Speaker 1: Avengers Infinity War is the latest movie from Marvel Entertainment.
Speaker 1: Marvel's uncanny ability to crank out one multibillion dollar box
Speaker 1: office behemoth after another is a testament to so many
Speaker 1: things iconic, character, terrific casting, great, creative. But there's another
Speaker 1: piece of this puzzle that gets overlooked marketing. Marvel has
Speaker 1: mastered the fine art of promoting its films, and not
Speaker 1: just through the usual billboards and travelers. Marvel gets the
Speaker 1: word out through what it calls partnerships, which is a
Speaker 1: kind of alliance between a piece of intellectual property and
Speaker 1: a consumer brand. I think, for instance of the quid
Speaker 1: pro quo promotion it might have spotted when Lexis showed
Speaker 1: up in Black Panther. There's a fine art to this
Speaker 1: little understood aspect of the industry. So we're going to
Speaker 1: talk to one of its master practitioners, Marvel's Mindy Hamilton's
Speaker 1: senior VP and Global Partnerships. So let's just start with
Speaker 1: defining partnerships, what kind of deals you strike with brands.
Speaker 1: And I know it's not a cookie cutter thing. It
Speaker 1: is not, although sadly so many people do approach approach
Speaker 1: it that way, and I think hopefully by the end
Speaker 1: of this conversation, I will give some folks out there
Speaker 1: some tips on how to break through that. UM. I
Speaker 1: would say the dry definition of what I do is
Speaker 1: UM I developed third party partnerships, brands relationships UM in
Speaker 1: order to UM amplify our our efforts. And what is
Speaker 1: entailed in partnerships can be the anything from product placement
Speaker 1: to sourcing to um CO branded marketing campaigns on the
Speaker 1: back end in the theatrical or in the home entertainment
Speaker 1: window for films, or to help launch a TV show,
Speaker 1: video game, UM or in the case of our digital content,
Speaker 1: ramping up our new studio and content engine. So can
Speaker 1: you give a specific example. I know you guys just
Speaker 1: have this little movie out there called Black Panther and
Speaker 1: a little car company called Like So that came together
Speaker 1: in some interesting ways. Yeah, we did, UM I would say,
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part. I gave you the dry definition.
Speaker 1: The the exciting part of what we do is really
Speaker 1: it's all about adventizing our releases. It's about amplifying that
Speaker 1: emotional connection. So we get to play in a space
Speaker 1: where UM, you know, people expect to see television spots,
Speaker 1: Outdoor magazine covers all of those things that um Our
Speaker 1: Genius marketing team has to get to. Those are the
Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of the campaign. Where I get to
Speaker 1: come in and play is I get to develop a
Speaker 1: campaign with a brand to pop up in an unexpected place,
Speaker 1: in an unexpected way. It allows me to go deeper
Speaker 1: not only in a storyline or end in a character,
Speaker 1: but it also allows me to go deeper into target
Speaker 1: audiences and really funnel focus, so I can deal with
Speaker 1: the brand per se like a general Mills and target
Speaker 1: parents and kids, right, and then go over here and
Speaker 1: I want to hit millennials and above with say such
Speaker 1: a Lexus UM. I think the genesis of Lexus was
Speaker 1: that was one of those beautiful things like this represented
Speaker 1: not just performance and luxury as far as in their
Speaker 1: DNA UM, but in addition to that, they were already
Speaker 1: speaking to multicultural audiences, right. It was just a part
Speaker 1: of their daily conversation UM and so it wasn't something
Speaker 1: that it was they needed to grow or needed to
Speaker 1: focus on, or something that was a new lever. So
Speaker 1: that was really important. And the reason it's important is
Speaker 1: when you're doing partnerships authenticity, there has to be some
Speaker 1: authenticity to it. So UM, those conversations started a year
Speaker 1: and a half, two years out. UM. We had no
Speaker 1: idea the placement was going to be with The placement
Speaker 1: ended up being Ryan Coogler did, but he didn't tell us,
Speaker 1: which was great, Well, how do you navigate that part
Speaker 1: of it? Because I can imagine a Ryan Coogler saying, oh, Brands,
Speaker 1: that's this is a piece of art. So there's no
Speaker 1: room for that. I will say that Ryan Coogler, who
Speaker 1: is a massive, massive Marvel fan, UM happily UM wanted
Speaker 1: to meet with Alexis folks Um when I came to
Speaker 1: him and he said, you know, I said, listen, there's
Speaker 1: certain placements are going to happen in this film. Auto
Speaker 1: is one of them. I didn't have all the details,
Speaker 1: and I said, I believe in this brand, Um, And
Speaker 1: he said, you know what, bring him in. I want
Speaker 1: to talk to them. I want to see the vehicle.
