The marketing machine that helped launch 2008's Iron Man is back and, according to an article in Variety, spending significant amounts of money to make Tony Stark a household name. Through Marvel and Paramount's promotional partners, which include Audi, LG Mobile, 7-Eleven, Dr. Pepper, Oracle and Burger King, the studios will spent a reported $80 million on TV, print, radio, in-theater and Internet marketing. In addition, with the additional cost of packaging, retail displays and comic book give-a-aways, that total is expected to exceed $100 million.
Along with the returning sponsors from the first film, Iron Man 2 has also picked up sponsorship from the Hershey Co.' Reese's brand, Royal Purple motor oil and Symantec's Norton software. After the amazing success of the first film, which earned $318 million domestically and another $267 million internationally, it's no big surprise that all most of the big name sponsors returned to promote the sequel.
"[Iron Man] was not a hugely recognized superhero character," said Bob Sabouni, senior VP of business development and promotions for Marvel Entertainment in a recent interview with Daily Variety. "These partners got the mystique of the Marvel brand the first time around and took their faith in that. They were pretty well rewarded and are now stepping up their game and creating even better programs."
The overall goal of these sponsors is to help Marvel and Paramount target their demographic audience and continue to bring new viewer into thearters on May 7, 2010.
"A lot of our partners have latched onto Tony and are doing campaigns around living the billionaire lifestyle," continued Sabouni. "They find Tony just as appealing as Iron Man.
With the film opening in less than a month, fans will have to keep their eyes peeled to catch all the promotional swag that will be rolling out for this highly-anticipated sequel.
