Marvel and its Use of Social Media

I wouldn’t consider myself a Facebook addict, but I do spend a lot of time playing one game on it. As I may have mentioned, I am a huge nerd. So when Avengers was coming out, I scoured the internet for anything having to do with the movie. What I found was that Marvel, the company behind the Avengers, had a huge presence on Facebook. There are two things I noticed that they did very well.

First and foremost is their entertainment ability. Marvel managed to create a fun game that allows players to create their ideal team of superheroes and fight against villains in a turn based strategy game. While this game is free, spending money allows you to unlock the more popular heroes, or skins that make those characters better. These micro transactions make Marvel enough money to keep the game running, but the existence of the game is also a great form of adver-gaming. When you play the game, you are constantly reminded that Marvel not only exists, but has a lot to offer the consumer. Lesser known properties are given time in the story line, which may cause people to go buy comics or find other ways to learn about the brand. Additionally, Marvel ties in their movie properties with the game, offering special items and skins that are limited time only. These special additions are a great idea because it causes players who may be more casual to play much more frequently in order to get the limited edition items.

Second, Marvel doesn’t just make their own adver-games, they also helped Acura, a sponsor of the movie, gain awareness in the marketplace. They created  an online hub where you could go and “become a S.H.E.I.L.D. member. Of course, there was Acura branding all over the place, but by playing the Acura themed driving games and passing the quizzes, the user would be treated to some unique content, including a short clip that they hadn’t shown before. I of course played through these games, since I wanted to see the video. In all honesty, the site looked great. They did a great job of making the site look high-tech and secret agent-like.

Both of these games show that companies like Marvel can provide quality entertainment while still increasing their brand awareness. This internet advertising takes little financial commitment, and can actually capture an audience’s undivided attention, whereas traditional ads tend to make people more likely to close the ad or just stop watching. This kind of advertising looks to be the future of the industry, as people find new ways to skip or block ads. With these kinds of adver-games, a company can ensure the attention of their audience, and provide an advertisement that doesn’t just play once and then leave the customer’s mind, it provides an experience that the customer is likely to seek out again and repeat in the future.