Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and Walt Disney Company
This unit has focused on global marketing research and development (R&D). The Management Focus “Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and the Walt Disney Company” can be found on page 541 of the course textbook. You will be required to read the case study and answer the questions below.
- Why and how does Marvel Studios benefit from being embedded within the Walt Disney Company?
- What is Walt Disney’s global marketing formula and why does its global branding platform benefit Marvel Comics?
- Would Marvel Studios be more or less successful if disconnected from Walt Disney Company? Explain.
- How does Marvel Studios benefit by having global branding characters across multiple movie franchises and in post-credits?
Your paper needs to be at least five full pages in length excluding the title and reference pages. You must include at least four sources in your assignment. One source can be the course textbook. The paper must be in the APA format, include a title/cover page, in-text citations, and a properly formatted reference section.
Hill, C. (2022). International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace (14th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US). https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781264383900
Reading
Global Branding, Marvel Studios, and The Walt Disney Company
Marvel Studios is an American TV and motion picture studio that is part of Marvel Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. As a part of the Walt Disney empire, Marvel Studios operates jointly with Walt Disney Studios on the distribution and marketing of Marvel’s films, such as the incredibly successful Iron Man and Avengers series. Other high-profile projects of Marvel Studios have included the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain America franchises. As might be expected, anything embedded in the global branding of The Walt Disney Company has tremendous potential, reach, and longevity.
Walter Elias (“Walt”) Disney was an American business mogul, as well as an animator, cartoonist, director, philanthropist, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor, who lived from 1901 to 1966. An international icon, he started Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother, Roy O. Disney, in 1923. The current name of The Walt Disney Company has been around since 1986. Disney has one of the largest and most well-known studios in the world. It also operates numerous related businesses, such as the ABC broadcast TV network, cable TV networks (e.g., Disney Channel, ESPN), publishing, merchandising, theater divisions, theme parks (e.g., Disney World, Disneyland), and much more. Mickey Mouse is the primary symbol of The Walt Disney Company, and one of the most globally recognized brands ever!
Global branding is a staple at Walt Disney, and this branding prowess transfers well into its Marvel Studios projects. In a global branding move, the post-credits to the original Iron Man movie had S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury visit Tony Stark’s home. In the scene, Fury tells Stark that Iron Man is not “the only superhero in the world” and says he wants to discuss the “Avenger’s Initiative.” This started the ball rolling in 2008 and has led to 22 films in the Avengers portfolio, with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame intended as an epic grand finale to the Marvel cinematic universe. As a result, the Avengers and Iron Man movie franchises have made billions of dollars for Marvel Studios.
Marvel Comics has drawn from more than 100 characters for its Avengers superheroes since 1963, and with a new focus on characters such as Black Panther, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Shang-Chi, and the Eternals, Marvel Studios is set for another string of successful runs—and nothing less would be expected of the Walt Disney Company.