The Overview
For Marvel Studios’ Thor: Love and Thunder, the marketing campaign needed to capture the film’s bold tonal mix—cosmic spectacle, irreverent humor, and larger-than-life mythology. The opportunity was to translate that energy beyond the screen through brand partnerships and retail activations that invited fans to engage with the world of Thor in unexpected places.
Working within Disney’s creative marketing partnerships team, I helped shape the art direction across select collaborations—ensuring each execution reflected the vibrant tone and visual personality of the film while remaining flexible enough to work across partner brands and consumer touchpoints.
The Challenge
The campaign needed to extend a highly stylized Marvel universe into brand environments that audiences encounter every day.
Key creative challenges included:
Translating the film’s bold, maximalist aesthetic into accessible consumer experiences.
Maintaining the tone of the Thor franchise—equal parts epic and playful.
Creating executions that felt authentic to Marvel while still embracing the identity of each partner brand.
The goal was to create partnerships that felt less like promotions and more like playful extensions of the cinematic universe.
The Approach
The visual approach centered on three pillars that laid the framework which allowed every partner execution to feel distinct yet unified across the campaign.
Mythic Spectacle
The visual direction leaned into bold color and electric energy to evoke the epic mythology of the franchise.
Playful Irreverence
Embraced this tone, allowing collaborations and executions to feel unexpected, lighthearted, and aligned with the film’s offbeat personality.
Cinematic Extensions
The visual system translated the film’s world into retail, packaging, and fan-facing experiences—bringing the spirit of the story into everyday environments while maintaining franchise authenticity.
The Impact
By bringing the spirit of the film into unexpected places—from retail shelves to promotional experiences—the campaign helped extend the world of Thor beyond the theater and into everyday fan culture.
Through cohesive art direction and playful brand storytelling, these collaborations reinforced the franchise’s larger-than-life personality while inviting audiences to engage with the Marvel universe in new ways.
Awards
🥉 2022 Clio — Best Partnerships Branded Content Video
—
Director, Creative Marketing : AJ Fierro
Senior Manager: Nicholas Fratto
Sr Creative Account Lead: Dave Cowden
Sr Creative Account Lead: Joshua Burrell
Creative Director : Andy Staub
Art Director : Martin Nguyen
Writer/Producer : Evan Aronson
Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company
01
–
Xbox
For the Xbox collaboration, the art direction treated the hardware as if it were forged from the remnants of the legendary hammer—cracked stone textures, glowing fissures of cosmic energy, and lightning motifs echoing the narrative arc of Mjolnir being reforged and rediscovered by a new hero.
By embedding this visual storytelling directly into the console design, the collaboration turned the Xbox into more than a promotional object—it became a symbolic extension of the film’s themes of legacy, resilience, and the passing of power. The result was a collectible piece that connected the mythology of Thor with the physical experience of the gaming platform.
02
–
G Fuel
The partnership with G Fuel required translating Asgardian’s design language into something playful, majestic, and scalable. The creative direction focused on the bold color and electric energy and strong character imagery,
Key visual systems were developed to translate across:
Product packaging
Retail environments
Digital campaign assets
03
–
Old Spice
Old Spice’s collaboration extended across retail and broadcast, including point-of-purchase signage designed to bring Thor’s energy into the store environment.
The partnership also included a television spot featuring Luke Hemsworth, known for portraying “Actor Thor” in the comedic in-universe stage plays. Leaning into that meta humor, the creative positioned him as an exaggerated, theatrical version of the God of Thunder—bringing the campaign’s blend of mythology and absurdity to life in a way that felt both unmistakably Marvel and unmistakably Old Spice.
Key visual systems were developed to translate across:
In-store graphics
Retail environments
Digital campaign assets
04
–
Direct Line
For the Direct Line collaboration, the creative leaned into the contrast between everyday insurance and the thunderous chaos of Thor: Love and Thunder.
The campaign rolled out across a TV spot and high-impact OOH placements throughout the UK, pairing bespoke campaign imagery that framed Direct Line as the brand to cover accidents better than heroes. The result was a playful collision between superhero spectacle and everyday protection.
06
–
McDonald's
Helped develop the key visual for the campaign—a dynamic, lightning-charged composition that captured Thor’s epic presence while remaining instantly recognizable within McDonald’s brand environment. The visual leveraged bold colors, dramatic hero framing, and playful cosmic elements to balance spectacle with accessibility.
This key visual became the foundation for all campaign executions, from social media and banner ads to large-scale OOH placements, ensuring a consistent and immersive experience that brought the energy of the Thor universe into everyday consumer touchpoints.
