Inside Avengers' marketing juggernaut: How its cult spread far from home

While there was huge hype around the film's release, the Disney team worked out a local context for the story and its characters

Globalisation may no longer wear a superhero cape in the hallowed circles of economists and policy makers, but for America’s entertainment business, its powers are shining brighter than ever. Check out the phenomenal showing of the final movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Avengers saga, Avengers: Endgame in countries far from home and among people far removed from its contextual framework. Endgame is the fastest Hollywood release to cross the Rs 200 crore mark in India and its marketing journey, as plotted by the Disney cavalcade, is a lesson in how to build a global legion of fans who are willing to brave price, weather and all other odds to turn up at the theatres.

While there was huge hype around the film’s release, given the fan base it has already amassed since the MCU started its journey in 2008 with Ironman, the Disney team worked out a local context for the story and its characters. Not only has the movie been released in several languages, the marketing efforts have been multilingual and an anthem, meant to herald the coming of the movie, was sung by A R Rahman to further strengthen local appeal.

“The Marvel movies have a distinct advantage in that they have rich and complex storytelling, but it is relatable because of the universal nature of the themes — good versus evil, friendship etc. That is one of the reasons the franchise has been able to form an emotional connect,” said Bikram Duggal, head of Studio Entertainment, Disney India.

Endgame released in three Indian languages — Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, along with English in 2,800 screens across formats with 13,000 shows a day on an average. Disney India has learnt its localisation lessons well, especially after 2016, when Jungle Book became the first Hollywood film to breach the Rs 150 crore mark at the box office. Since then, Indian language dubs have been meticulously planned and marketed as has been the tie-ups with local merchandise and brand partners.

Currently Indian language versions contribute to 50 per cent of Marvel movie collections for Disney India. This is a significant jump from 30 per cent share that the studio saw when the MCU launched a decade back. More recently, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) breached the Rs 200 crore mark in the country. Apart from releases in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, Disney also engaged regional influencers to create further hype for the film.

“The core strategy has been to deepen the emotional connect that the fans have with the brand Marvel and the characters. When fans have an emotional connect with movies and their characters, the franchise thrives. India is a diverse country with so many different languages, and we know that fans want to enjoy these movies in their language,” Duggal explains about the company’s strategy for localising Hollywood content in the country.

With Avengers: Infinity War, the Disney team said the challenge was that there was not just one character that had to be promoted and localised. There was the entire motley group of superheroes that needed to build up. In India, this was done through figurine tours, retail activations, and marketing through popular platforms like the Indian Premier League.

Disney collaborated with music director AR Rahman to launch the Marvel Anthem for Avengers fans in the country. The anthem was released in three languages — Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Additionally, the studio worked with A R Murugadoss to transliterate the movie in Tamil. Duggal says that by paying close attention to details and understanding what sells locally, the team has been able to bring fans to the theatres many times over, no matter the language they speak.

Localisation has also come in the form of brand partnerships. For example, handset maker OPPO has collaborated with Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame to launch a brand new F11 Pro Marvel’s Avengers Limited Edition smartphone in support of the film, while Myntra as part of its loyalty program ‘Myntra Insider’­­­­­­ has developed a unique collaboration amongst Myntra designers and Marvel Fans. Other brands to have partnered with the movie include toymaker Hasbro and retailer Max.

Amar Nagaram, head of Myntra Jabong said, “Our brand Kook N Keech, popular for its character based licensed merchandise is offering over 400 different styles as part of the ‘Avengers: i’ collection which has witnessed a significant increase in sales over the past few weeks. We also launched a special co-creation activity where we had customers team up with our designers to design T-shirts with the winning design to be made 

available on Myntra in the coming weeks.”