“Marvel Mania” celebrates its fifth anniversary with global activations and epic point-of-sale celebrations
Back is ‘Marvel Mania’, the retail operation that celebrates the Marvel world by offering children, families and fans new ways to wear, collect and play with Earth’s most powerful superheroes. Now in its fifth year, ‘Marvel Mania’ – the only campaign that brings together all Marvel superheroes – offers an extraordinary array of activations in global retail stores, new content launches and products that will be on the wish list of fans of all ages. It will begin in Europe in August with the Marvel-sponsored ‘Superhero Series’ sports challenge in the UK, and will continue with a large number of global activities taking place until October.
“What began as a retail campaign in the United States has grown into an international celebration involving a wide range of retail stores, with support worldwide from over a hundred global licensees,” said Paul Gitter, Senior Vice President of Marvel Licensing. “The success of ‘Marvel Mania’ is a testament to the strength, energy and diversity that our characters represent on screen and beyond, with fantastic products and experiences.
Sponsored by Marvel, the ‘Superhero Series’ is the UK’s largest interactive sporting event dedicated to the nation’s 13.3 million people with disabilities. Six families, whose teams will be captained by as many celebrities, will take part in a special Channel 4 television programme sponsored by shopDisney.com, aired on 15 August, where they will take part in this year’s ‘At Home Superheroes’ challenge. Marvel will support this initiative by bringing the energy of its iconic superheroes into participants’ homes and neighborhoods through downloadable games and more, to help participants feel like real superheroes.
In Mexico, Marvel will announce an exciting collaboration with a sporting and cultural phenomenon in October, and in the U.S., shopDisney.com will host an epic month-long ‘Marvel Mania’ collector’s event featuring exciting Marvel-themed products, content, accessories and apparel. In the fall, Marvel’s ‘Find Your Power’ campaign in China will be launched, with additional touch points in retail stores in the Asia-Pacific region, new product offerings and multiple consumer activations continuing throughout 2021. In Japan, the exhibition ‘A Universe of Heroes’, celebrating the Marvel Film Universe, will take place in Osaka from August 10 to November 23 with limited edition products that will be sold exclusively at the exhibition, including BEAMS Marvel T-shirts designed by three local artists.
Marvel Mania’ will be supported by strong merchandising programs in major European retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s Argos, Smyths, ASDA, Amazon and Carrefour as well as Disney and Disney Store. In the United States, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Kohl’s, Hot Topic, Box Lunch, FYE, Party City, Walgreen’s and Books-A-Million will all take part. Fans in Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East can count on a line-up of Marvel campaigns from now until November, in the most important online retail stores and major e-commerce platforms in the region, such as Lazada, Shopee, Flipkart and Amazon. These campaigns will make the latest Marvel products available online, from the Hasbro and LEGO lines most loved by children, to MINISO’s refined, all-pocket household items that will add a touch of “power” to any home and living space. Finally, Latin America completes the program with the support of El Palacio de Hierro, Walmart and Marathon. All the retail stores participating in the initiative will present exclusive promotions and special offers marked ‘Marvel Mania’.
In addition, an extraordinary amount of merchandise belonging to different categories, including video games, publishing, clothing, accessories, toys and much more, will give children, families and fans the largest, most extensive and varied line of merchandise ever.
