Disney Fires Marvel Marketing Division

[TheVileOne]

http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/disney-fires-marvels-marketing-department/

EXCLUSIVE: Everybody is trying to keep this secret. But I’ve learned that yesterday Disney canned Dana Precious, EVP of Worldwide Marketing for Marvel’s LA Studios (she had replaced Doug Finberg at the end of last summer); Jeffrey Stewart, VP of Worldwide Marketing (he’d been brought in by Dana); and Jodi Miller, Manager of Worldwide Marketing. That’s essentially Marvel’s entire marketing department. Marvel redundant jobs were on the line ever since Disney bought the publisher/studio in 2009. And the marketing department even more so this summer after Paramount released Thor and Captain America domestically and internationally, thus effectively ending that studio’s marketing and distribution of Marvel pictures. I’m told that on June 24th, Rob Steffens, who is Marvel Studios’ EVP Operations, met with all of the department at the Manhattan Beach offices in what was described as a “Disney Rules of the Road” meeting. He told staff that there would be no house-cleaning by the mouse, period, so they were not to fear for their jobs and flee en masse. So much for that promise.

The official line on why Marvel’s marketing team was let go is that Disney will be taking over that function and handling the releases of The Avengers and future Marvel movies themselves. In fact I’ve learned that Marvel will bring in someone in a “project management role”. But Kevin Feige’s continued supervision of all things Marvel should resolve any doubts by fanboys that Disney will screw around or screw up the comic book films. Insiders tell me that Precious and her team were not well-loved by Marvel bigwig Feige and other top execs at Marvel or by Disney and Paramount. (Some of the comments I heard today included: “Not up to or have the skill set to release this brand properly”… “Their job was to keep track of the people doing the real work”… “Paper pushers”… ”Would it have killed them to return an email?”… “Disney doesn’t need someone to cut its trailers”&#8230

Now Marvel staffers wonder whether the firings were really to avoid duplicating efforts with Disney or just petty vindictiveness. If it’s the latter, then jobs are safe. But if it’s the former, then any jobs redundant in terms of Disney’s infrastructure aren’t. Trying to reassure the Marvel folks, one insider tells me today, “If you do your job and are smart and understand the business, you shouldn’t worry.”

OK a few things that I think are worth addressing before flames and fears about THE SKY IS FALLING START. Disney are strong branders and marketers. Now will they do right by Marvel Studios and do a good job? We shall see. However, I don't think the campaign for say Captain America was nearly strong enough. Maybe Paramount got lazy because they knew Cap was the last one and they were ready to wipe their hands of it. They got their money, yadda yadda yadda. Regardless, I think the campaign for Cap was weak and could've been a lot better. The movie did under-perform. I think in such a competitive summer, the campaign for Cap just didn't reflect why the movie was good and after so many similar genre themed movies why this one was special and worth seeing.

I mean Thor didn't do as huge as say the Iron Man series, but it's international performance did pretty outstanding. I think the campaign for Thor was as good as expected and it had a lot of synergy between Avengers on Disney XD, Thor Tales of Asgard on DVD. But it also had a really easy summer spot in being the first weekend of May which is probably the best and most valuable spot to book for the summer movie season.

I think fanboys will start getting scared here and jump the gun and start saying things like Disney is taking over and spoiling the pot. Again let's just look at this with a cool head. Disney owns the company now. Disney is releasing the movies now. So obviously Disney will want to release and market the movies. It sucks that people lost their job, but their positions are redundant now that the Paramount relationship is officially over and movies will be released by Disney now.

Here is another thing to realize. This is a part of life. You won't always work at the same place your entire life. You work at a place you move on or you get let go. Some times it is out of your control and it is nothing personal. It is hard right now and it sucks for a lot of people, but again, don't lose hope and just move on. Even when you think you are with the love of your life and things don't work out, even that can happen. It's a part of life sometimes.

 

[Evan Drew]

Let me start by saying that I worked at Disneyland for 15 years and the BEST thing they do is reach market share. I have no doubt that Loki will be taking over all the Disney castles all over the world. They will reach an audience that doesn't yet know Disney now owns Marvel. The audience for anything Disney will be reached by this move and the established Marvel audience will not whither at all.

