Now there's a mental picture that should last you the rest of the afternoon, huh? It's not as carnal as it sounds though; Disney announced today that it is acquiring Marvel Entertainment Inc. and ALL of it's over 5,000 characters.
Some of you may be thinking "So what? It's just another deal." Well, I'm taking this one personally, so watch it. First of all, Mr. Shapiro is a huge comic book and Marvel fan... so in weird way I get to shove this into his face. My company ate yours, nah-nahnah-nahnaaaaaah-nah. (Sorry, momentary lapse in maturity..) Secondly, I am a HUGE Disney fan; I grew up in Florida, and my ties to the magic of Disney run deep. I take my Disney experiences very seriously, and any change in the "magic" of the franchise is a big deal to me. Some of you are probably thinking I'm completely out of my gourd right now, but if you're not a Disney fanatic, it's difficult to explain. If you are, you get exactly what I'm saying.
That said, what does this mean for Disney's brand? Namely, the theme parks - Does this mean we'll be seeing Spiderman @ Disney World now? And tied into that, what about Marvel's section of Island's of Adventure? That's a Universal theme park! So are my friends going to see Spiderman in Disney World AND Universal? That's a branding disaster, right there.
I understand there are a myriad of other branding outlets that can be explored to exploit the property while the theme park aspect gets wrapped up. EDITORS NOTE: My understanding is that the licensing deals currently in place will remain in place until they expire. But my point is that with such monumental brand and trademark staples, the integration into a new (larger?) brand such as Disney is sure to be full of interesting twists and turns. We shall see...
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3 comments:
All that seems to assume that they want to integrate the brands. There is no Miramax section in the Magic Kingdom.
My guess is that their plan is to reap the income benefits of glomming Marvel's balance sheet onto their own, giggle about getting paid royalties on Universal tickets, and think of Spidey and his friends as just another bunch of IP they can exploit when they see a good opportunity.
While I love Disney, for everything it has been in the past and might be in the future, I don't get the sense that "brand Identity," or much less "creative integrity" were even discussion points in the deal.
Alright, alright, Jamieson! I'm honestly torn on this one. Both companies are voracious with their brands & licensing deals. The first line of the 2nd press release was "ALL LICENSING DEALS STAY INTACT." So I'm not seeing that changing.
Marvel knows it stuff, so as long as Disney let's Marvel run (as it seems to be alluding to with the Pixar references), I doubt consumers are going to see too much of a difference. Was this the best way to release the news? Questionable. The goal here should be to expand interest in the Marvel brands, but failing to reach out to the fanboy constituent beforehand may have been an error.
That being said, the comic book industry is not the most entrepreneurial, so any imagineering that can be cross-pollinated into the House of Ideas isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Adam, I have to disagree that brand identity and integrity were not part of these discussions. There's a reason both Disney and Marvel become the successful IP powerhouses they are today; it's all about brand consistency. I feel like there's magic at Disney because every nook & cranny of the parks is branded to make me feel that way. Likewise, the reason I feel like I'm a superhero when I walk into the Marvel section of Islands is because they WANT me to feel that way and they've worked hard to earn that feel.
I should clarify; this is not about the being "tricked," it's about the incredible impact of consistent branding. It's like a clean house - don't know notice when someone has a clean house, but if it's messy, it's all you see. Messy branding does that. So yes, I agree they're going to bath in the riches that this purchase will bring, but it will dry up fast if they don't take care to either 1) totally separate from Disney and maintain that; or 2) carefully and successfully integrate the brands together.
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