Dear readership,
It’s time to say goodbye. After all, all good things come to an end.
This brand audit was a challenge for us and sometimes, like our favorite superheroes, we had to face difficulties as Marvel and DC Comics are very diversified brands and some of our tools were unadapted to such giants (for example the Lovemarker model).
But it was a real pleasure to undertake this brand audit.
We much enjoyed it and we truly hope you did too!
If there is one thing to be said, it would probably be “Let the competition carry on”.
Marvel is for sure one step ahead but DC Comics has a sword!
The brand inventory part revealed very interesting information about both brands and allowed all of us to see a distinction. To sum up, we have been through the study/analysis of their brands elements, of their current marketing, communication, distribution and pricing programs, of their branding strategies (extensions, sub-brands, etc.), of their branding portfolio: architecture & archetypes, of competition and of their brand positioning notably via Keller and Jobber models.
As for the brand exploratory part, we got juicy details and in-depth insights. Besides, we would like to thank each person who agreed to share his or her opinions, feelings, beliefs. You were great! In retrospect, we have been through the study/analysis of their brand positioning from customers perception via Keller method, of their brand awareness and brand image (Lovemarker test, brand associations game, brand awareness survey), of customer knowledge via a perceptual map, of brand experience via the brand experience scale model and of the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) via the brand resonance model of Keller by identifying the sources of brand equity and by giving recommendations to grow it.
It is not a farewell, we would be back for new adventures, because as we promised you, we are the Skema BS Justice League, here to serve and protect you!
Yours sincerely,
Bat Laurie-Anne, Super Morgane, Wonder Elsa and Cat Julia
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Customer-Based Brand Equity models of our two competitors
Good evening all,
This is our last article... We really hope you enjoyed the journey so far!
Thanks to the previous analyses we undertook in this blog about Marvel and DC Comics' target market, segmentation, positioning, brand knowledge and so on, we can now build both brands’ resonance pyramids refering to Keller 's theory.
In term of breadth, this is the same problem for the two brands. It is quite weak. For instance, consumers go to the cinema because they want to be entertained. They can go there for a special movie they want to watch but they are not specifically paying attention to the companies holding the subbrands, except for demanding people. Marvel and DC Comics do not come to customers' mind very often and in many situations.
Our two competitors are both rational (performance + judgments) and emotional (imagery + feelings) but few things differienciate them from one to another. Regarding the performance dimension of the pyramid, DC Comics for example offers competitive prices. On the other side, Marvel is mainly focusing on team stories that consumers definitely enjoy and is making movies very often, which is also highly appreciated.
Those brands inspire nostalgia and excitment to customers. Moreover, their movies allow the public to feel many emotions such as sadness, happiness, humor, surprise...
Even if Marvel and DC Comics aren't lovemarks (theory of Kevin Roberts), they have a strong community and a fan database who is aware of every newness regarding movies, comics, products, co-branding actions and so on and this community is relatively well engaged and reactive in the social networks. Their main weakness lie in the brand awareness again as consumers do not always know well or know at all the wide range of products they propose and that we have chosen to study.
What about some recommendations to grow Marvel and DC Comics' brand equity?
Regarding DC Comics, and as said before, there is a real lack of brand awareness. Such as Marvel, DC Comics should use more its logo in all its activities and make it more visible in order to help customers understand what it is standing for and so that they can automatically associate it to the firm.
A good way for both brands to raise the knowledge of their products in customers' minds and to make people love them even more, could be the sellings of products in small places, as in pop-up stores, in cinemas when a Marvel or a DC Comics movie is in theater.
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| DC Comics Customer-Based Brand Equity model |
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| Marvel Customer-Based Brand Equity model |
You may wonder whether Marvel and DC Comics' positioning are perceived by the customers as they want to, in other words if the desired positioning matches or not with the perceived positioning?
Well, not exactly! One thing is really obvious: the target is not perceived the way Marvel and DC Comics desire to. In fact, according to the people we interviewed, both brands are targeting men from 20 to 30 years old, which is not the reality.
Marvel’s target market for comics is younger (13-23 years old) and DC Comics’ target market for comics is quite large (from 13 to 35 years old). And the target is wider regarding movies for both. But they are not targeting men only so there is a significant difference of positioning between the perceived one and the desired one from the companies. A good way to avoid it is to increase and promote the number of stories with women superheroes and to go deeper in the romance because adventure and action movies are not really appealling to housewives for example.
Yours faithfully,
By Super Morgane
My sources are in this blog.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
What experiences do Marvel and DC Comics provide to customers ?
Hey all !
We're back again with more knowledge...and fun !
Today, we're going to be talking about brand experience... But what is it ?
Brand experience is conceptualized as sensations, feelings, cognitions and behavioural responses.
We can distinguish several experience dimensions as Josko, Brakus, Schmitt, Zarantonello highlighted it:
The first one is sensory; both Marvel and DC Comics provide a sensorial experience. Indeed, thanks to the different products such as video games and comic books, there is a tactile experience. People reading the comic books and playing video games use their hands to either hold the book or the gamepad. Moreover, both Marvel and DC Comics provide a visual experience, for example when one goes to see a Spiderman or a Superman movie, as well as read a comic book or play a videogame.
