A Canadian distributor recently got creative with merchandise that marked the release of a major Hollywood film.

Digital Domain, a visual effects agency, wanted to commemorate its time working on the 2022 Marvel/DC Comics Black Adam film, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The team at Digital Domain turned to Martket Branding (asi/263130), a Vancouver, BC-based distributor that’s worked with Digital Domain since 2018 on similar projects to celebrate Avengers: Endgame, Terminator: Dark Fate, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and others.

Martket Branding designed merchandise for employees of visual effects company Digital Domain, which worked on the 2022 film Black Adam.

For Black Adam, Martket Branding designed a line of merchandise – a hoodie, T-shirt, toque and cap from SanMar Canada (asi/84864) and a shot glass and rocks glass from ETS Express (asi/51197) – that was then available for purchase at custom e-commerce sites set up for both Canadian and U.S. employees. Orders were either shipped to Digital Domain’s North American locations in Vancouver, BC, and Los Angeles for in-person distribution, or kitted and shipped directly to recipients to coincide with the film’s release last fall.

In total, nearly 80 orders from the e-commerce sites generated almost $12,500 CAD in promotional products sales.

It was important to the client that emblems, symbols and color schemes from the film were accurately represented on the items, says Brent Hoskins, president of Martket Branding. “Our graphic design team modified the original artwork by taking out fine design details,” he says. “That allowed proper imprinting, without compromising the brand’s look. They also converted all Black Adam brand assets from digital to formats suitable for decoration on tangible products.”

The standout item in the collection, says Hoskins, was the hoodie, which was designed to look like a superhero cape to hearken back to the film’s storyline. “We used the same pattern from the cloak in the movie to decorate the edge of the hood, with a direct-to-film water-based/digital ink print,” notes Hoskins. “We also included imprints on the left chest and left sleeve.”

It was a true group effort, Hoskins adds. The project required “close coordination between the in-house decoration team and the graphic design team to capture the design that evoked the ethos of the film.”