduct contests with announcements about a chance to win prizes

ii) Make them speak out about product or service as part of the contests

iii) Start simple conversations as Marvel did of fans’ favorite character and track

With these grassroots efforts on social media, Marvel has generated a buzz for its movie. In turn, this has helped in upping the Black Panther‘s prospects at box-office in a notable manner.

So, tailor the campaigns of Marvel for ‘Black Panther‘ to suit your product or service needs. And, enhance your business prospects.