Marvel’s Three-Phase Plan
A Marketing Editorial
Introduction
We all know that Marvel has some made some quite fascinating business ventures in the last few years. Just a few weeks ago we found out that Marvel had made quite a massive deal together with Netflix to broadcast four TV shows featuring classic characters from Hell’s Kitchen all culminating in a 13-episode Mini series called The Defenders. With the release of Marvel’s The Avengers they had already made an interesting proposal with creating their own Cinematic Universe with multiple stand-alone films culminating in one grand adventure. At the point we even added a television show in the form of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that expands on the universe every week. Whatever one may think about their products they are successful in what they are doing and do have quite a following for what they have been achieving. With them releasing the amount of TV shows through Netflix I came to ask myself one question, can we expect this to stay the way it is much longer? Even if I stayed optimistic and believe we would never run out of storylines and characters to expand on I do have to confess that the way things are at the moment may only last up to a certain point. Before I get into that fact I will give a look into a classic economic theory known as the Product Life Cycle, which may illiterate what I am talking about.
Product Life Cycle
The theory is quite simple and means exactly that what its name stands for. It details the life cycle of our every day products up to a specific point and people lose interest in them. Most times this is shown in relation to the amounts sold and the period of time they are able to prove profitable to a company. I would like to point out that the time span these include are quite variable, as you have to consider that every product lasts longer than others. To give an example consider the light bulb, it was in the market for quite some time before it was replaced through a more technological advanced model but still stayed in the market for a considerable amount of time before it was completely overtaken. Another one to mention would be the current trends for Blu-Rays, while they are becoming the new form to view films at home we still can find the DVD on shelves and some people do tend to stick to that form of medium. This proves that there is no true definition on how well a product will do or how long it would last on the market. There have been miracles where something underwhelming became the biggest thing while the opposite has also occurred.
SOURCE: http://www.notesdesk.com/notes/marketing/product-life-cycle-plc/
As you can see there are generally four stages, if you don’t count the development stage were naturally no company makes any sales, which start with the introduction of the product itself. After that we have the growth of the product with the public becoming aware of the product and naturally pushing the sales further up. Thirdly, we have the maturity stage where the sales start the first decline as people tend to either lose interest or already possess the product so that only those that have not yet would purchase it. At the end is the natural decline where the product simply cannot reach the same amount of sales it did during its maturity, as the market has finally saturated and sales start to plummet. I understand all of this is quite simple to put into words as the entire theory behind it naturally is suppose to simply visualize that a company at one point must start renewing either its product or business model to keep the product relevant on the market. If they manage to pull this off it is mainly described as a Relaunch phase for the company that would either rekindle the entire growth phase or even push it above its maturity. Many companies use this phase to either reinvent themselves, as Pepsi was quite known for when they kept rebranding their company, or simply try to recreate the product that consumers would find it relevant once again, for example the iPhone with the updated versions. All of this is nice and all to put down in theory, but what does it have to do with Marvel you ask?
Three-Phase-Modell
Anyone else realize that at this point Kevin Feige has been describing Thanos, the big purple guy teased at the end of Avengers, to be the final boss for the Avengers to face in the third film? Most film franchises either end with the third or have a hard time picking up the pace after the release of a fourth film, if one would look at Pirates of the Caribbean. Moreover, every phase for Marvel Studios lasts around three years all together so that they will at least last for around nine full years until the climatic third entry. Sometimes they have mentioned that they want the franchise to be similar to James Bond, which has had a plethora of success with many movies featuring different actors taking over the lead rule. Feige has mentioned this would be possible with Tony Stark even though he has signed a contract for two more Avengers movies at this point.
What am I getting at? Simple, Marvel Studios is aware that it is already quite a busy venture to keep up two films quote per year with everything slowly building up towards a climatic cross over. The scary thought is while people do enjoy the films at large some are proclaiming they are dipping in quality. Not including the Mandarin twist some say that Marvel has lost their way by trying to hard to tie everything in together put at the very same time leaving some strange plot holes a shared universe sometimes can come with. Some might even say that the franchises may have reached its peak with the Avengers film and now is stuck in a sharp decline. While I do not share this sentiment I do have a feeling we might see some rather big changes coming in our direction in the near future.
Looking back at the business model we have to consider that currently almost every actor has at least a minimum of three solo films and two Avengers films in their contract. Even if the third Avengers film comes around they would require a renewal of their contracts up to that point and from the standpoint now that is another five years away. While I have stated before this business model is quite a risky endeavor for all participants it has paid off creating their own family. With some actors making cameos across the film sand even television shows tells us more about how the work together with the company and how much of a family they have become, maybe also a symbol of the influence from Disney after purchasing the Marvel company a while back.
I consider Phase 1 to be a combination of growth and introduction stage as the idea was first shown to us through the little after-credit scene featuring Nick Fury and had expanded rapidly up to the Avengers. Why do I not consider it to be the maturity stage yet? Consider how much money the other films have made up to this point, some of them managed to double their production budget while Iron Man was the one with the most exponential growth. Avengers were a tipping point and pushed Iron Man 3 and Thor – The Dark World further than the films that came before. While not every film joins the billion-dollar club they do not require doing so. The films have a lot of work and heart put into them and they are making not only their money back but also are proving quite profitable. Marvel Studios also is taking some risks by introducing new franchises into the mix that are considerable quite risky, with Guardians of the Galaxy being the most notable followed by Ant-Man.
The company is aware that sticking too much to the formula would mean their downfall by the end of Phase 3 and have even turned their “safe” investments into a considerable risk, if you look at the twist with the Mandarin. While I do understand that the people believe one of their favorite characters was butchered it is still an interesting thing to see. Marvel tries to stick and twist the formula as much as possible with not even one hero having to go through the classic secret identity storyline. They are implementing measures to prove their relevance in the market and are in term extending their life expectancy as long as possible. I do believe we will see this films for quite a while beyond Phase 3, but I do see one little detail changing dramatically.
Starting with Phase 4 we might not see our classic actors in the roles anymore. I am sure someone else to keep the character alive might replace Robert Downey Jr., who made Iron Man the character he is today, and while I do wish we could simply clone RDJ we must accept the fact that this is a natural progression. While the characters are timeless the actors sadly aren’t and at one point they probably wish to explore new territory outside of this franchise. Actually, Marvel Studios still allows them some breathing room to appear in other films, with Chris Evans filming Snowpiercer and A Many Splintered Thing between each film. They aren’t forcing them to fully commit to the entire MCU but understand that they also have to count on other franchises to take over with rumors surrounding a Doctor Strange film to appear in Phase 3. They will try to keep these characters alive but have to make a sacrifice to do so, which is in this sense the Relaunch phase for Marvel Studios.
Conclusion
Marvel Studios isn’t heading into anything without ensuring at least an option for sustainability. Comic book movies have been reaching their peak over the last few years and who knows what will come in the future. Still, we must learn that there is the possibility that the market may become oversaturated. With all the companies trying to recreate the formula it certainly would seem as if a storm is brewing within the industry and we can only wait to see what happens at this point. Will the MCU end with Phase 3? Hopefully not and it is our responsibility to keep them alive so that they may live on longer. Our biggest issue is that with all the high quality films we have received that it is difficult to surprise us as much as we were before Avengers or The Dark Knight hit the theater. Is it a question of quality control or our responsibility as the target audience to fight for what we love? All a question of perspective I guess.
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