DC's Revamped Plan To Compete Against Marvel

+ Drift, Privy, and Exit Five with Dave Gerhardt

Author

Andy McCotter-Bicknell
February 01, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Imagine competing against Marvel.

Their cinematic universe is the 7th highest-grossing franchise of all time. Revenues are $40.8B despite being established only in 2008.

Meanwhile, DC's Extended Universe have made misstep after misstep since its 2013 inception.

  • Underperforming box office

  • Inconsistent executive leadership

  • Core cast of heroes leaving their roles (e.g. Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in '18)

But why? A franchise with the likes of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash should be a home run.

Hell, Marvel raked in $1B+ at the box office with Ant Man 1 and 2, alone. How hard could this be?

Pretty hard apparently.

Now, I could try to play movie critic and explain why the DCEU failed. But I only have like an hour before I'm supposed to meet my team at karaoke. So I'll cut to the chase.

The reason why I'm writing about this instead of B2B tech is because of a video that was posted by the new co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn. ​

Gunn only joined DC Studios last month, but already I'm seeing some promise for DC fans. Here's what I saw in the video:

  • Differentiator: No massive presentation at Comic-Con like we're used to seeing from Marvel. This is just James Gunn speaking to the camera. His excitement and passion for leading this project is palpable.

  • Differentiator: There are plans for a connected universe ("DCEU") & films OUTSIDE of that connected universe ("DC Elsewhere")

  • Differentiator: The DCEU will move in and out of animation and have the same actors play their respective characters through both mediums.

  • Differentiator: When describing movies that AREN'T name brands (e.g. Batman, Superman, etc.), he compares the projects with other well-known media like True Detective and Game of Thrones.

TLDR: he's not trying to replicate Marvel. He's doing something different. In fact, he says this TWICE in the video:

  • At the 5:18 mark: "I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something that's very different."

  • At the 5:43 mark: "I want to give you something truly different from what you've seen before"

I got fired up from watching the video. And I'm not even a massive Marvel or DC fan. But I love a good underdog story and this video tells me that there's hope. I'm rooting for them.

Drift, Privy, and Exit Five with Dave Gerhardt

Really stoked to get this interview out. I've followed Dave for years and have learned a lot from his LinkedIn posts, podcasts, and his community Exit Five.

Interviewing him was one of those weird moments where I felt like I knew him despite never speaking with him in person.

Hope I didn't come off as a creep 😂

Let me know what you think of the episode. We talked about category creation, how his competitive messaging differed between Drift and Privy, and we also dove into some other topics that I had never heard him talk about on other podcasts.

What’s Happening Now

This post from Brendan Gahan was really interesting. He broke down how Prime, the sports drink led by Logan Paul, has sold 100M units and is now the 6th-largest brand in its category. They signed a multi-year deal with UFC, replacing Coca-Cola's BODYARMOR.​

"On a long enough timeline, a lot of traditional brands will wind up getting replaced by creator-owned and operated companies. Community is the competitive moat now, and creators are much better at community than most brands."

Brendan Gahan

Fascinating. Take a look at the post and the article he shared here.

Advice From The Community

Whenever you're ready, join the Healthy Competition community where we exchange 1,000+ messages per month about Competitive Intel and Product Marketing best practices. Join here.​

Alrighty, time to go meet my team at karaoke. Have a great rest of your week 💚

-Andy