Speaker 1: I want to see if it fits UM. And it was.
Speaker 1: It was literally lightning in a bottle from the very
Speaker 1: first moment he jumped on top of a million dollar
Speaker 1: prototype car and took the position that we now know
Speaker 1: and we see in film. Um. We had no idea
Speaker 1: what he was doing, and he went, Yep, this feels right,
Speaker 1: this is the one. And after talking to them and
Speaker 1: getting a sense of their DNA and what they wanted
Speaker 1: to do. UM, I think it was really impressed that
Speaker 1: they wanted to start early out and build credibility and
Speaker 1: a mythology with the character long before the film got here,
Speaker 1: so that there was UM synergy and a built in audience. UM.
Speaker 1: So he was he was on board right from the
Speaker 1: get go. Well, I hear that, and it sounds like
Speaker 1: what we call product integration is a big piece of
Speaker 1: what partnerships is uh candidate is it more than that?
Speaker 1: And Canada exist without that element? Do you have do
Speaker 1: do deals where the product doesn't necessarily end up in
Speaker 1: the movie. I would say we do more deals that
Speaker 1: have no product placement. And I would say probably the
Speaker 1: single biggest mistake that brands, unfortunately will make is thinking
Speaker 1: that they have to be in the film. UM. And
Speaker 1: and I get the attraction and when it's right, it's amazing. UM.
Speaker 1: When it's not, brands can be disappointed. I find it's
Speaker 1: usually checking a box with some executives to say, hey,
Speaker 1: I got us in the film, um, but really you
Speaker 1: have to understand like, what is this, what is the purpose?
Speaker 1: What is it serving? Right? Does it serve the storyline?
Speaker 1: Is it part of the character's DNA to have this
Speaker 1: product or to use or interact with this product? Then
Speaker 1: it makes sense. UM. But when we're looking at partnerships,
Speaker 1: we're going even beyond that. So I would say beyond
Speaker 1: auto and tech categories, which you tend to find UM
Speaker 1: integrated into films more more than not. UM. But there
Speaker 1: are a lot of examples that aren't. One of the
Speaker 1: biggest UM examples I have of of a campaign where
Speaker 1: they just took controls to rid Us and Guardians of
Speaker 1: the Galaxy. Um, they knew that music huge piece of
Speaker 1: that movie, right was it knew the soundtrack was going
Speaker 1: to be amazing UM, and they came up with a
Speaker 1: creative way to put the soundtrack on the bag of doritos,
Speaker 1: so literally, you could play the soundtrack off your bag
Speaker 1: of Doritos. They put it on sale, It's sold out
Speaker 1: in less than ten minutes on Amazon and was a
Speaker 1: huge darling of the overall Guardians of the Galaxy campaign.
Speaker 1: No placement. It's it's about creativity, It's about what is
Speaker 1: making the property the I p. Why am I tying
Speaker 1: into it? Is it because it's music? Isn't because of
Speaker 1: the character, the storyline, what it represents. And I think
Speaker 1: that's another beautiful thing with Marvel and the ways you
Speaker 1: can play. When people come into deal with a Marvel
Speaker 1: partnership or coming to deal with a Marvel film, there
Speaker 1: are so many lovers. They come in because it's action adventure.
