Customer-Based Brand Equity Analysis of Marvel Comics: A Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marvel Comics using the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model. It begins with a brief overview of Marvel Comics, its consumers, and its competitive landscape. The core of the report evaluates Marvel Comics across the six dimensions of the CBBE model: salience, performance, imagery, judgments, feelings, and resonance. Each dimension is assessed from the consumer's perspective, highlighting the brand's strengths and weaknesses. The analysis includes discussions on brand awareness, the appeal of superhero narratives, and consumer emotional connections. Based on the evaluation, the report offers recommendations on how Marvel Comics can maintain and develop strong CBBE components, and strategies to address and improve weaker areas, such as enhancing emotional connection with the brand. The report concludes with a bibliography of cited sources.

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MARVEL COMICS: CBBE MODEL

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About Marvel comics-
Marvel comics is the print technology of marvel worldwide which came into existence in 1939 in
United States. The parent company of Marvel comics is Disney. The comics was created by
Martin Goodman that focused on the marvel characters that include superman, batman, green
arrow, and wonder woman. One of the toughest competitors of marvel comics is DC comics
(Beuk, 2016).
Consumers of the brand-
Originally, Marvel comics targeted the children, young adults and especially males as it was
more confined towards action and superheroes. Among young male population, it targeted the
children who loved Sci-fi drama and were nerdy in nature. As the comics depicted the
superheroes fighting the bad boys, it caught the fantasy of many young boys who wanted to be
like their superheroes. The bright colored comic book with attractive characters caught the
fantasy of the many kids including girls. With time, many changes took place such as
incorporation of the female superheroes that included wonder woman that had all the charters
tics of woman but with special super power (Escobar-Rodríguez, 2017). Such female super
power caught the fantasy of female audience thus targeting the larger base of consumers among
young adults.
Salience-
There is high degree of customer salience towards the Marvel comics as they are able to
recognize the brand because of their high visibility. The movies related to the marvels always
highlight the name of the characters and their origination. For example , Avengers by Marvel,
and captain America by Marvel. Moreover, there is increased awareness of the Marvel comics
among the target audience because marvel consists of various entertainment types which also
include movies. According various popular estimates, the brand awareness of the brand is 100
percentage while it is of high priority for the 70 percentage section of the society.
Performance –
The performance of the brand Marvel comics in the eyes of the target segment is considered
good as the brand is able to provide with the exciting and thrilling stories to the target segment .

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Moreover, it is capable of instilling in them the heroic attitude to fight against all adversities. In
some cases, it is the stories in the Marvel comics that attract target segment towards the Disney
brands and other entertainment products or services. The performance of the Marvel comics is
considered satisfactory to some extent (Lloyd, 2010).
Imagery-
The marvel comics are targeted towards the young target segment in the age group of 13 to 25
years. The consumers’ imagery for Marvel comics is an empowering one where they consist the
Marvel comics full of bold characters who are superman and superwoman who all went on to
conquer the bad. The Consumers of the comics consider the magazine as powerful and full of
adventures or thrills. The brand image fits the consumer image as the comics is filled with the
adventures stories of Marvel where the superheroes are the great fighters and fight until they
triumph over the bad (Siamagka, 2015).
Judgments-
The brand fulfills the promises of the target segments by making them available with the exciting
and attractive magazines where the superheroes are creatively discussed. In the Marvel comics,
the excitement and thrill to the audience was provided that helped the brand achieve the
consumer imagery. The brand has been successful in creatively conveying the stories to the
target segment that incited great interest and understanding among the target audience. The brand
gave extra value when compared with DC comics as its characters were more creatively
portrayed and were more attractive to the target audience as the high-level of boldness was
depicted in them (Sun, Yoo, Park, & Hayati, 2019).
Feelings-
The consumer feel connected with the brand as their emotions are being valued through these
characters. On seeing the brand name and its stories, the younger generation feels more
connected with the message provided in the stories. Moreover, they feel the sense of attachment
with the characters displayed in the comics. They are able to recognize themselves with the
issues in a more effective manner (Escobar-Rodríguez, 2017). Although there is good level of

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connected with the characters of comics but it is less when compared with the marvel movie
characters. Marvel movie characters play bigger role in the life of the target segment.
Resonance-
The consumers feel high degree of resonance with the brand as they target the consumers’ image
of the brand. The younger generations of the brand are able to resonate with it due to the
message of thrill provided to them. The younger generations are able to get its message in the
best possible manner. In the target segment especially the male audience are able to resonate
more with brand due to the high level of fights and boldness displayed in it. The target segment
will be loyal to the brand to some extent as they will be able to recognize itself with it (Escobar-
Rodríguez, 2017).
Analyses and evaluation
Based on the above evaluation, Marvel comics is able to maintain its good brand positioning by
conveying the message of heroism to the younger generation in the most creative way.
Moreover, it sticks towards its brand positioning of strong and tough characters that fight
against all the odds. The other ways its maintains its Strong CBBE components is through
aggressive advertisement through Marvel movies where they advertise the Marvel comics brand
thus building the good brand awareness among them. It has also tired developing the feelings for
the brands through creative advertisement on children’s televisions.
Some of the weak areas of CBBE component is Feelings as the younger generation tend to be
more focused towards Marvel Movies than Marvel comics. In other words, there is lack of
excitement among the children among the Marvel Comics. The component can be improved by
communicating creatively to the younger generation about the message of importance of reading
Marvel comics thus making them more attached towards its.
Bibliography
Beuk, F. (2016). Sales simulation games: Student and instructor perceptions. Journal of
Marketing Education , 38 (3), 170-182.

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Escobar-Rodríguez, T. (2017). Facebook practices for business communication among fashion
retailers. . Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal , 33-50.
Lloyd, A. E. (2010). The devil wears Prada or Zara: A revelation into customer perceived value
of luxury and mass fashion brands. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing , 1 (3), 129-141.
Pera, R. G. (2016). Who am I? How compelling self-storytelling builds digital personal
reputation. Journal of Interactive Marketing , 44-55.
Siamagka, N. T. (2015). Revisiting consumer ethnocentrism: review, reconceptualization, and
empirical testing. Journal of International Marketing , 66-86.
Sun, J., Yoo, S., Park, J., & Hayati, B. (2019). Indulgence versus restraint: The moderating role
of cultural differences on the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate
financial performance. Journal of Global Marketing , 83-92.