If you look deeper and think about the cobranding DC Comics did with Oasis recently, you can add the taste and the sense of smell to the sensory experience. People are drinking Oasis while seeing DC Comics heros on the can.
Concerning emotions and affective, both brands provide emotions to the customers. When going to the movies, people are confronted to images that will induce emotions such as surprise, happiness, sadness, and anger …
Therefore, once you come out of the cinema after watching a movie either from Marvel (for example Spiderman) or DC Comics (Batman), you will experience certain behaviours. Indeed, children will want to buy a Spiderman or a Batman suit and walk about “POW”ing and “BAM”ing in the streets; adults will feel excited and most people usually make big movements, feel very powerful (at least a couple of minutes after coming out of the movies). There is a very specific sign most people do after watching a Spiderman movie, which is the hand sign to throw spider web like Spiderman does. Moreover, videogames tend to change user’s behaviour; on the short term, they will be more hyperactive, will scream or get annoyed at their screen…
Last but not least, intellectual experience is another dimension of the brand experience scale; people will become customers of several brands that have a partnership with Marvel or DC Comics. In the fashion business, Marvel and DC Comics influence brands (Marvel x Vans or DC Comics x Berluti). It also influences children, who will discover these brands, their superheroes, and will still be watching movies or loving Marvel and DC Comics even when they grow up, as adults. Moreover, it teaches younger children about good and evil, about heroes and villains.
To find more information about the Brand Experience Scale, please find the links below which have helped me to make this analysis !
> Developement of the brand experience scale, BH Schmitt, JJ Brakus (Advances in customer research, 2007, acrwebsite.org)
> Using the brand experience scale to profile consumers and predict consumer behaviour, L Zarantonello, BH Schmitt (Journal of Brand Management, 2010, palgrave-journals.com)
> Experiential Marketing: How to get consumers to sense, feel, think, act, relate. BH Schmitt, 1999
> http://editioncollector.fr/films/des-canettes-collector-oasis-super-heros.htlm
Thank you for reading guys !
By Cat Julia
We're back again with more knowledge...and fun !
Today, we're going to be talking about brand experience... But what is it ?
Brand experience is conceptualized as sensations, feelings, cognitions and behavioural responses.
We can distinguish several experience dimensions as Josko, Brakus, Schmitt, Zarantonello highlighted it:
- Sensory
- Affective
- Behavioural
- Intellectual
The first one is sensory; both Marvel and DC Comics provide a sensorial experience. Indeed, thanks to the different products such as video games and comic books, there is a tactile experience. People reading the comic books and playing video games use their hands to either hold the book or the gamepad. Moreover, both Marvel and DC Comics provide a visual experience, for example when one goes to see a Spiderman or a Superman movie, as well as read a comic book or play a videogame.
If you look deeper and think about the cobranding DC Comics did with Oasis recently, you can add the taste and the sense of smell to the sensory experience. People are drinking Oasis while seeing DC Comics heros on the can.
Concerning emotions and affective, both brands provide emotions to the customers. When going to the movies, people are confronted to images that will induce emotions such as surprise, happiness, sadness, and anger …
Therefore, once you come out of the cinema after watching a movie either from Marvel (for example Spiderman) or DC Comics (Batman), you will experience certain behaviours. Indeed, children will want to buy a Spiderman or a Batman suit and walk about “POW”ing and “BAM”ing in the streets; adults will feel excited and most people usually make big movements, feel very powerful (at least a couple of minutes after coming out of the movies). There is a very specific sign most people do after watching a Spiderman movie, which is the hand sign to throw spider web like Spiderman does. Moreover, videogames tend to change user’s behaviour; on the short term, they will be more hyperactive, will scream or get annoyed at their screen…
Last but not least, intellectual experience is another dimension of the brand experience scale; people will become customers of several brands that have a partnership with Marvel or DC Comics. In the fashion business, Marvel and DC Comics influence brands (Marvel x Vans or DC Comics x Berluti). It also influences children, who will discover these brands, their superheroes, and will still be watching movies or loving Marvel and DC Comics even when they grow up, as adults. Moreover, it teaches younger children about good and evil, about heroes and villains.
To find more information about the Brand Experience Scale, please find the links below which have helped me to make this analysis !
> Developement of the brand experience scale, BH Schmitt, JJ Brakus (Advances in customer research, 2007, acrwebsite.org)
> Using the brand experience scale to profile consumers and predict consumer behaviour, L Zarantonello, BH Schmitt (Journal of Brand Management, 2010, palgrave-journals.com)
> Experiential Marketing: How to get consumers to sense, feel, think, act, relate. BH Schmitt, 1999
> http://editioncollector.fr/films/des-canettes-collector-oasis-super-heros.htlm
Thank you for reading guys !
By Cat Julia
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