Speaker 1: They come in because of the humor, They come in
Speaker 1: because of the heartfelt story. They come in because they've
Speaker 1: been a fan of the comic or the character for
Speaker 1: you know, decades and they want to now see it
Speaker 1: on the screen. So there are multiple entry points for
Speaker 1: brands to be able to play, and that's that's great
Speaker 1: for us, you know, to be able to carry that
Speaker 1: storyline and to be able to market those things outside
Speaker 1: of what maybe traditionally we need to do from a
Speaker 1: film traditional film marketing perspective with TV spots and outdoor
Speaker 1: and things like that. Well, that's the thing. There was
Speaker 1: a day where you just as a marketer in the
Speaker 1: studio system worried about your billboards and your thirty second spots.
Speaker 1: I understand what partnership, what brands get out of partnerships
Speaker 1: is what you as a studio get out of it
Speaker 1: or a content company is Lexis for instance, or some
Speaker 1: other product allows you to reach an audience in a
Speaker 1: way that the traditional marketing mix does not. And and
Speaker 1: it's it's twofold. I mean brands, I mean Lexus got
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot out of that. Undoubtedly, Um,
Speaker 1: we also got a lot from that partnership. So what
Speaker 1: are the things that we get. We're able to reach
Speaker 1: audiences and fans in an unexpected way or in an
Speaker 1: unexpected place, which adds to the tidal wave the aventization
Speaker 1: of things. Um, I think that's the first. I can't
Speaker 1: go buy a Cereal box, right, can't go buy media
Speaker 1: in an Alexis dealership. So when we're when we're in
Speaker 1: those places and we're popping up, it becomes a part
Speaker 1: of fans daily's lives. That's incredibly valuable, not just for
Speaker 1: the film, but it's incredibly valuable for the overall franchise.
Speaker 1: The other thing that they bring to the table, every
Speaker 1: every partner is different, you know. Um, they bring a
Speaker 1: lot of media support, co branded media support, which is
Speaker 1: extremely valuable. Um. They may support our premiers, they may
Speaker 1: do experiential events, PR every single partner campaign. This high
Speaker 1: level macro way to think of it is a mini
Speaker 1: marketing plan. So you've got your traditional film marketing plan
Speaker 1: of all the traditional disciplines that are film marketing. And
Speaker 1: then from a partnership perspective, every brand is doing media PR, digital,
Speaker 1: the whole, the whole suitet um creative and so you've
Speaker 1: got little amplifications and if you do it right, and
Speaker 1: you're doing it to specific target audiences or to give
Speaker 1: the campaign, help round out the campaign, Like the studio
Speaker 1: may want to focus on humor and we're like, great,
Speaker 1: we've got a Geico over here. Geico does the most
Speaker 1: amazing creative humor spots. It'll round it out and like
Speaker 1: seeded into pop culture and just help elevate everything. So
Speaker 1: it's a very multifaceted mix. And from what I can
Speaker 1: see also is it's not just about something that appears
Speaker 1: in the movie or something that's immediately before the movie.
Speaker 1: You kind of have to take a longer term view. Yep,
Speaker 1: you do have to take a longer term view. And
Speaker 1: I would say um in partnerships too, because you know,
Speaker 1: we want to make sure we hit those traditional windows,
Speaker 1: the theatrical window, which partnerships tend to happen anywhere from
Speaker 1: six to eight weeks within that theatrical release, and then
Speaker 1: again you replicate that same time frame in a home
Speaker 1: entertainment release. I think the art of partnership and helping
Speaker 1: build and supporting franchises and those film windows is operating
Speaker 1: in between. So what do I mean by that? It
Speaker 1: could be doing a partnership with a video game UM
Speaker 1: that has similar characters or digital content, but it also
Speaker 1: may mean using that film I p out of window.
