AVENGERS ENDGAME PT.1/2

Before we start, I've to make something clear; the reason why this is a 3 part series is because STRUCTURE!

In the sense, Avengers Endgame as a marketing enterprise has a lot to teach, a lot to learn from. And then obviously, the part of wherein I just type things from the top of my head and forward the post links on whats-app, Instagram, etc.
So this post talks about those marketing strategies Disney went for which are usually considered conventional as opposed to what many, many, just so many people on the Internet call it the "Marvel's magic sauce". There IS NO magic sauce.
It's just good execution.

Here were a few of the many things, which I, in my limited knowledge could make out when it came down for Disney to try and therefore, succeed in gathering eye balls for their biggest film (by budget, and then eventually collection) ever:







1. Drawing Lines:
I don't really know about everyone, and hence, can't state for everyone; except, only a part of the Marvel movies' fan base realizes that both the Star Wars and Avatar franchises are owned by non other than, their favorite movie line up's producers, Disney itself.
Context? So, when these guys did tours, interviews, etc. promotions both online and offline, all around the world; they made it a point to somehow assert that they believed (and therefore, wanted) Endgame "to be their biggest film ever".
Still not clear?
Think about it, dumb heads, Disney made it a point to establish/inculcate certain sense of competition inside your heads as a potential member of their audience (each time they mentioned their film). This was structured in a way such that, each time you read/saw somewhere or probably heard about Avatar and/or a Star Wars film's collection, which in each of their spaces is again a billion dollar plus gig for Disney, you would want to feel responsible about it that it's your job as a fan to ensure Endgame gets more and more promotion so that it can beat those collection records, and hence,
YOU
WOULD
SHARE
MORE.

SIMPOLE!



In Economics,

and I know some might disagree to this, in fact many (I can already imagine one of my classmates going "But Bro"...)

we call it "specialization of resources":
I'll give a context very inefficiently here:
1. Specialization= acting towards a direction wherein you have comparative advantage over the rest
2. Resources= you, me, and every existing and potential audience member who watches their films

I'll leave some thinking to you now :)




2. Deception 

Now, here, definitely, there would be people who'd disagree with how I'm putting forth things here, except, they'd know for a fact, that the following is, in the interest of language and limited choice of words, is a fairly reasonable point:
Avengers Endgame was eventually a 3 hours+ long film, except, when they dropped the trailers, not a single trailer had any clipping taken from beyond the first 20 minutes of the film.
You may ask, why, why and how does that make any difference, and rather justify the word "deception",
it, however, does.

So, remember that boy/girl in school who'd spread rumors in schools, but when confronted about it would blatantly deny even talking about them, because obviously, what you heard were rumors, and you heard them from someone else and not necessarily that boy/girl.

Now, imagine, the rumors you heard from the person (and not THE boy/girl) was some one who was popular in school; humanly, popularity that you associate with that person, unfortunately, also inculcates a sense of credibility to whatever BS he/she told you.

So what happened here, which you haven't been able to make out?

the rumor,

what if it was wrong,

let's just say it was

but you heard it from some one popular in school

popularity= credibility

in your eyes

rumor= absolute truth

and

the real truth?

"that's garbage"!




and that's exactly what happened with Endgame and its trailers;
so many people reviewing the trailers, both on YT and blogs, even Instagram and Facebook,
every nook and corner on the Internet

some relevant, some people with influence, so who just blabbered and some whose ideas resonated with people like you and me



autopsy like approach to each and every frame made it sure that as much as they were stupid and misguided by the limited set of information that the trailers deliberate* chose to offer them, only incited a sense of wakening and intellectual pride among st the viewers, which then again had that multiplier/domino affect when it came to promotions and outreach.





