A lot of HOGs may think of a different "Captain America" when they think of Harley-Davidson and super heroes, but the motorcycle brand is looking to change that for a new generation. Harley-Davidson has launched the Assemble Your Freedom contest in cooperation with Marvel comics. The winner will "become a character in an Avengers comic."

The partnership comes in anticipation of Marvel's upcoming summer movie, The Avengers. The film, starring a team of core Marvel characters, includes Captain America, a hero with whom Harley-Davidson already had a deal in 2011. But one Marvel hero, a motorcycle hero, is missing from the Harley-Marvel team — the title character in the just-opened Ghost-Rider: Spirit of Vengeance movie starring Nicolas Cage..Continue reading...

This weekend, Captain America will burst from the screen in 3D, dispatching Nazis while wearing a spiffy leather jacket.

The last year alone has been a fine one for leather jackets onscreen, including those in Harry Potter, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Green Lantern, X-Men: First Class, Inception, I am Number Four, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Takers, Limitless, Tron: Legacy, True Grit, and The Expendables.

Hollywood has had a longstanding love affair with leather jackets (books have been written on the subject), dating back to the Schott Perfecto motorcycle jackets worn by Marlon Brandon and James Dean.

But nowadays, connecting the hero onscreen with the leather on his (and her) back is a challenge. Enter Filmjackets.com, a website that connects those looking for that big screen coat with those who made it (or who can at least make a passable facsimile).Continue reading...

This video of rock-n-roll Magneto fan singing Lady Gaga's Born this Way is a better viral marketing effort than most of what 20th Century Fox actually did to promote X-Men: First Class. [hat-tip]

The box office for X-Men: First Class, the fourth installment of the franchise (5th if you count Hugh Jackman's star turn in Wolverine), was called, by some, "underwhelming." The movie will inevitably chug on to earn tens of millions, but the results will be seen as a license for those who criticized the fim's lackluster marketing to issue a "told you so."

Last week, we also wondered about the marketing strategy (or lack thereof), including what appeared to be a missed tie-in with the release of classified photos from Area 51, including photos of a sly plane just like the one used in X-Men's 1960s-set film.

But there's another viral tie-in that would have been great, involving the Xavier school and the first X-Men.Continue reading...

Before we get into this week's brand cameos on the big screen, we thought we'd share this adorable high concept short, in which "George Lucas" is kidnapped after 1980's Empire Strikes Back and an imposter (a Lucalike?) intent on destroying his legacy takes his place.Continue reading...

The joke in the Farmers Insurance commercial above: the X-Man Beast is an "X-Change" student at the Farmers Insurance university. Get it?

The spot, which has attracted a lot of attention, much of it confused, is surprising for an X-Men: First Class tie-in — not only for its subject (insurance?), but also because it is an ad mutant, a rare anomaly. It didn't have to be this way.Continue reading...

The “Army strong” marketing theme introduced in 2006 keeps on getting stronger – and more social. The above video, voiced by actor Gary Sinise, highlights "leadership" by playing up the army uniform as a “symbol of strength,” and suggests, “Try it on at goarmy.com.” 

Additional spots in the US Army's new campaign highlight the themes of education and opportunity. But the campaign goes beyond traditional TV advertising, as the US military's marketers, ever tilling for new recruits, are taking their campaign to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.Continue reading...