Right out of the gate they told you “this might not be the best idea.” That may have been exactly the right tone to take with the PR for Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
One of the biggest hurdles any comic book movie faces is attracting non-fans to the theaters. Marvel has scored well in this regard in recent years. But, is it enough for them to take the biggest risk yet? Betting the farm – or at least a big budget movie – on a little known comic book about an even lesser-known team of cosmic outlaws turned anti-heroes. They may have been better off making (another) Firefly movie.
But, Marvel chose Guardians. And, in what Ronn Torossian calls an incredible acute sense of reality, the folks at Marvel approached marketing for the movie in exactly the right way. The trailers, including the latest one released about a week ago, are irreverent, self-critical and the perfect mix of stunning graphics, fun adventure, and silliness. Just like the source material.
In giving the marketing a tone very similar to the approach of the source material is attracting the right core base of fans while also creating enough buy-in points for tire kickers. And, the mixture of eye-catching visuals, limited but punchy dialogue, and the sing-along-song soundtrack has all the hallmarks of a surprise summer blockbuster.
Guardians may not be the be best idea Marvel has had recently, but they decided to do it anyway … and once they decided to, they fully committed to do the best Guardians movie they could do. And that might prove to be the best decision after all.
About Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian is the Founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations. He is an experienced leader in the public relations industry with over 20 years of experience. Ronn Torossian has been named as Public Relations executive of the year by the American Business Awards, and has run countless award-winning Public Relations programs.