[TYPE THE COMPANY NAME]

Case Study Strategic

Analysis
DC COmics
Table of Contents
1. Current Situation ............................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Company Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3

1.2 Mission Statement ................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Strategic Objectives ................................................................................................................ 4
1.4 Strategic issues ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.5 Corporate Governance ............................................................................................................ 5
2. Internal Audit- Strengths and Weaknesses ..................................................................................... 5

2.1 Strengths ......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................................... 6

3. External Audit- Opportunities and Threats ..................................................................................... 8

3.1 Opportunities........................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Threats............................................................................................................................................. 9

4. Discussion- Competitive Position of DC Comics ......................................................................... 10

5. Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................... 11

References ............................................................................................................................................. 13
1. Current Situation

1.1 Company Introduction

DC Entertainment, initially created as National Allied Publications in 1934 and best known

as DC Comics is the second largest publishers of comic books. The company owns 36%

percent share in the global comics market and is best known for the superheroes Superman,

Batman, and Wonder woman. The company is involved in publishing of comic books,

licensing the rights of the use of characters in movies, cartoons, toys, and other branded

content. The company is now acting as a division of Warner Brother’s entertainment universe

and producing movies, comics, and video games of the famous superheroes. Apart from the

TV and film operations, DC publishes around 95 monthly comics with more than 1000

characters. The famous comic imprints are Vertigo and the MAD magazine. The conic

segment of the company involved in creation of comic books, custom comics, trade

paperbacks, and digital comics. Ion the other hand, the segment involved in licensing is

responsible for the licensing, brand management, and promotion, for all DC Comics

characters globally. The third important segment is film production to produce animation and

feature films of famous characters.

1.2 Mission Statement

The merger of Marvel and Disney has initiated another important merger of the industry, DC

Comics and Warner Brothers, producer and distributers of all DC comics’ movies. After

merger, a new division is launched by Warner Brothers under the name of DC entertainment

Inc. with a mission to expand DC brand to new limits. The mission statement defined by DC

Entertainment as strategic integration of, “the DC business, brand, and characters deeply into

Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses,” (D Comics

Website N.D). The major areas of operation defined in the mission are feature films, videos/
DVD, role-playing toys, branded products, video games, television programs, and digital/

print promotions.

1.3 Strategic Objectives

The main strategic objective of DC Comics, acting as a division of Warner Brothers are:

1. The development of DC Comic characterstics into powerful TV and film framchises

to be part of more interactive and responsive nedia.

2. DC Comics wil act as a integrating part of DC entertainment and to serve as the

creative cornerstome of the merged busines ventuire.

3. To modify,. Relaunch, and develop Conic characters by unsing new media platdforms

and cutting edge digital techmology.

1.4 Strategic issues

Currently, though DC has regained audience attention after successful Dark Knight Trilogy

and Superman flick of 2013, Man of Steel, the company is still struggling to gain prominent

status as the rival Marvel’s simultaneous success with Ironman and Avengers franchises since

2010 (Stuller, 2010). Company has too many expectations from upcoming Batman v.

Superman: Dawn of Justice that will lead into the sequels of Wonder Woman films and

Justice League series revival.

The other issue with DC is the production of less characters based movies with more unique

identities. The idea of Warner Brothers to bring in more screenwriters for a single movie is

also a point objectionable for critics and the issues faced with the story line and execution of

ideas. Also, going along with the characters and their story in comics and transferring the

same image to the movies is a challenging task to revive the same audience and get a

transformational growth in the cross-sectional audience.

1.5 Corporate Governance

The merger of DC Comics with Warner Brothers has brought major corporate level changes

in governance structure. The president and lead publisher Paul Levitz since 2002 left the

executive post and joined as lead editor and consultant to devote thirty years of experience to

the ne DC Entertainment (DiPaolo 2011). The new chief executive Diane Nelson has a

successful track record of the president at Warner Premiers and the successful series of Harry

Potter Franchise strategic marketing, content management, and production. The changes in

governance stricture are quite visible as the successful return of Superman flicks and the

transformational comics launch as Convergence, in June 2015 with the promise to launch 24

new comics versions.

2. Internal Audit- Strengths and Weaknesses

The internal audit is based o the analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the company.

According to Porter (1980), the competitive strength of the company lies in its competitive

advantage against the rival companies. Therefore, companies have to have long tern strengths

to match the weaknesses.