Speaker 1: Good example of that was a partnership that we did
Speaker 1: with Cope. They came and they wanted to do a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl campaign that was long before we were launching
Speaker 1: Captain America Civil War, And happily filmmakers and marketing executives
Speaker 1: allowed me to take a risk, and I said, I
Speaker 1: think this is going to help not just from a
Speaker 1: franchise perspective, but it's actually gonna help seed some of
Speaker 1: that excitement for what they're going to see in the
Speaker 1: film later on UM And and it was a lightning
Speaker 1: rod and I it was huge for Coca Cola, was
Speaker 1: huge for us. It electrified the fans because Hulk and
Speaker 1: ant Man met for the first time. So that was
Speaker 1: a huge conversation piece. So when when you're able to
Speaker 1: remain authentic, add something new and do it out of window,
Speaker 1: it's actually really really interesting um and and can help
Speaker 1: sort of lift not just those tentpole moments but overall franchise.
Speaker 1: So as you pursue these partnership deals, what is the dynamic?
Speaker 1: Are you outside the door of Doritos or Lexus or
Speaker 1: the brands I would imagine Marvel must have a long
Speaker 1: line of brands waiting outside wanting to get into these
Speaker 1: movies and do other things. How do you sift? So?
Speaker 1: I think, um, there are usual suspects brands that play
Speaker 1: in this space um and and they are constantly they
Speaker 1: see the value in in film entertainment partnerships. And so
Speaker 1: there will be the usual suspects that you either go
Speaker 1: to or that will be coming to you. That that
Speaker 1: just you know, the regular you know meetings, annual meetings.
Speaker 1: What I try to pride um ourselves on is you know,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna say it, we we we like to
Speaker 1: do cool ships and sometimes that means unexpected brands um
Speaker 1: things that have never done a film partnership before. That's
Speaker 1: more important to me than going to the usual suspects,
Speaker 1: even if they are knocking on my door or even
Speaker 1: if I'm knocking on their door for other things. Um
Speaker 1: it really I find that the things that the unexpected,
Speaker 1: like a Geico where you round it out, it's like
Speaker 1: you didn't see that coming. Um, I think those things
Speaker 1: are interesting. Going to a Google and and where they
Speaker 1: want to create in world content and they want to
Speaker 1: do it without any branding. That's cool, right, And the
Speaker 1: fans are trying to decipher my god, is this what
Speaker 1: is going on here? And who is putting this out
Speaker 1: and how is this happening? Um? That creates a cultural
Speaker 1: conversation and undertow that just slapping my logo on something
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't do any good. Um, package good partner that
Speaker 1: has been in this space doing something unexpected. Right, So
Speaker 1: they may be in this space, they may be usual suspect.
Speaker 1: How do I push them into doing something different? Um?
Speaker 1: This was they wanted to do. They wanted to be
Speaker 1: more immersive, and they said, we want to we want
Speaker 1: people to be able to step into a character's world.
Speaker 1: So they created VR mask for Black Panther Captain America.
Speaker 1: Their sales went up fift Black Panther was off the
Speaker 1: shelves of walmartin less than a week. It was huge
Speaker 1: because fans wanted a way to immerse themselves. More so,
Speaker 1: for me, it's how do I get that immersion? How
Speaker 1: do I get that How do I electrify the fan base?
Speaker 1: And sometimes that means not dealing, um with some of
Speaker 1: the usual suspects. How do you electrify within Marvel all
Speaker 1: the way up to it, Kevin Fight, I'm curious, like
Speaker 1: do they all think about partnerships or they're like, well,
Speaker 1: that's Mendy's things, She'll come to us. It is a
Speaker 1: collaborative effort. Um. You know, it will start with my
Speaker 1: team because that's what I'm tasked with doing at the company,
Speaker 1: and I will come to them with here's the way
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about this movie. And it's critical for me
Speaker 1: to be a partner with Kevin and Lewis Um and
Speaker 1: whoever the executive producers, because I have to understand what
Speaker 1: is their vision, what is happening with this character, what's
Speaker 1: happening in the storyline, how are they feeling about it,
Speaker 1: how's it going to come to life on screen? Um?
