Several issues ago, I covered the economics of the entertainment and the Anime industries. For this issue, I will build on that concept and discuss marketing.
Marketing is the pseudo-science of getting a product exposed to a market (hence market-ing). This can be accomplished by advertising (paid exposure), publicity (public exposure, usually through the press), or promotions (conventions, special perks and programs, etc.). Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and generally targets specific markets or audiences.
I divide the markets into three general categories: hard-core, general, and retailer. The hard-core market is made up of all individuals for whom the product is expressly intended, and who would have an interest in the product. The general, or mainstream market consists of all individuals possessing a pulse, and that is about as specific as it gets. The retailer market consists of store owners, product buyers, distributors, sales reps, and anyone else who would possibly have an interest or a role in the selling of the product to a consumer. These definitions work for any product, and thus generalize well. For example, for AD Vision's videos, the markets would be Anime fans (Hard-core), people everywhere (general), and video or comic store owners (retail), while for the makers of Irish Spring (the soap), the markets would be anyone who bathes regularly, people everywhere, and grocery stores.
Reaching these various markets is not the challenge; a few well placed advertisements and reviews in the appropriate magazines (Animerica, Entertainment Weekly or Video Store Magazine), and a few conventions will expose a product to the correct audience. The trick is to effectively market with a budget.
Even Disney, who frequently spends in the $20 million range for advertising its feature films, is on a budget. For example, you never see a Disney Booth at your local conventions because Disney figures that if you are interested in their films, you will own a TV, and if you own a TV, you will have seen one of their hundreds of commercials for the movie, or one of the hundreds of product tie-in commercials - Happy Meal anyone? By advertising to the mainstream, they figure they have already covered everyone and therefore, there is no need to do targeted marketing since it would be an overlapping and redundant effort. The only additional effort Disney may make would be towards retailers (especially since the video usually comes out after the initial marketing push has ended) with lavish parties at the VSDA convention (Video Software Dealer's Association) and full page spreads in VARIETY, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, BILLBOARD and/or video store trade journals (VIDEO STORE MAGAZINE (VSM) or VIDEO BUSINESS (VB)).
Anime companies work in much the same way, but with much smaller budgets than do mainstream movie companies. While Books Nippan may be extreme in its spending habits, or lack there of (roughly $15,000 per year), I do not see a great deal of pricy advertising from any of the other companies either. I suspect that $10,000 would be considered an extremely high budget for all but the most successful titles. To put $10,000 in perspective, consider the following: a full page advertisement in Animerica (color) costs more than $1,000 (for one month), a full page B&W advertisement in Diamond Comic Distributor's PREVIEWS is $800 (for one month), and a 4" classified B&W ad in VIDEO STORE MAGAZINE is $400 (for one week, the full page ad would be $8,000 per week, add $2,000 for color!). While these costs can be reduced by contracts, the reduction is not especially drastic, and even $10,000 can be spent very quickly.
Anime companies cannot use the blanket approach of flooding as much of the general consciousness as possible, therefore Anime companies do not generally advertise on TV (not to mention that TV is extremely expensive). However, companies such as Central Park Media (US Manga Corps, Anime 18, Software Sculptures) and Manga Entertainment have managed to get their films reviewed by Siskel & Ebert, and thus have effectively used the generated publicity to expose their product to mainstream USA. Cable TV (Sci-Fi Channel, Cartoon Network, etc.) has also increased the exposure for Anime by airing several films from Orion/Streamline and, again, Central Park Media. This is usually the bulk of the mainstream marketing efforts since these methods are either low cost or actually make some money (cable TV licensing fees), but these techniques do allow a general market to have the opportunity to be familiar with the product, and ensure that any Hard-core fans have a more general opportunity to become aware of specific products.