Log On With Marvel: Spider-Man Starts an ISP

Attention, Spidey fans: Now you can show your loyalty to the Web-slinger every time you log on to the Net.

IConnect, a provider of branded Internet services, has launched a new Internet service provider, MarvelOnline.net, which it developed with Marvel Enterprises, publisher of Spider-Man and other comic book heroes. Described as "the official Internet service of the Marvel Universe," MarvelOnline builds Internet access around Marvel characters such as the X-Men and Spider-Man. You'll get branded e-mail addresses and community features that build off the Marvel.com site. Available nationwide, MarvelOnline's unlimited access costs $19.95 monthly. A $4.95 monthly "bring your own access" option lets you join without dumping your existing ISP.

To join MarvelOnline.net, you can either download the setup software or order a CD-ROM of it, Bernstein says. The download comes in two versions: one with interactive problem-solving software, which takes up to 7MB, and a basic version of less than 1MB.

Marvel's Web Universe

MarvelOnline started last summer with a branded e-mail service, which today claims more than 30,000 registered users. But the ISP venture from IConnect creates a Marvel-themed Web experience that offers nationwide dial-up Internet access. You get eight e-mail addresses branded with Marvel characters (for example, yourname@x-men.com), and a personalized members-only home page with exclusive content, a free limited edition X-Men comic, and discounted electronic commerce.

Although MarvelOnline builds off the Marvel.com site, which provides content and community tools based around Marvel comic book characters, IConnect produces the service, says David Bernstein, executive vice president of IConnect.

"We see the MarvelOnline home page site as an extension of the Marvel.com experience," he says. The home page consists of general portal content, such as stocks and weather, as well as Marvel-themed personalization features, he says. "You can also pick a character to be the background of your start page."

Theming the ISP

When you join America Online, you're joining a community that combines Net access with user features--and that's the theme IConnect follows with its branded ISP services, Bernstein says. "We take that basic model and license brands names, in this case Marvel, to create a branded ISP service fans can sign up for." (See "More Than Just a Pretty Interface: AOL Moves Up to Version 6.")

Those brands become "the window through which you look at the rest of the Net," Bernstein adds. Its other major ISP service, the Catholic Family Network, offers a filtered Internet access with content that caters to the Catholic community. In the future, IConnect may offer branded broadband services.

A Fad or a Trend?

While branded e-mail and ISP services have some appeal to fans, one analyst doesn't expect them to last.

"These kinds of affinity programs, like credit cards with your favorite sports team, were popular for a while," says Rob Enderle, vice president at research and advisory firm Giga Group. The ones that lasted were tied to a particular activity, such as accruing points to buy airline tickets, he notes.

"Affinity Web sites [like MarvelOnline] are probably a passing trend," Enderle says. "People go to the Web to do something. Yahoo works because it's tied to an activity or set of activities, not a person or an event."

As users mature, they won't want to be tied to the same character, Enderle says. "How'd you like to live forever with a Britney Spears start page?"

But Malcolm Maclachlan, a media e-commerce analyst at IDC, sees some potential for themed ISPs.

"Because ISP service is becoming a commodity, branded ISPs in partnership are a good idea," Maclachlan says. "It's so competitive to get people. The idea is once you have them you can sell them and offer them other things that are more valuable than what they pay for the service."

But Maclachlan thinks comic books are only a niche market--one that is probably more appropriate for broadband.

With the geek factor associated with comics, it seems like you'd want to package this with some sort of high-speed access," he says. Nonetheless, he quips, he wouldn't be surprised to see a golf ISP someday.