News Corp will launch a Marvel Comics super hero collection in its Australian metro and regional papers this month as its battles declining print circulation figures.
The comic book promotion is being supported with a national media campaign across print and digital, and News Corp will host school holiday launch events in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Darwin.
“We expect to sell over three million Marvel comic books over the two-week promotional period," Damian Eales, MD, metro and regional, News Corp, told media and marketing site Mumbrella. "A lot of our newspapers will go into positive circulation growth for us. That is typically what happens when we run these promotions. We spend around $1.2m to promote these tent-poles outside of our business – that’s in external media. After you consider the cost of promotion, the cost of the product itself, each promotion typically either breaks even or is net positive whereas once upon a time they were done exclusively for the purpose of improving circulation.”
The Marvel Ultimate Super Hero Comic Book Collection will launch in Western Australia this weekend and in other areas on July 23 (TAS, SA and NT) and July 24 (NSW, QLD, VIC). The first collectable comic book, featuring Spider-Man together with a collector's case, will be free with the purchase of a newspaper, while subsequent issues will sell for $2.60 each over the two-week period.
The full collection includes: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Nick Fury, Ant-Man, The Avengers, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wasp, Ultimate Spider-Man Team Heroes, Falcon and Hulk.
“Super heroes are a part of growing up as they inspire and motivate kids to achieve the impossible," said Eales. "We’re proud to give families an affordable way to get their hands on this exclusive comic book collection for their little heroes. Marvel characters have no limit in terms of their popularity and this collection has been specifically chosen to appeal to super hero fans everywhere; boys and girls; young and old.”
Participating newspapers are:
The Daily and Sunday Telegraph
Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun
The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail
The Advertiser and Sunday Mail
Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian
NT News and Sunday Territorian
The Sunday Times (WA)
Gold Coast Bulletin
Townsville Bulletin
The Cairns Post
Geelong Advertiser.