3. Humanization 

Marketing people would call this (within context), disguised marketing, defined as:



I choose to call it (again, within context), humanization

but why? hear me out

if you're a hard core MCU fan (the learn the lines by heart kinds),
you know when you hear/think/imagine/visualize/repeat the line

"I AM IRONMAN"

it's RDJ's voice you're hearing when you perform the act/

or when you do the same with "Hulk Smash"!
it's Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and not Edward Norton's Hulk

I have a personal favorite too, the graphic for which I'll be showing at the end, so just, STAY!

So why's that?
how is it that, each time it's I am Ironman or Hulk Smash, or say, what's up regular sized man, we are attuned to imagining the actors that played those characters?

it's because, Disney, through the course of it's films, has managed to make the actors and their respective characters sort of morph with one another. and how's that?

well, why do you think the post credit in Norton's Hulk had RDJ's Stark, or say, Chris Evans' Captain America in Thor 2? (I could go on and on about this, and still not run out of palladium)

here's why;
as much as the plot, connecting the dots was important

a recurrence of characters and actors out of blue, when you weren't expecting them at all, is momentarily an information overload,

cameos, Marvel One Shots, incorporation of post credits into these One Shots, and indirect references with a suggested connection, it all creates a sense of urgent contemplation of things; this then brings certain cognitives into action.

A little Hindi here, jab captain america thor 2 me kuch 2 second ke liye aaya tha na, toh pehli baar me toh maine bhi ye bola tha ki "yaar ye toh woh hai na, Chris Evans jisko play karta hai, arey woh Captain America"; toh bas wahin humanisation hua Cap ke character Evans ke chehre ke saath.

haan matlab, tab maine just start kara tha movies dekhna, ab dekho, ab toh ladka tattoo rep karta hain

;)




4. Entitlement:
I think this was one of the biggest reasons why the film did well. Like the biggest one;
still don't realize the intensity I'm suggesting?


(wait)


I said, the




B

I

G
G
E
S
T


yes.


why? Disney did a lot of exclusive interview like promotional events, with youtubers, influencers, from all around the world. except, they didn't stop there, they chose to take a step further,


they let people like you and my friend Suryansh, be a part of exclusive conferences with limited/invite only admission procedures, like the one we attended:




How?

A'right, through the medium of conferences like these, Disney did something very morally unethical, but real badass.

why badass?

because they made the conference such that:

1. If I got to attend the meeting, you couldn't; which makes this particular commodity, a rival;
2. If I paid for it, you just cannot utilize a part of it, unless you too pay for it, an excludable

now, both these points taken together, form what's called a private commodity, which is literally everything around you; any thing you buy from the market, online/offline, it's a private commodity.

except, in my case above^, I didn't really pay for my admission. and that's why bad ass.


But that's where all the fun ends, really.


This was a free of cost event, yes, it was a first come first serve invitation,
except

It unfortunately creates a false sense of entitlement in me,


I didn't have to pay for it


I still got it


you might've been willing to pay


you still didn't get it


and this false sense of entitlement, in fact any sense of entitlement is fraught,

because when it comes to entitlement, it's about satiation for greed and not satiation for need.





which is wrong, absolutely wrong, no two ways about it.


Except, it was this feeling of entitlement that drove me to get at least 3-5 people to go and watch the film.
And this definitely wasn't the case with just me, there were at least a thousand kids, adults and man children like me who attended the conference, and acted similarly;
so when Disney did the cost-benefit analysis,

Money, and/or definitely the prospect of it vs breaking bylaws for a while

we know what was chosen and what wasn't;


we
know
what
was
decided
as
to
be
right
and
what
as
wrong



This has been a long read, hasn't it been? But I genuinely do hope, you find it a good read, because if you don't,

then don't even worry worrying,

I'll soon be posting the 3rd and final part of this,

and I'd just like to give a heads up,

next one's based more on cognitive biases than financially calculated actions,

PSYCHOLOGY MORE THAN ECONOMICS, EUGENE!



You've been a good reader,





I really hope you remember this^


this is Mayul

signing off.

;)



stay hydrated.