Speaker 1: Are there things that they need support from from a
Speaker 1: product placement or is there a story that they want
Speaker 1: to tell, you know, and that I can do that
Speaker 1: with brand so um collaborative from from that perspective, and
Speaker 1: once I've had that genius brain dump from them um
Speaker 1: and and know where they are intending to take it,
Speaker 1: then I sit down and start to construct what that
Speaker 1: looks like. Who can we go after? And it could
Speaker 1: be specific brands, it could be categories, and it could
Speaker 1: be target audiences um. And then I let it breathe, right,
Speaker 1: I work with my team, We let it breathe, and
Speaker 1: we come in and there's always the conversation like, who
Speaker 1: haven't we thought of swing to the fences, what's the unexpected,
Speaker 1: what's the oh my god, I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 1: And then I go back to Kevin and Lewis and
Speaker 1: Assad and Ricky and and talk to them collectively and
Speaker 1: say here's what I'm thinking. They're like, go for it. Um.
Speaker 1: And then from there, you know, once we have the
Speaker 1: partners on board, some real work begins. And that's the
Speaker 1: creative that that is the part that takes off. You know, UM.
Speaker 1: When when you know we did the deal with Alexis,
Speaker 1: when we did the deal with Torito's for guardians. They
Speaker 1: didn't come to me and say, hey, I want to
Speaker 1: do a partnership with you and I'm gonna put a
Speaker 1: soundtrack on the music back. That stuff evolves, that stuff
Speaker 1: comes out. That's when the magic happens. Is once you
Speaker 1: get on board and out of way, filmmakers start to
Speaker 1: weigh in. They can you know, hey, if we thought
Speaker 1: about this, Um, it's real magic. It's it's a nice
Speaker 1: collaborative effort. Is there a way that being inside the
Speaker 1: Disney machinery helps what you do? You're able to perhaps
Speaker 1: take the brand to more places because Disney has all
Speaker 1: these touch points. Absolutely. Um. I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the things that we, you know, we've tried to accomplish.
Speaker 1: I think we've done it well. Is one stop shopping.
Speaker 1: So I'm your brand ambassador as you navigate on all
Speaker 1: the Marvel touch points and and having um, you know,
Speaker 1: the Walt Disney Company, um, you know in support of
Speaker 1: Marvel and all the amazing things they're doing ing um
Speaker 1: just makes it that much more um, you know, attractive
Speaker 1: for brands because brands don't want to always just come
Speaker 1: in in one moment. They're like, how can I have
Speaker 1: a longer term relationship, how can I operate in between
Speaker 1: those tentpole moments? And you know, having the support of
Speaker 1: the Walt Disney Company, i e. Parks, Live Entertainment, television networks,
Speaker 1: all of those things are able to were able to
Speaker 1: amplify how a partner is able to come in the
Speaker 1: door and and in the back end. That helps not
Speaker 1: just the tentpole release, but it also helps the franchise overall.
Speaker 1: So it's it's an amazing thing to have. I know,
Speaker 1: film is really the lions share of what you're doing,
Speaker 1: But there's other kinds of Marvel. There's TV, there's digital.
Speaker 1: Talk a bit about how that works in terms of
Speaker 1: partnerships because I tend to think more of just movies,
Speaker 1: but it really isn't that simple. So when it comes
Speaker 1: to two television shows, it depends on obviously where the
Speaker 1: show is on network. Um, if it's if it's you know,
Speaker 1: Agency SID, you know, I'll work very closely. Or if
Speaker 1: it's Cloaken Dagger, I'll work very closely with my friends
Speaker 1: over at the ABC, UM and free Form networks occasionally
Speaker 1: you know, listen, they do what they do best. Um.
Speaker 1: But knowing that from a Marvel perspective, we may have
Speaker 1: a different lens, or we may have a different relationship.