Cap's marketing was terrible. I live within shouting distance of Los Angeles and there were far fewer billboards for Cap than there were for Thor. It seems clear to me that Paramount knew they would be advertising for Disney if they put in the effort to market Cap.

I have my own issues about Disney, but marketing is the LAST thing that concerns me. I expected this, actually, as part of the purchase.

 

[Figs]

Great news!

 

[TheVileOne]

Good points Evan.

I was all around Disneyland since I went to D23 last weekend and I had a great time, though D23 was not the best organized event.

But yeah I was really disappointed with how the marketing for Cap turned out. I think if it was actually promoted it could've opened with $75-80 million.

 

[Marvel]

You guys nailed it. Paramount knew that their time was up and phoned in the marketing for Cap. Why help a franchise and a studio that is going to be the enemy from here on out? Paramount had skin in the game now but a percentage of Cap is nothing compared to all the Avenger films in the future. Marvel/Disney is now Paramount's chief foe.

Maybe Disney didn't like that certain people let Paramount phone it in all summer long? Sure Paramount spent money but did so contractually and did so in the best way to hurt the films of Marvel. That's a fact.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Good points Evan.

I was all around Disneyland since I went to D23 last weekend and I had a great time, though D23 was not the best organized event.

But yeah I was really disappointed with how the marketing for Cap turned out. I think if it was actually promoted it could've opened with $75-80 million.

Doubt it. Even with better promotion, there was just too much in theaters for people to choose for Captain America to have a higher opening. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was in it's second week and there was also Friends with Benefits, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Cars 2 in theaters still.

That's really been the biggest problem for these films this year. Just far too much competition that hurts the box office potential if they were given some room to breathe.

 

[MARVEL ROCKS]

Good points Evan.

I was all around Disneyland since I went to D23 last weekend and I had a great time, though D23 was not the best organized event.

But yeah I was really disappointed with how the marketing for Cap turned out. I think if it was actually promoted it could've opened with $75-80 million.

Sure.....what happened to the good WOM and great legs people were hoping on this forum? I mean BB had a weak opening, but had great legs. Let's face it some people just didn't like CAP either in America or overseas. I know many people who hated captain america for a variety of reasons. I disagree with them, but what can you do?

 

[nogap87]

I know I'm probably in the minority but I have no problem with Disney slowly taking over Marvel Studios. I hate to sound like a bitter fanboy but, after the first Iron Man, Marvel hasn't delivered anything particularly special with their movie offerings (though I really do like Loki). Disney knows this business better than anyone else, so more power to them. It's not like Marvel is batting 1000.

IMO, of course.

 

[The Morningstar]

The marketing for Cap was pretty poor.

 

[Casius--J]

Marketing for Cap was pretty good over here in Spain which is pretty surprising considering he's uh American lol.

But overall I thought Paramounts marketing has been pretty poor throughout, when I read this news on the front page I said good they were s**t anyway. Disney have had some strong marketing ideas in the past and I cant wait to see what they come up with for the Avengers.

 

[WarBlade]

Maybe Paramount got lazy because they knew Cap was the last one and they were ready to wipe their hands of it.

Highly unlikely. You're suggesting that a company geared towards putting out a product just not bother to put in the effort in getting it out there. That's basically making a concious decision not to make aim for a good profit potential, and that makes no sense.

The First Avenger did what it was going to do. Make a bit and play second fiddle to other films. Back when discussion arose about it outperforming Thor, I got barked at from all sides for stating that I didn't think it would be as successful. Apparently the character is "iconic" and a "household name" and so forth, but as I said back then, it just isn't. No amount of marketing is going to elevate CA to the lofty heights that people here were expecting.

Cap's marketing was terrible. I live within shouting distance of Los Angeles and there were far fewer billboards for Cap than there were for Thor.

Which is predictable. Advertising space has recently been dominated by Happy Potter, and with other films all vying for a spot you can bet that there has been limited space available. I suppose it's also possible that the saturated market might command a premium on advertising space, although that's just speculation.

 

[Silvermoth]

Poor guys. I feel sorry for them getting fired and they didn't deserve it. I'm terrified of that happening to me.

 

[Zant]

So Paramount are the bad guys now.Disney marketing might did not help Tron,Prince of Persia and Mars needs mums

 

[GhostPoet]

I don't see this has a bad thing at all. Disney has one of the best marketing teams in Hollywood.

