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Look - Up in the Sky!
Product Placement!
By BRIAN STEINBERG
April 18, 2006; Page B1
Superheroes like Superman and Spider-Man can save mankind from natural
disasters, space aliens and evil mutants. But there's one thing they are
powerless to stop: Advertisers shilling products within the pages of the
comic books they call home.
In July, Time Warner Inc.'s DC Comics, home to characters such as Batman
and Aquaman, is launching "Rush City," a six-part miniseries that boasts
visible promotional support from General Motors Corp.'s Pontiac. As part
of the series, a new hero known as "The Rush" will be prominently featured
driving a Pontiac Solstice in the comic book. "The car will be as
essential to the character as the Aston Martin was to James Bond," says
David McKillips, vice president of advertising and custom publishing for
DC Comics.
Over the past few months, Marvel Entertainment Inc. has begun putting the
"swoosh" logo from Nike Inc. in the scenes of some of its titles, such as
"New X-Men." So far, the emblem has appeared on a car door and on a
character's T-shirt. "We are always looking for new and interesting ways
of connecting with our consumers," says Nate Tobecksen, a Nike spokesman.
"This is certainly one of them."
Last week, DaimlerChrysler AG's Dodge finalized an ad pact that will
include product placements in Marvel comics. Marvel, home of Spider-Man,
Captain America and Sub-Mariner, may feature Dodge's new car, the Caliber,
in the books' cityscapes, including on billboards, T-shirts or signs over
the next four to eight months, Joe Maimone, Marvel's advertising director,
says.
Both Pontiac and Dodge are getting the product placements deals as part of
larger ad buys. The two car companies are purchasing print ads as well -
the first time either auto maker has taken out an ad in a comic book.
Product placement has become commonplace in movies and TV shows. Now it's
coming to comic books - in part because the industry's two giants, DC and
Marvel, are promoting some of their titles as places to reach one of
Madison Avenue's most elusive audiences: guys in their 20s. Notoriously
hard to reach, young adult males are known to be wary of traditional sales
pitches, especially ones that get in the way of their entertainment. "It's
the kind of audience that is harder and harder and harder to get to," says
Dino Bernacchi, advertising manager for Pontiac.
A casual reader might miss some of the new comic-book product placements,
which are meant to be part of the artwork. "When Spider-Man flies through
Times Square, you don't necessarily have to draw" the signs that are there
in real life, says Marvel's Mr. Maimone. "We can pretty much put anything
we want, as long as it's organic and not forced." DC's Mr. McKillips says
Pontiac will not have direct editorial oversight of the comic and its main
character. "We're not seeking their approval on everything, and they trust
us," he says. A Pontiac spokesman says the company is not involved in the
creative process.
Comic books have long carried some print ads, and they typically had a
youthful bent, with ads for toy soldiers, x-ray glasses and mail-order Sea
Monkeys. More recent ads hawked acne medications, videogames and chewing
gum.
Lately, readers of comic books have gotten older. On Madison Avenue,
"there is a large misunderstanding of who is reading these titles and what
they are paying attention to," says Pontiac's Mr. Bernacchi. The genre
suffered a slump beginning in the early 1990s that lasted until the first
Spider-Man movie was released in 2002, says Gordon Hodge, who follows the
business for Thomas Weisel Partners. In that time, fans who kept buying
the books have grown older, now reaching into their 20s and 30s. A recent
wave of hit films featuring comic-book heroes has gotten consumers,
including older ones, interested in comic books again. Mr. Hodge estimates
the comic-book market is worth about $400 million to $450 million, with
Marvel controlling about 37% and DC capturing around 33%.
DC and Marvel are both burnishing "networks" of titles that appeal to male
readers between the ages of 18 and 34. Marvel's Mr. Maimone says the
comics titles are competing with "laddie" magazines such as Emap PLC's FHM
or Dennis Publishing's Maxim and Stuff.
Comic books for the older set contain grittier storylines about
superheroes with distinct character flaws. Batman these days exhibits
paranoid tendencies, even going so far as to construct a satellite to keep
tabs on his caped associates. Green Arrow, an archer in an emerald costume
who once shot trick arrows with boxing gloves instead of sharp tips,
recently used a real arrow to stab a villain in the eye. (To be fair, the
criminal was already blind in that socket.)
DC's Mr. McKillips says he hopes to bring in other advertisers seeking an
older male. "You're going to see this year a lot more health and beauty
care, shaving cream, razors, alongside the automotive," he says.
Weaving products into comics is not entirely new. DC says in the 1960s it
produced comic-book series based on toys such as Captain Action or Hot
Wheels, in response to advertiser relationships. The new auto-maker ads
will be less overt.
Nonetheless, the product placements, which still aren't widely known, have
some fans seeing red. Such ads "taint the experience," says Chuck
Rozanski, founder of Mile High Comics, a Denver comics retailer. "The
comic environment is designed to take you away from reality for a moment,"
he says. "Here we are thrusting offensive marketing products from our
world into this fantasy world."
The big concern among comics aficionados seems to be whether the drawings
of the products will obscure the dialogue and pictures. Laverne Mann, a
Ewing, N.J., librarian who has read comics for years, hopes the books
won't look "like the comic is being bought by the product," with a logo or
drawing of a soda can obscuring the art. Something that takes attention
away from the story would be "like a pop-up ad," says Rebecca Sutherland
Borah, an associate professor of English at the University of Cincinnati
who has studied comics. "I want to see all the art and words I can get."
Others see the placement as the lesser of two evils, still better than
having big display ads inside the comic books. "Anything they can do to
put it in front of the person in the mainline of reading is going to be a
good thing," says Tommy King, who sells comics at Tales Resold in Raleigh,
N.C.
Write to Brian Steinberg at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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