Speaker 1: You know, we have those big relationships with partnerships on
Speaker 1: the film tip poles. They may come to me and say, hey,
Speaker 1: how can we how can we work collectively together? UM.
Speaker 1: Usually it's for Verse Engineered actually on the on the
Speaker 1: film side, we'll we'll try to add that UM level
Speaker 1: of synergy where we'll work across the aisles with all
Speaker 1: those different teams. UM. But I would say if it's ABC,
Speaker 1: that's how it works. Netflix. My friends at Netflix, I've
Speaker 1: been working with them for two and a half years now,
Speaker 1: UM to get them to to believe in the power
Speaker 1: of partnerships. You know, they have come from UM. What
Speaker 1: they've been doing has been amazing UM. And now I'm
Speaker 1: happy to report that they're opening up UM their their
Speaker 1: you know breath and their vision on partnership. So I'm
Speaker 1: actually really excited to see where this will go. UM
Speaker 1: remains TBD, but that's interesting. And those shows are a
Speaker 1: different side of Marvel, right. It's very monomamano, very UM
Speaker 1: vigilante Street based, a lot of grit, very adult UM.
Speaker 1: So it's an interesting area to explore and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of brands out there who need that, who
Speaker 1: need that type of content UM to be able to
Speaker 1: get whether it's a millennial or the gen z s
Speaker 1: or what have you. So so Netflix change your heart
Speaker 1: with partnerships is interesting because it prompts me to ask,
Speaker 1: as you look at the growth of partnerships in the
Speaker 1: entertainment industry, beyond Marvel, beyond film, are we seeing more
Speaker 1: acceptance from whether it's streaming services brands. Do partnerships become
Speaker 1: a more important part of just about any marketing mix
Speaker 1: out there? I think they have to be because they again,
Speaker 1: you're reaching places that you can't go by, and you
Speaker 1: are amplifying media right all the support levers that a
Speaker 1: brand can bring UM, So it gets your get your
Speaker 1: message out there in deeper ways and then the interaction
Speaker 1: and the adventization that happens with fans. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I think people are seeing that. I believe that
Speaker 1: Netflix is starting to see the power of it. But
Speaker 1: compliments to them, and it's similar to our strategy has
Speaker 1: to be right again, it has to go back to
Speaker 1: it is it fit for the story or the character?
Speaker 1: Is it authentic? Um, it's being judicious about it. Surely
Speaker 1: you've had some moments in your otherwife Stellar career where
Speaker 1: despite the best analysis in the world, this brand, this movie,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be together, like where it just doesn't work.
Speaker 1: I mean, have you had those? How do you deal?
Speaker 1: How do you deal? Um? I'd love to say you duck,
Speaker 1: tuck and roll, but that doesn't work. Um. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to think of you know, listen, I think there's some
Speaker 1: things where Um, I would use an example when I
Speaker 1: was working on teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles, everybody expects what pizza, right,
Speaker 1: so I had to go get a pizza partner. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think there were a lot of things that
Speaker 1: did work, and then there were a lot of missus right. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think some of it was the things that
Speaker 1: worked were when we stuck to what was authentic to
Speaker 1: the Turtles. One of the biggest pieces of success within
Speaker 1: that that particular promotion was actually they recreated an actual
Speaker 1: tank that throw pizza and it was amazing and you
Speaker 1: got to launch pizzas you know, at your at your villains.
Speaker 1: That took off like lightning. It was just you know,
Speaker 1: ground swell. Um. You know, I would say the TV
Speaker 1: spot was a bit of a miss right and so
Speaker 1: I think, you know, there is always a delicate balance,
Speaker 1: you know, So that might be one that I would say,
Speaker 1: But so far at Marvel, Come Wood, We've we've done. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's great. Do you do you get a sense though
Speaker 1: that in this day and age, particularly with regard to
Speaker 1: Marvel's Bread and Butter, these movies, do you get the
Speaker 1: sense that each of them has to come with, say,
Speaker 1: multiple partnerships from different categories, And is there any issues
Speaker 1: there in terms of getting brands to coexist within say
Speaker 1: one property. I would say, yeah, brands actually are getting
Speaker 1: very savvy about this space and what they don't want
Speaker 1: to do. And again, what we avoid at Marvel is
Speaker 1: what we call the logo parade. It's a logo slab.