 

[KangConquers]

Captain America should've done over 200 Million domestic on brand recognition alone; I'm not getting into a Thor vs. Cap fight, as both were good movies, but Cap is a more famous character, and should've done roughly an inversion of Thor's take (270 domestic, 180 foreign.)

Disney has wanted to create it's second pirates of the carribean franchise for about 3 years now; Prince of Persia and Tron both failed to do the trick, and it doesn't look like John Carter is going to either. I understand how Disney would want to be fully hands on for Avengers, which is a great opportunity for Disney to have another Billion dollar movie.

 

[KangConquers]

So Paramount are the bad guys now.Disney marketing might did not help Tron,Prince of Persia and Mars needs mums

All 3 were poorly received.

A Disney executive probably sees a movie like Captain America, which holds a roughly 80% approval rating on rotten tomatoes, and stars one of the biggest comic book characters ever, limping along at the box office, and they probably ask themselves "Why in the hell didn't this movie break 200 M?"

Hopefully we won't see major characters limping their way towards breaking even in the future.

 

[TheVileOne]

Highly unlikely. You're suggesting that a company geared towards putting out a product just not bother to put in the effort in getting it out there. That's basically making a conscious decision not to make aim for a good profit potential, and that makes no sense.

It doesn't make any sense but Hollywood is an insane business that makes odd decisions.

WarBlade, I point no further than the first X-Men movie and how Fox basically expected the movie to fail and only put minimum advertising dollars into it.

Also Spike TV and UFC. Ever since UFC started negotiating with other networks, Spike TV has sort of started acting like the jilted and divorced ex-wife. They haven't been promoting and advertising UFC nearly as much as they used to. In fact, during negotiations, when UFC had a live fight event on Versus, Spike TV on their channel put on a marathon of fights featuring one of the scheduled main eventers for the live UFC card.

 

[TheVileOne]

Doubt it. Even with better promotion, there was just too much in theaters for people to choose for Captain America to have a higher opening. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was in it's second week and there was also Friends with Benefits, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Cars 2 in theaters still.

That's really been the biggest problem for these films this year. Just far too much competition that hurts the box office potential if they were given some room to breathe.

Tangled did better against Harry Potter in its second weekend. Friends with Benefits did OK but wasn't exactly a huge hit. Cars 2 is a major disappointment and underperformer. I talked to Disney staff at D23 and one of them honestly admitted that the story sucked and went the wrong way.

There is always going to be heavy competition over the summer. This year was a little more heated, but it's not going to change really.

 

[nogap87]

Cap made as much money as it deserved, which is basically enough for a sequel. It wasn't a special effects extravaganza, it didn't have mind blowing action, and the only memorable thing about the villain was that his face looked like a skull.

I look forward to more Cap films but they are going to have to up their game in order to be considered a summer blockbuster. There is something wrong with your action movie when the only action you show in your commercials for several months is a bunch of dudes slowly busting through a door and firing off a couple of rounds.

 

[Gamma Ra]

While I hate to hear that some people lost their job do to merging or whatever...I'm glad Disney Marketing is taking over this part of Marvel Studios Entertainment. The marketing for TIH...wait was there any? SUCKED! and I wasn't impressed with Thor but especially Captain America. CA got a buzz going that was not capitalized on.

Hopefully this will be cause for bigger profits and more Marvel Studios movies.

 

[Raiden]

It's sad to see people losing their jobs, but as with any merger there will be some collateral damage involved, when similar departments from the two companies combined and consequently people will get fired.

 

[co2]

Hate to hear people losing their jobs, but that's buisness....and not necessarily a bad thing for fans. Disney knows how to market.

 

[Zant]

They do know how to market,but I am waiting to the BO results for Muppets and John Carter.Now that is a real test,unlike pirates pixar or Avengers.

 

[Rac]

Does this mean we get better posters? Imo, the final one sheets for Marvel Studios films have sucked. Except for IM1. That was a neat Rocketeer ripoff.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

This is not surprising at all as I can say from experience one of the things that are first looked at and are termed as synergies is who to let go. Marketing, accounting, etc. are jobs that are redundant and often people are let go once mutual forces are considerred.