the growth of marvel enterprises

MBA 646 Marvel Marketing in a Dynamic Environment Dr. Sheng

TEAM PURPLEMichael Joe CornelyAhmed HassanGrigory ShershukovFelicita MenendezWemberg Estil

Marvel Enterprises Inc. Question #5


5. To what extent is Marvel’s success due to only one character, Spider-Man? How can Marvel develop its lesser-known characters?

Spider man is the most successful in terms of box-office performance* Spider-Man: the animated series (was introduced in 1994-1998)

was a success almost overnight * Was one of few handful of characters who obtained the level of

‘Superheroes’

To make other lesser-known characters more developed, Marvel must:

1) capitalize on the motion pictures licensing and distribution, which is fastest growing line2) Analyze customer needs and carry out a market research of its audience psyche from a

superhero prospective3) to Capitalize on the strength of prominent characters but at the same time also focus on

the lesser known characters and try to turn them into potential blockbusters4) must increasehe Low-market share

a) must acquire other publishers and diversify outside of comic book5) Elimination of unprofitable business lines 6) Marvel needs to take a strategic risk in investing its own capital and cash flow into the

proper target researched characters. a) investing their own money is more risk, but comes with the ability to make greater

profits.



Marvel can also leverage existing equity of core heroes to introduce new content with lesser-known heroes/characters in Exploratory movies

Team Composition = Core + lesser known characters

Goal of these Exploratory or Test introduction movies: is to Discover potential core heroes ( Black Widow avengers but doesn't have her own movie)

why? Evaluate major channel alternatives with the lesser known heroes who find success in movies will become the future core heroes and be produced by Marvel

Marvel must keep manufacturing new figures of those lesser-known characters and must:

a) allow artists & editors to have exclusivity contractsb) Characters to be licensed for movies

Finally, Marvel must go ahead w/new characters and slowly phase out older ones - or introduce them very sporadically


Who would be the target audience for an upcoming superhero movie?

First ones are same people who already know and like the protagonist from comics.

So it is logical to promote the most popular ones first. Marvel already have that information - sales information

And after establishing brand recognition with it, promote lesser-known with a link to them (from the studio that brought you Spider-Man

Comic fans are very passionate people. They care for the characters and the correct storyline.

Selling rights to movie studios is an example of a nonequity alliance in which Marvel doesn't have as much control over character


the growth of marvel enterprises

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