Speaker 1: Brands are not interested and I'm not interested in delivering
Speaker 1: a set bank of assets and saying here's your toolbox,
Speaker 1: don't stray from it, you know, use this and and
Speaker 1: a lot of unfortunately, a lot of studios are very
Speaker 1: prescriptive about that. And part of that comes from I
Speaker 1: want to see the sact same message, the exact same artwork,
Speaker 1: no matter who it is the art of partnerships is
Speaker 1: actually quite different. You've got to figure out Where is
Speaker 1: that nuance? Where can I play that maybe is you know,
Speaker 1: a hair to the left or a hair to the right,
Speaker 1: or that is a reimagining UM so that it's not
Speaker 1: only appropriate for the brand, but appropriate for the fans.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's just one more thing that the
Speaker 1: fans like. That's cool. You know. I go back to UM.
Speaker 1: You know the coke cans that we did. It was
Speaker 1: not the traditional artwork that was you know that you
Speaker 1: would expect to see from a film. They were graphic,
Speaker 1: they were high, they was just extremely graphic looking. Fans
Speaker 1: went crazy for it. UM And So I think it's
Speaker 1: those kinds of things, right, you know, Flexus wanted to
Speaker 1: do UM, you know, wanted to imagine a car. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of other places might say, oh, put
Speaker 1: the logos and put put you know, there are are
Speaker 1: our film artwork on top of the car. They're like no, no, no.
Speaker 1: If they had a vibranium tank in the background, three
Speaker 1: D paint imaging coming off the hood. So it's you know,
Speaker 1: again Darda's wanting to play the soundtrack on on that's
Speaker 1: not traditional. So it's being flexible UM And and that's
Speaker 1: where you're going to get fans to get excited because
Speaker 1: they're going to see something different, but it's going to
Speaker 1: feel connected and and to go back to part of
Speaker 1: your question, UM just a minute ago, you know, avoiding
Speaker 1: that logo prede also avoiding you know, the twelve of
Speaker 1: the fifteen partners. I think a lot of people make
Speaker 1: the mistake that UM quantity over quality and and and partnerships.
Speaker 1: That can be a real mistake. It's a mistake because
Speaker 1: it's not done well usually and they are usually just
Speaker 1: using the bank of assets UM, and I think there's
Speaker 1: not as much flexibility to be able to create that
Speaker 1: magic within those campaigns. And quite frankly, brands hate it.
Speaker 1: You know, that's one of the things that they're getting
Speaker 1: smarter about their coming in And it's the same with
Speaker 1: the ventures. It was one of the first questions I
Speaker 1: got asked when I was talking to people that are like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: this is the biggest movie of the century. Let's be clear.
Speaker 1: You know, we know that this is your big one.
Speaker 1: You ten years we've been leading up to this moment.
