And now you know: Marvel Comics

Forbes is een economisch/geldgerelateerd magazine uit de States en af en toe hebben ze best leuke artikelen, zoals het rags to riches verhaal van Marvel Comics. In dit interview met Peter Cuneo wordt uitgelegd dat Marvel op een gegeven moment hun eigen werknemers nog maar net konden betalen. Onder de cut vind je de verkorte versie.

In juli 1999 werd Peter Cuneo chief executive officer ofwel CEO van Marvel, mede dankzij Isaac Perlmutter. Cuneo heeft Marvel uit de afgrond gered; op een gegeven moment in 2000 had Marvel maar $3 miljoen op de bank staan, 250 werknemers in dienst en geen divisies die ze konden sluiten om kosten te besparen. Op het dieptepunt waren de aandelen van Marvel maar 96 cent waard. Cuneo was eerder al verantwoordelijk voor het redden van Remington, een aantal divisies van Black & Decker en Clairol en het was al snel duidelijk dat Marvel zowel oplossingen voor op de korte termijn als op de lange termijn nodig had. Waar begin je dan? Licensing.

We adopted a licensing model for all forms of media, such as movies and television shows, and for consumer products such as clothing and school supplies.

This was also a way to maximize the exposure of our brands worldwide in a short amount of time. We focused on the existing library of characters that were recognizable to the public: Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, etc. It is much safer to revitalize previously successful intellectual property than to assume the greater risk associated with creating new content.

Two years later we licensed out the toy business for action figures and role-playing games, which had previously been run internally.

 

En dan is het bedrijf stabiel, wat nu? Films. En games.

Motion pictures and videogames are perhaps the two best vehicles for reaching the masses.

Film is unparalleled in its ability to generate worldwide excitement for a fantasy property. Our strategy was to spread out our intellectual property among a variety of Hollywood studios, so that we could attract the most enthusiastic partners for each character. One or two film studios could never produce all the films we wanted, and we didn't like the idea of being tied down to any single partner for all our films. Since our first live-action film was released--X-Men, in 2000--Marvel has had history's greatest track record for worldwide box office results with live-action films.

Videogames were equally important. Gamers are demographically identical to the core comic book fan base--males 13 to 30. As with motion pictures, our strategy was to spread our game production among several producers to avoid domination by any single entity. Today videogame revenue is Marvel's second largest merchandise contributor, after toys.

De slimme lezers onder ons snappen nu waarom X-men door 20th Century Fox is gemaakt en Spider-Man door Columbia. DC heeft ervoor gekozen om alles door Warner Bros. te laten doen -- of nou ja, gekozen; DC is van TimeWarner. Ik zal hier niet ingaan op wat de betere keuze is, maar het blijft wel een feit dat de comicverfilmingen van DC Comics consistenter zijn dan die van Marvel -- Spider-Man vs. The Fucking Fantastic Four. Maar ik dwaal af... Al die nieuwe media, what about the comics?

We saw our publishing business as more than just offering product to the small comic book market. One of our greatest epiphanies was recognizing publishing as a research and development function for all of Marvel, and with outstanding profit potential. The quality of Marvel's books had crumbled during the company's troubled years, and our readers and creative talent had been wronged. We had to repair and rebuild those relationships.

Even tussendoor: ze hebben het hier over de X-odus, maar dat bewaar ik lekker voor een ander artikel.

Over time, we attracted the best talent in the world, while issuing a mandate that average content was totally unacceptable. We then decided to retell many of our old stories in today's milieu, so that new fans would be attracted to those timeless adventures. We also pursued new distribution channels, such as book stores, mass merchants and convenience stores. Finally, we shortened our story arcs, the number of issues it takes to complete a story, to four or six issues. In the past the arcs could be endless, making it difficult for a new reader to jump in.

The result was that our North American comic book market share grew from about 25% in 1999 to between 45% and 50% today. It is my belief, albeit biased, that today this business is the most profitable print publishing business in the world.

Ondertussen 'vermeed' Marvel het internet een beetje en dit zorgde ervoor dat die hele dotcom bel van '98-'00 langs hun is gegaan. Geen geld verliezen betekent in dit geval ongeveer hetzelfde als winst maken. 

En dan is het 2002, tijd voor de lange termijn plannen.

With our newfound financial health, the board made three key strategic decisions. First, we expanded our international presence, replacing our representation firms and their high commissions with our own people. Today, international licensing is virtually on a par with domestic.

The second decision was to self-produce some animated television shows. Television remains the best medium for keeping our characters in front of the global public between movie releases.

Our final and most transformative move was to raise $525 million in funding and launch Marvel's in-house movie studio in 2005.

Enter Iron Man en The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man 2 is onderweg en Thor en Captain America komen er ook aan, gevolgd door de Avengers film. En weer even tussendoor, ondertussen gaat het zo goed met Marvel dat ze al verschillende awards hebben gewonnen voor hun productiviteit: deze is gemeten op zo'n $1.5 miljoen per persoon per jaar.

Oh ja, en afgelopen jaar zijn ze ook nog opgekocht door Disney die, zoals Kevin Smith het zo mooi zei, nu echt élke doelgroep kan bereiken die maar te bereiken valt.

I believe Disney recognized the value of Marvel's intellectual property and how it could be integrated into its other businesses.

Marvel's core male demographic complements the demographic for the Disney library of characters. Of course, some of Marvel's franchises, like Spiderman, appeal to consumers of all ages.

And now you know.