Okay, so other movie companies should take note of the marketing for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
When it comes to any upcoming Marvel movie, I’m sure most of the time, you will be surrounded by marketing in many different ways. Whether it’s the new Avengers films coming out in a few years or some other big-named franchise like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, we are going to get bombarded by commercials, posters, and the like.
However, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has taken it a step further with its marketing, more than any other Marvel film that I can think of. For the press, the releases are often typed up in a vintage 1960s typewriter format, which is impressive. But for the public? Gosh, it’s been so fun.
The marketing is making this team feel like a brand in their universe in a unique way that we haven’t seen in many other Marvel films. Like, take this magazine cover that is an advertisement for the movie and features The Thing, of all people, on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine (via DiscussingFilm):
That is so creative and I love it! Or, the fact that somehow, this movie has a partnership with Zillow, of all companies, and that you are physically able to see the Baxter Building from the movie – no, seriously, check it out right here!
The amount of work that has gone into this campaign is on a whole new level.
Look, the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been anticipated for years at this point.
It feels like Marvel can never quite get this story right, but it seems like all the cards have fallen into place with this casting and story — even if John Malkovich’s character was unfortunately cut – and many fans are going to see this film.
But this marketing makes it so much more anticipated. The fact that Marvel is allocating significant funds for this movie and forming these partnerships speaks volumes to the support they have for this film.
People wonder why movies like Elio have horrible box offices, and I think it’s because they often stick to the age-old tale of putting a trailer before a YouTube video or on TV and relying on word of mouth. That may not be enough these days.
If you want a film to hit it big, you have to think outside the box. People can skip ads now. A lot of young people don’t have a cable subscription nowadays, which means there have to be new ways to stand out. And this? This is beyond that.
This is on the level for the Barbie marketing team. Close to the Wicked marketing pink-and-green team that was everywhere in November 2024. This is excellent marketing, and I would love to see many more movie companies adopting a similar approach.
I, for one, can’t wait to see The Fantastic Four: First Steps. And if you don’t mind, I’m going to go check out the Baxter Building just for fun.
