- Marvel Studios' marketing for the Ant-Man movie
is really fascinating to me,
because it appears that they're using
some pretty interesting psychology
to try and get us on board with the film.
Or I'm reading too much into things
and people are just watching it
because it's got the Marvel name
attached to it, or both, actually.
I don't really know.
Here's the bumper.
Welcome to a tie-in video.
I'm Scott, and I was definitely on board
with the Ant-Man movie
until Edgar Wright dropped out.
As the director of one of my favorite movies
of all time, Scott Pilgrim,
I was excited to see what he'd do
with another comic book character named Scott,
which as we all know,
is the greatest name on the planet.
But you know, it's kind of a weird name.
Ant-Man, it sounds kind of odd, right?
Marvel even made it a point in the trailers
to showcase that even the characters
in the Marvel universe themselves
think it's a weird name.
Scott Lang repeatedly makes remarks
about how the name wasn't his idea,
or even wonders if it's too late to change it.
This is a trick that writers often use
called Lampshade Hanging.
Whenever there's something that threatens
the audience's suspension of disbelief,
writers can call attention to it in the story itself.
So when Scott makes references to how the name
Ant-Man sounds dumb, it's actually strategic.
It shows that the world of the Marvel universe is like ours.
What sounds weird to you and me
also sounds weird to Scott Lang.
And he's not gonna pretend it doesn't,
just because he's in a movie.
Or hey, maybe the doesn't sound lame to you,
at least at this point in time.
When the Ant-Man movie was first announced
and started gaining a little bit of steam,
it probably sounded really strange to a lot of people.
I ran to my fair share of folks saying that
the idea of a superhero named Ant-Man
sounds kinda dumb.
But with Marvel's marketing in full swing,
maybe that doesn't sound so dumb after all.
There's this idea in psychology called
the Mere-Exposure Effect.
And just to give an incredibly brief overview
of what that is, it's a phenomenon in which
people tend to prefer things
that they are familiar with.
It's been demonstrated with all sorts of things,
including words.
Words like Ant-Man.
The theory behind this, put simply,
is that repeated exposure to something
makes that thing easier for our brain to process
and we like that.
So maybe Ant-Man sounded funny at first,
but now that we've been hearing about it for years,
especially these last few months,
it has become less funny,
and maybe even cool-sounding.
I think this can apply to just about any
comic book character name, honestly.
When you think about some of the more popular
superheroes out there, you can see just how lazy
or lame their names really are.
Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America.
Sure, those names carry weight now,
and sound really cool,
but only because we're familiar with them.
Think of how silly those names might sound to people
who have never heard of these characters before.
Marvel is aware that Ant-Man doesn't sound
super exciting to people,
so they're using strategies like lampshade hanging
and the mere-exposure effect
to break through our initial impressions
and have us give the movie a chance.
Or they're just doing whatever they want
because they're Marvel and they know
that they'll take my money regardless.
What do you guys think?
Has Marvel been strategically trying to get us
to watch Ant-Man through the use
of psychological marketing techniques?
What other superhero names sound weird to you?
Let's talk about it all in the comments below.
And yes, at this point, I've gotten over
the whole Edgar Wright thing.
I'm actually excited to see this movie again,
but again, no spoilers in the comments please.
This video was a tie-in to one I made earlier
this week about that infamous panel
in Ant-Man history when Hank Pim hits Wasp.
If you're interested in learning about
the real world story of how that came to be,
I'll put a link in the description
that you can check out if you want to.
And if this is your first time hanging out
with us here at NerdSync,
we make new videos every week.
Because we believe that asking questions
and examining comments beyond the surface
can actually enhance your comic book reading experience
and make comic books just a little bit more awesome.
So make sure you hit that big sexy Subscribe button
so you don't miss out on anything.
Once again, I'm Scott, you can find me
on Twitter and Instagram.
And we will see you on Monday
for another episode of the NerdSync podcast,
available on iTunes and SoundCloud.
See ya.