I will also give access to my pearson for you to get quotations.
Read the case, “Black Panther Roars”, at the end of Chapter 16, pages 359-361 in your text.
Analyze the case following ALL the directions in the file “PR Case Studies Requirements” on the Course Content Page.
Remember your grade is based on your ability to demonstrate learning from this class. You MUST use quotes from a variety of chapters following all directions carefully.
Answer questions # 16.11 and 16.12 found on page 361 of your text.
Case Study: Black Panther Roars
Few superhero movies, or for that matter movies of any kind, have debuted as successfully as the Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther in 2018; the first such superhero movie to feature a nearly all-black cast.
Not only did the movie collect $1 billion in the first month, including opening to a record-shattering $242 million box office (bested only by the 2015 blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens), but it also became a cultural phenomenon, drawing the most diverse North American audience ever for a superhero film.
Black Panther’s success was also a tribute to the kind of savvy integrated marketing that was unknown when the first movie superhero took flight—literally!—in 1978
Impeccable Targeting, Timing
Black Panther’s marketing campaign aimed from the outset to serve discrete audiences with specific communications tactics. Among the most important targets were superhero fans, Marvel Comics’ fans (where Black Panther was featured), and empowered women and black moviegoers in particular.
Marvel’s marketing to the black community was particularly effective. Mountains of re-publicity focused on the uniqueness of the story’s hero, whose real name was T’Challa, who became king and protector of his people in the technologically advanced African country of Wakanda. T’Challa, aka Black Panther, was not only strong and powerful but wise, having received a doctoral degree in physics from prestigious Oxford University.
The combination of uniqueness and pride in the movie’s protagonist made most people forget that Black Panther was actually Marvel’s second black movie superhero; 20 years earlier in 1998, Wesley Snipes as Blade was really Marvel’s inaugural black superhero.
In terms of timing, the movie makers meticulously built up enthusiasm over a period of years, until reaching the fever pitch public opening in January 2018.
First came the announcement in 2016 that the acclaimed black director Ryan Coogler had signed on to direct the black superhero movie.
Months later, a star-studded African American cast was rolled out, including such significant names as Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Basset, and Forest Whitaker.
In January
Super-Serving Black Movie Goers
The key to the Disney-Marvel integrated marketing approach was building anticipation and support of the movie within the black community, not only in the United States, but also around the world.
Here, the initiative served as a multi-dimensional model for other studios and other businesses in winning credibility with a specific target market. The effort included:
Celebrating a heritage.
From the outset, Black Panther was marketed to mobilize a black grassroots movement unlike any other movie in history. The film was released during Black History Month. Black Panther’s T’Challa name is shared with the Black Panther political party of the 1970s. And the movie’s 2018 release date dovetailed with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement across the United States, as well as with the growing movement in Hollywood to more liberally open the entertainment business to minorities.
Supporting the community.
Community relations also weighed heavily on the Black Panther marketing initiative. Crowdfunding efforts sprang up to ensure that black children were exposed to the prideful film. The GoFundMe page for the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, for example, read, “This representation is truly fundamental for young people, especially those who are often underserved, unprivileged, and marginalized both nationally and globally.”
Celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres donated to the cause, and Disney also supported raising money for kids to see the movie by helpi
In every respect, then, from grassroots marketing to social media marketing, from target marketing to empowering minorities, Black Panther was the undisputed integrated marketing movie king.
