Marketing Lessons Via Marvel Comics

Jennifer Walters would be much more popular if it weren’t for her larger than life cousin, Bruce Banner. Yes, that Bruce Banner, better known as the comic book superhero and now, movie star, the Incredible Hulk. Jennifer Walters is the lesser-known She-Hulk (aka Shulk).

As far as origin stories go, Jennifer’s is pretty run of the mill – she needs a blood transfusion, Bruce provides the blood, transferring with it his Hulk mutation. Jennifer wakes up bigger, stronger, and greener, and the Shulk is born. 

Looking closer, they don’t have a lot in common. Bruce, however, has a lot in common with typical consumer behavior. Famously, Bruce can’t control turning into the Hulk. When he turns, the Hulk is out of control. His destructive actions are simple, predictable, and one dimensional. He is a reactive decision-maker, easily tempted by emotions, and lacks long-term thinking.

Jennifer’s Shulk is the exact opposite. Jennifer can change into Shulk and back at will. She is a symbol of balance. Jennifer accurately sees the Shulk as a reflection of herself. They are one and the same. Most importantly, Jennifer understands the biology of Shulk and the environment she lives in and calibrates to make the best of both to optimize her life. 

We can learn a lot from Jennifer’s Shulk and apply it to our lives as consumers. We should have a better understanding of our biology, or rather, psychology, and the marketing-packed environment we live in, to ultimately optimize our lives accordingly.

The foundational requirement for a harmonious relationship is being aware of the fact that you are in a relationship. We are all in a relationship with consumerism. The health of this relationship depends on how well we balance the unavoidable pairing. 

Step two is understanding what marketing is at its very core. Webster dictionary defines marketing as the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service. Decent start but the definition feels surface-level.

Striped bare, marketing is trading value which takes place between two parties, a seller and a buyer. The seller has something to sell, and the buyer has money to trade for it – end of the story. 

Today, we have more things to buy than needs to fulfill. So, sellers have to provide much more value to earn the buyers’ money. Each possible touch-point between seller and buyer is an opportunity for the seller to provide value. From telephone hold music to unboxing experiences and award-winning blogs, sellers have more ways to deliver value today than before.

Similarly, the buyer today provides value beyond payment via word of mouth, sharing referral codes, posting about the seller on Facebook, and much more. User-generated content is the most prominent form of value buyers can bring to the sellers. Every time you create a playlist on Spotify, a review on Amazon, or a photo on Instagram, you are providing the company tremendous value outside of payment. 

The final step is optimizing the value-trade fairly for mutual benefit, so both parties can live in harmony. While Amazon and Spotify would live on without user-generated content, companies like Instagram, where the money isn’t exchanged by the end-user, would cease to exist if users stopped providing value in the shape of user-generated content. This new world of value-trading gives the buyer immense power, waiting to be mined. 

In the world of value-trading, the goal of a business is to optimize the trade of value between the buyer (consumer) and the seller (business) to serve their own goals. The goal of the consumer, you, should also be the same – own the buyer role, and optimize your extraction of value from the seller (business). 

The one person who has the value-trade relationship figured out is Jennifer Walters. Jennifer and the Shulk are a great model for consumers. She is aware of her relationship with the Shulk and extracts value from being the She-Hulk at will without losing control. Compare that to Bruce, the reactive decision-maker, easily tempted by emotions, and lacks long-term thinking, much like the average consumer. 

When it comes to shopping, be like Shulk and don’t smash.

PS – Did you know the Shulk was the first comic book to break the fourth wall?