2.1Strengths

1. Relevant Chartacters Creation

The creation of more than 5000 relevant characters, DC Comics has a success rate of]

portraying real situations in real life settings/ the old age readers have a nostalgic association

with conic characters and been attached with their success and failures. The attraction of new

audience has been generating through animations, cartoons, and videos of the famous comic

characters. The digital comics released in 2015 also give a transformational revival to the

company with enhanced imagery and new story lines of established characters. The ability ]to
meet the demands o0f the target market since 1939 is one of the greatest strengths of DC that

provides a consistent brand image.

2. Strong brand awareness

Strong awareness of DC is a key differentiator of brand’s character recognition. The

characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder women, Flash, Green Lantern have defined the

generations’ long struggles and become iconic version of DC brand. The main strengths of

DC lies in long term brand equity, strong and recognizable products and characters give

successful movies franchises like Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. Having only one

major competitor is also an advantage of having focused marketing strategies. A loyal

customer base is also strength of the company.

3. Strong vertical integration

The merger decision with Warner Brothers has given DC a large platform to produce and

distribute their own films. The increase of brand recognition is also a result of this merger.

DC Comics is still the cash cow of the franchise and successfully launching new comics of

established and old characters like New 52 series enormous success in 2102 has forced

Marvel to launched similar version as NOW. In DC, the central editorial board has a strict

control with greater flexibility to the innovation and quality assurance.

2.2 Weaknesses

1. Lack of personal and human relationships

The policy of DC against marries couples like that of Reed and Sue Richards in Fantastic

Four of Marvel, has brought a serious question to the emotional standing and personal

relationship of the comic characters. The family orientation and sexuality absence in DC
characters create a barrier with the audience and make them weak as compared to the string

brand affiliations of Marvel characters that have normal emotional and family lives as well.

DC favoured this point as marriage close the path to other romantic relationships and the

other relationship become less true.

2. Poor Stakeholders Management

The mismanagement of stakeholders like writers, employees, and audience has been a great

weakness of the company. The disputes with former employees, interference of editorial team

in writers’ work, and last minute changes cratered dissatisfaction on writers’ teams (Hayes,

2012). The problematic moves in last couple of years have made the DC fans more

vulnerable and dissatisfied. Disgruntled writers and unhappy readers of Superman and

Batman due to mismanagement of their story lines are the recent example. Also, the sudden

departure of Batwoman creative team comprised of Williams III and Haden was a serious

blow to the company.

3. Licensing strategy Implementation

A compared to the close rival, DC has a poorly managed licensing strategy. Rather that

exploiting the potential of strong characters through licensed TV and movies productions

through other production houses, the company is committed with a single production house

of Warner brothers. Also, the cross sales is not observed through the use of multiple

superheroes in a venture like that of Avengers franchise from Marvel. The licensed partners

in toys, videos, and promotional producrs have faced high pressure due to the centralized and

strict control of editorial boards of DC. The absence of clear licensing rules and exposure to

less media opportunities and promotional content absence have limited the profit margins and

scope of the operations.

3. External Audit- Opportunities and Threats
3.1 Opportunities

1. Use of internet and social media

DC comics is not been utilizing the full potential of social media and digital advertising. The

company website and Facebook pages are dormant and lack of interaction with fans and

viewers. The utilization of social media in right directions can create enormous opportunities

for the upcoming ventures of the company (Greenberger 2009). The Launch of digital comics

in 2015 was an instant success that leads to more infusion of digital media strategies in

company’s marketing and advertising planning. Also, the lack of customer relationship

management can also be improved through effective use of the dormant Facebook page and

twitter groups.

2. Increase reach to Collectors of comic books

There are two main groups of comic readers, boys and girls mainly of age group 4 to 13

years, and the group of 18 to 44 years of avid readers. Boys and males are the major target

market of DC Comics from the beginning due to masculine appeal and life style of the

characters. Therefore, publishing of more collectible items and limited editions of Comic

books can help to reach the influential groups of comic books collectors (Newman 2009).

The printing of some old and the first editions from the past will create a nostalgic ripple in

the comic readers market. Also, promotions should be extended to more franchised brand

content product like costumes, accessories, and books of famous character will also help the

company to retain a loyal customer base.

3. Marketing Campaigns
Company is not investing enough in marketing budgets as compared to the close rival

Marvel. The allocation of more promotional budgets to consumer products like home

accessories, personal accessories and clothing involving Tee-shirts especially to girls target

market as they are ignored by DC in past. The targeting of adults and female demographics

will increase brand associations. The campaigns with the help of parents associations and

other comics regulatory bodies will facilitate the image building of the company in families.

