Brands jump on Marvel's Avengers: Endgame hype

After six months of hype since its first trailer released in December 2018, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame has hit the big screens in Singapore and Malaysia. The hype around the fourth film of the Avengers' series has been the one of its biggest in Marvel history as fans were left with a cliff-hanger ending in its previous instalment Avengers: Infinity War. In Southeast Asia, The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia has further pushed the excitement, partnering dentsu X Singapore to launch its digital campaign in line with the premiere of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame in Singapore.  Working with Posterscope, The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia displayed the film's showtimes on digital screens at bus stops across the country. The company also partnered dentsu X Malaysia to create a light show which lit up the Kuala Lumpur skyline with displays of superhero icons, on the night before the movie premiere in Malaysia. Producing the light show in partnership with Intel, the move which used 300 drones made it to the Malaysia Book of Records for “The Most Drones Used in a Light Show”. Meanwhile, as fans were already rushing to get their tickets for the highly-anticipated film, Carousell made headlines lately for reselling Avengers: Endgame movie tickets for above SG$100 per ticket. A quick check by Marketing found that some of the tickets cost as much as SG$888 for a pair. The original price of the ticket begins at SG$9.50. Brands across the region have been quick to pick up on the Avengers hype and run with it, producing some creatives ads. Here are some ads that the team at Marketing found: DHL Express DHL Express has posted an ad on its social channel showing a DHL staff wearing a cape, holding parcels with one hand and a bucket of popcorn with the other. With the caption "We are ready for the Endgame", the courier company also cheekily featured its competitors UPS and FedEx as piles of dust next to the DHL staff. The company was making a reference to the last scene of Avengers' previous film, Avengers: Infinity War, where numerous characters turned into piles of dust after the villian Thanos wiped out half of the world's population. F&N Fruit Tree Fresh Taking reference from Thanos' gauntlet, F&N's Fruit Tree Fresh decided to create its own with its latest ad. Replacing the six infinity stones with six fruits of the same respective colours (orange, apple, blueberries, berries, lime, and lemon), the company captioned its Facebook post as "Get #Endgame ready with our powerfruit stones", promoting some of the flavours it offers. Nin Jiom Singapore F&N was not the only one in creating its own version of Thanos' gauntlet. Jumping onto the bandwagon is herbal medication company Nim Jiom Singapore. The chinese medicine manufacturer used its different types of herbal candy in place of the infinity stones, and came up with pun-filled captions for each of its candy. For example, the time stone was replaced by Nim Jiom's "Time Candy", which is actually its lemongrass-flavoured candy that is said to "correct past sore throats", while the space stone was replaced by its supermint-flavoured candy that will put consumers "in a better head space". Durex Capitalising on the rumour that Avengers:Endgame will be the last of the Avengers series, Durex created a humourous ad promoting the effectiveness of its product. The ad featured sperms disappearing once it hits Durex's condom, citing it as "the dead end"- a wordplay on the film title "Endgame". The company even incorporated the Avengers logo, making sure that audiences are aware about its not-so-subtle allusion to the film. Jollibee Meanwhile, Jollibee Philippines tapped on the three-hour long duration of the film and urged consumers to make a stop at its outlets before heading to catch the film, so that they will not get hungry halfway through the film. The fast-food company's ad featured the silhouettes of its five Jollibee mascots with the caption "whatever it takes" as a parody to Marvel's recent Avengers: Endgame poster. This is not the first time Jollibee got itself involved with the hype of Avengers: Endgame. In March 2019, it produced an ad that featured its mascot with the caption "Experience the Joy". The ad was a cheeky reference to a series of Avengers: Endgame character posters that was released by Marvel one month before the premiere of the film, with the captions "Avenge the Fallen" replaced with Jollibee's famous slogan "Experience the Joy". Do you see the similarity? Pizza Hut Not missing the opportunity to ride the hype, restaurant chain Pizza Hut has posted an ad promoting its pizza as well. The ad featured a slice of pizza slowly disappearing as multiple hands reach out towards it, with the caption "gone in a snap". The company was urging consumers to head down to Pizza Hut to have a pizza that it claims to be "so good you'd want to get your hands on that last slice". It also did not forget to make a reference to the film's famous one-liner from its trailer: "whatever it takes". National Environment Agency (NEA) Amongst the many brands that drew reference from Avengers: Endgame for their tongue-in-cheek ads, the National Environment Agency took on a slightly more serious tone. Releasing its ad on Earth Day 2019 on 22 April, its ad depicted Earth turning into dust saying "I don't feel so good", urging Singaporeans to go zero waste before it is "endgame" for Earth. As fans would know, NEA was taking a slice off the iconic scene from Avengers: Infinity War where Spiderman told Iron Man he was not feeling so good before turning into dust. Sephora Beauty and cosmetic company Sephora has launched a Marvel collection in anticipation of Avengers' latest film. The new collection consists of holographic and super-shine essentials including eyeshadows, lip colours and makeup accessories. A five-piece brush set tagged with different Avengers heroes was also released. Google Simulating the might of Thanos' snap, Google has rolled out a feature wiping out half of users' Google search results. Users who look up "Thanos" on Google Search will find a gauntlet icon located at the right side of the information box. When clicked, the icon animates into a snapping action and Google results will start disappearing on their own. The technology company has released a video as well for its latest phone Google Pixel 3 in line with Avengers: Endgame. The one-minute long video showed regular people who live in the Marvel Cinematic Universe using the Pixel 3 to go about their daily lives while the Avengers are fighting. This includes finding an alternate driving route, taking a selfie, and using music to drown out the loud sounds. The video has gotten over 1,126,196 views since it was uploaded on Google's YouTube channel. Check it out here: Sembawang Neighbourhood Police Centre The neighbourhood police centre at Sembawang also leveraged on the hype to caution consumers of potential scammers that may approach them. Reminding consumers that their money can be gone in "just a snap", the police centre illustrated the various types of scams (love, ecommerce, loan, credit-for-sex, impersonation, and investment) consumers may fall prey to with the different infinity stones on Thanos' gauntlet. The writer is Grace Ong. Read also: SG filmmaker parodies Avengers movie, compares it to client expectations TGV Cinemas to ‘immediately ban’ netizens who spoil Avengers: Endgame