Speaker 1: You know, the next two films back to back. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you have what partners you know? And the answers no, UM,
Speaker 1: we want the right partners. We want to be able
Speaker 1: to tell the right story. So each partner has a
Speaker 1: different position, whether it's an audience driver, a story driver,
Speaker 1: a character driver, UM, or something that's just really super
Speaker 1: fun and pop culture. And with regard to partnerships for
Speaker 1: big franchises like The Avengers, you at the place now
Speaker 1: where a Marvel has to think of this more than
Speaker 1: one movie at a time, that you're signing up a
Speaker 1: brand for a three picture deal, just like a talent,
Speaker 1: you can be yes, I mean I would go back
Speaker 1: to Audi as an example. Audi obviously, UM has been
Speaker 1: in the Marvel family for for some time. You know,
Speaker 1: Magic was created with the Tony Stark iron Man character
Speaker 1: back in you know, two thousand and whatever it was
Speaker 1: and not getting my ear right, UM, But so for them,
Speaker 1: they've been been been with the family. But I do
Speaker 1: think it's important, um again to keep a periscope up
Speaker 1: and really you know, figure out what is happening out
Speaker 1: in the landscape. UM, what are people, what are audiences
Speaker 1: gravitating towards? And that includes you know, brands, platforms, ways
Speaker 1: that we're you know, doing things, whether it's experiential or
Speaker 1: PR or or or digital or mobile effort. And so
Speaker 1: I think you have to have a periscope up and
Speaker 1: you have to be able to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: looking as we're introducing new characters and new worlds like Guardians, right,
Speaker 1: or Black Panther or Doctor Strange. Um, those are outside
Speaker 1: of the core six avengers. UM. I think you want
Speaker 1: to look at what brands are right. So yes, occasionally
Speaker 1: we'll have brands that will want to sign up for
Speaker 1: multiple picture because they want to tap into the franchise
Speaker 1: and they want to build it. And it's hard. Right
Speaker 1: when brands turn on that engine and and commit to
Speaker 1: that level of support, whether it's in the form of
Speaker 1: television and digital media and um, whatever is happening from
Speaker 1: a retail or a location brick and mortar perspective, that's
Speaker 1: a lot for their organization to take on. And so
Speaker 1: they want they want to amplify it, they want to
Speaker 1: they want to extend their legs. So, yes, it is
Speaker 1: happening more and more. Um. But I would say we
Speaker 1: always want to be careful. It's it's not about just
Speaker 1: oh great, I've got somebody signed up for the next
Speaker 1: three years or three pictures checkbox. It is is that
Speaker 1: the right brand to do it one last question in
Speaker 1: the year eighteen or there's still brands out there that
Speaker 1: don't quite get it when it comes to partnerships that
Speaker 1: still want to stick to the tried and true billboards
Speaker 1: and thirty second spots where you have to be in
Speaker 1: the position to evangelize the value of these things. I think, UM,
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's it's whether brands don't get it.
Speaker 1: And I would never call anybody else specifically. What I
Speaker 1: would say is what's gotten difficult in this day and
Speaker 1: age when you have a saturated market with Facebook and Snapchat,
Speaker 1: on Instagram and all these other things in YouTube, and
Speaker 1: now you have influencers. Brands are looking at ways UM
Speaker 1: to make sure that they're relevant on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: right and UM two as I mentioned, to turn on
Speaker 1: the engine of all of their individual disciplines to point
Speaker 1: to something, whether it's for a product launch or just
Speaker 1: a co branded message. UM. That's a lot for an
Speaker 1: internal organization. So it's become harder, I think to convince
Speaker 1: an organization. UM. And when it happens, it's magic and
Speaker 1: they turn it. They turn all that firepower on. But
Speaker 1: I would say brands are looking at other platforms. The
Speaker 1: marketplace has become saturated as far as the type of partnership. So, um,
Speaker 1: if you can't offer, which luckily we can, where I
Speaker 1: can say, I can work with you in a film window,
Speaker 1: I can work with you in between. I can work
Speaker 1: with you in home entertainment. I can work with you
Speaker 1: on a film, on a television show, a video game,
Speaker 1: or I can create digital content, co branded content, a series,
Speaker 1: snack able, whatever it may be. I can reach a
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty one million of our fans that aren't
Speaker 1: live across those social platforms. That is the point of difference.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately not all of my fearless competitors can say that,
Speaker 1: but I think it's it's being able to offer those
Speaker 1: particular things keeps brands in the game. That's a good
Speaker 1: note to end on. Thank you many of your time.
Speaker 1: Well that's another installment of Strictly Business next week. Catch
Speaker 1: me as I talk with Instagram's Charles Porch. You don't
Speaker 1: want to miss it.