Superhero franchises are all the rage anymore. From some vantage points, it seems like they’re single-handedly driving the movie industry and, one could argue, pop culture itself. You look around and Marvel and DC are everywhere. It’s unavoidable.

Part of that is due to the fact that they put quite a lot of money behind their marketing and branding initiatives.

Marvel’s latest push, The Fantastic 4: First Steps, is no different, with the studio reportedly spending about $170 million in its promotional efforts, including plenty of physical products and branded tie-ins.

With that, there are plenty of takeaways for promotional products distributors, even if their clients aren’t the biggest movie studios on this or any other planet/universe.

Packaging Can Be Heroic

The average consumer has a lot of choices. Their attention is constantly pulled back and forth from products and attention-grabbing content. You need to get their attention and hold it with a fast first impression.

That’s where packaging comes in.

Marvel teamed up with big brands whose packaging is a vital part of the product, like Little Caesars for four custom pizza boxes and General Mills for branded cereal boxes of brands like Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms and more.

Digital Engagement

Packaging, and other print products, only exist here in the physical realm. They’re bound by the normal laws of physics, unlike the heroes in the movie. But printers and distributors can pull off magic tricks of their own to add multiple dimensions to their printed promos.

Take, for instance, the branding tie-in Marvel is doing with Snapple for Fantastic Four. Like the pizza boxes, Snapple is printing four distinct labels for their drinks, each corresponding to a different character, with augmented-reality capabilities. If a customer scans the label, they’ll get added detail about the film and a memory card game.

It’s a fun way to bring the print to life and create user engagement across different platforms. It modernizes the traditional print medium for the digital age, not unlike the retro-futurism aesthetic of The Fantastic Four movie and recent Marvel series Loki, which also went big on its experiential marketing and promotional displays, like decorating a McDonald’s like it was 1982 (down to the staff uniforms and posters) and rebranding Lucky Charms as “Loki Charms” for a limited time.

“Our team built a truly fantastic global promotional campaign – one that felt completely authentic, immersive and organically woven into the world of the Fantastic Four,” Disney Executive Vice President of Partnerships, Promotions, Synergy and Events Lylle Breier told Deadline. “It was a true collaboration between our best-in-class brand partners, the talented filmmakers and our amazing internal creative team who wrote and produced the fully custom spots that seamlessly transformed our promotional content into an extension of the film’s marketing campaign and pop culture.”

Breier hits the nail on the head of what a good promotional campaign does for any brand, regardless of their size: It becomes an extension of the brand and its story. It should complement everything the brand does already and serve as a continuation of its story rather than a separate one.

Don’t Be Afraid of a Little Flash

Sorry, did we say Flash? We meant Torch. Wrong franchise. It’s hard to keep them all straight sometimes.

The point is that going the extra mile to create something with a little bit of a creative spark beyond usefulness can go a long way in terms of memorability. People love a gimmick, if you want to call it that. For this promotion, Marvel not only teamed up with TruMoo for a blue milk but also a series of color-changing glasses that react to temperatures and fill in the animation with color.

He’s here, and he’s 🔥. The first Power Up Your Pour collectible glass is NOW AVAILABLE! Pour in cold milk and watch HUMAN TORCH flame-on right before your eyes. See Marvel Studios’ #TheFantasticFour: First Steps, in theaters July 25. pic.twitter.com/lPgHmVsTlF

— TruMoo Milk (@TruMooMilk) July 18, 2025

It’s nothing too over the top, but it’s a conversation starter. People will want to show their friends and collect all four, which creates long-lasting brand visibility and engagement. It’s good for TruMoo and it’s good for Marvel. Looking for a tasteful opportunity to add a bit of magic can turn a good promotion into a fantastic one.