3.2 Threats

1. Piracy and copyright infringements

With the advancements in IT and internet access to the comic books, the threats of online

piracy are also increased. Copy right infringement, non licensed products, and illegal cable

transmissions give losses in current years. The patented properties of DC are also on the

verge of internet hackers and maintenance of copyright protection is getting expensive and

complex day by day. The whole comic industry is under this threat and suffering from huge

losses especially outside USA.

2. Competition

DC Comics faced intense competition from the long time rival Marvel/Disney Inc. The

recent success stories of Marvel and slow rate of successful movies buy DC has created

problems for the audience. The competition is now extended beyond the products, comic

books and products, and the fans of both companies are facing direct pressure on release of

any new venture. The audience needs more careful treatment, strong story lines and

connectivity in books and movies, focused publications with more intense graphics and

strong content support. Also, intangible offers like shopper discounts, reality shows, parks

entries, and other family fun time offers can help the company to stay connected with loyal
audience and avid readers. Integration of DC sites and more focused content with more

visitors’ interaction can also help the company to meet the competition. The

4. Discussion- Competitive Position of DC Comics

In the industry with strong rivalry from single competitor Marvel created a direct offence

situation for DC. The comics market has undergone much transformation in past 75 years

since 1934, the impacts of wars, terrorism, social movements, immigrations, migrations, and

epidemics of the world are shown in the story lines that helped DC characters to express the

gratitude of the masses and show emotions like patriotism, bravery, honesty. The DC heroes

have traditional pre history powers Gods who can save the humanity from any distressed

situation. On the other hand, the close rival Marvel has created super heroes open to intimate

relationships, with feelings and family oriented that ,make Marvel characters more likeable

and they transformed from one generation to the other without any problem.

The tightly controlled corporate structure of DC and effective cross promotional campaigns

from programs like Justice League has given Superman an advantage over Marvel Captain

America with a universal identity. Marvel characters are dominated by their US identity, but

DC characters have their universal significance and acceptance. Therefore, DC possessed a

universally accepted iconic image of all its characters.

In order to retrieves from the losses of box office failures due to poor story

transformation and weak characterisation in the movies like Green Lantern, and Catwoman,

DC has revived the image through the release of Batman Begins (Kellner 2010), Change of

the logo design in 2005 and a subsequent change is observed in 2102 with DC peel Log. In

order to reconnect with the older bases of more aware readers, Infinite Crisis was launched

(Gustines 2005). Second, both the Infinite Crisis series and the 2005 Batman Begins film
adaptation worked together to re-connect with comic readers and film audiences by

emphasizing the darker, more serious side of DC Comics’ heroes.

The Financing deal of DC with Warner Brothers has helped it to launch two successful

ventures Superman Returns and Watchmen (Stuller, 2011), but the over whelming releases of

thee ventures had failed to keep a striking balance between the Promotions and the execution

of the projects. Both movies have failed to show the impulsive dram, original story

connections, and failed to captivate the audience. The company has decided a major

corporate change in its leadership by deciding a merger with Warner Brothers. Though the

decision was merely also an inspiration from the merger of Marvel and Disney, but this major

corporate change has done a good job for the retrieval of brand image for DC. DC has

produced a large number of comic adaptations after this merger but this merger has raised

serious questions related to the ideological and artistic directions of DC as the deal was

focused on the revamping of the original company (Wyatt 2009).

Though the strategic c directions of DC entertainment went wrong in making less famous

characters to big screens like Catwoman and Green Lantern (Tye 2012), but the decision like

Superman revival through Man of Steel and new series Convergence in 2015 have shown an

overhaul in the corporate strategy of the company. Now the company is focused on the

launch of digital comics, more adaptations to universally acclaimed characters like Batman

and Superman, and planning to revive the series Justice League in coming years.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

Despite the attempts of DC in past five years with success stories, company is still on the

number two position in the industry that shows a further need of progress.

The above analysis recommended that the company need s more consistent project teams

with less interference of editorial board in last minute changes. The dissatisfaction and
departure of writers and creators need to be stopped through more congenial and straight

forward policies with clear vision from top management.

Though convergence series has created an upheaval with an announcement of 24 more comic

series by DC, but this long term strategy needs more commitment and dependence on quality

staff.

Also, as the company headquarter has moved from New York to California, more staff hiring

and training of freelancers is also one of the key tasks ahead.

The production of successful adaptations also need consistent policies, more commitment to

original story lines, and strong characterization with good casting can create a sequel of

successful movies.
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