Marketing, Movies and Comics!

The first  “Golden Rule “  that  we are taught   on Marketing 101  is  “differentiate, differentiate and differentiate”   In this   statement  I will comment   on a tendency  happening  specifically  to   superhero movies.

Even though  this  blog  is about comics,   and  the  business aspect of those,  for this time  I will   write about  Superhero movies, because this  is a more general perception  of the theme  and comics. How  perception  is not reality, but this perception  can affect  our  markets, our  sales  and at the end, our costumers.

There are  two excellent articles on the  web  that discusses  the   situation  of these films  that are   perceived  as  unoriginal and repetitive over and  over again.

Before  I continue,  If  you are  a  fanboy  of the comics, please, don’t send me a ton   of e mails  about  the  “ clear, obvious “ reasons  why Superman  is  far different  that  the Spiderman Movie and  all that , Read  at the   beginning of this article, this is about   Marketing, business perception

First  Greg Hatcher  does an incredible clever  analysis  of the  superhero movie, so clear  that discovers and explain to us   the superhero  formula  of the last  eight/ nine movies.

In here  Hatcher  discuses   about not only on  the   use  of such  formula, but  that  in the long  term this is going to   damage the superhero movie market. One  of the   clear arguments  is  about  the   creativity  and  the  narrow  way the   superheroes  have been represented.  This  to the mainstream  public  will look like unoriginal  and  derivative.

Have we had enough of the Superhero genre?, this article   by  Alfie Packham and Steven Roberts that  appears  in the Nose ( the University of  York students newspaper) debates  a similar idea. Packham argues  that there  exist  very different  movies,  with  different aspects  shown  in  the movies. In here I  have to agree  with Roberts in  which  that   is the  apparent concept, but  at the end  is the same  story   over and over again.

If we  really try  to  create  superhero movies that  impact the viewers, and  hopefully  drive them to the  nearest comic book shop, then  we   have to start  producing new and different material from the way  this material is produced.

One of the  best  examples, although not a movie, is the tv series The Walking Dead. I know the  difference  in format, time  and  more  are determinant  in the  production  of this  material, but  we can use the advantages  of the media  in our favor.  So these are my   points  of view   that can change   the way we produce  superhero movies.

·         Ditch the  origin. We don’t  have  the  time  and most  people  in the planet  know well the basis  for  the  characters. If  it is  an unknow  character, give free  a  comic (printed or  in digital format)  to explain the  basis  for the character/story (hint for  increase your product awareness of  your comic)

·         Don’t be  afraid  to show a complex and interesting  story.

·         Don’t write “for someone” or worse, “for kids” If  in truth  comics  want  to be  a medium for  everyone, start acting   like one., different stories, different  markets.

·         As in comics,  having  good  images and scenes, does not  justify  not having a good story. Excessive special effects  will not cover for  an intelligent  story.

The  usual  formula  is  that  the  superhero  has some  superpower/ability , that  makes him different, generally speaking (s)he  is the hero  because (s)he does what is  right (in contraposition to a supervillain  who if  (s)he  has  the same  set of superpowers, these are used in an egoistical  or selfish  way.

This causes  that   in the story,  (s) he has to  have an excuse  to use these superpowers ,the most  the better,  and thanks  to all the  special effects  used today,they are used a lot. I understand  the  temptation to use  all the  digital Special Effects so visually  is the best  movie, but as in comics and  in marketing, you have to connect  with some feeling or sensation   to our consumers, so the movie  becomes relevant. Superman  (MoS) tried  to  play  in the alienation  that  we can feel sometimes, in the value  of  the  special relationship of  men and their  father image etc. Spiderman  has always  been about  the awkwardness of  adolescence and  to know that  deep inside, we have something special, something

Done correctly, superhero  movies  can become attractive, can resonate  deeply  in the  spectators  and  in consequence,  this can show  to all  the mainstream  why  we are fond  in some  of these characters,  what they mean and  what they mean to us, the  geeks/fanboys/fangirls.