DC
Entertainment is the largest and most diverse English language
publisher of comic books in the world. Founded in1934, the company that
would one day become DC Entertainment was actually born as National
Allied Publications. It virtually created the comic book, publishing the
first comic of all original material. Then, in the spring of 1938, the
first super hero story appeared in ActionComics #1,
introducing Superman. Other soon-to-be icons would follow, including
Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and many others. Today,
DC Entertainment publishes more than 80 titles a month and close to 1000
issues a year. Since DC brands and trademarks directly stem from
fictional characters they naturally acquired some of their
characteristics that are soappealing to the targeted audience of each
character and manage to display them in a wide range of official
merchandise positioning itself as part of a specific fictional universe.
In this context, it seems obvious that Batman qualifies as a
personality brand.
At
this point you are most likely wondering what on earth the link between
the two first paragraphs might be.Well here we go. Using
Jennifer L. Aaker’s work about brand personality, one can identify
Batman as an effective personality brand that relies on excitement
because it is daring, spirited and it belongs to a whole – fictional –
universe in consumers’ minds.
Aaker’s
analysis provides us with a useful tool to assess Batman’s brand
identity. Indeed, as a well-managed, personality-driven brand, Batman is
branded and therefore positioned through a tri-dimensional strategy:
- Communication (to make the brand recognizable and visible),
- Competitive Advantage (to make the brand unique),
- Relationship (to create emotional bonds between the brand and the consumers).
The
three aforementioned dimensions are present in all Batman products and
because they are consistent with the values of the brand Batman (see
article “An Overview Of Batman’s Values”),
they make it possible to build equity at different hierarchy levels:
company brand level, family brand level and individual brand level.
In
other words, to try and make it simple, Batman as a brand can be
applied to a wide range of product categories simultaneously and still
be consistent with its identity and its values. This ability is a
“personal trait” of Batman Trademark. At the same time, each new movie
can be marketed as an individual brand which makes it possible to
customize the brand at the individual level as well as all its
supporting marketing activities to meet the needs of a specific customer
group. For instance, The Dark Knight uses a different logo, different
gadgets and has a different style from the ones featured in previous
Batman movies.
Batman
has developed such a strong personality as a brand that consistency
between brand values, products and marketing activities can no longer be
a problem. The personal traits of Batman make him a likeable character
and a likeable brand for a growing audience,thanks to a wise brand
management through communication (presence of the logo on everything),
competitive advantage (he is the only super hero who has no other power
than his human intelligence and physical force, which allows the public
to identify to him) and relationship (organization of events at
comicon). Since Batman has such a key positioning via his brand
identity, he is like no other character and his uniqueness attracts more
customers who, otherwise, would be interested in another character if
at all.
