The Marketing Machine

(continued)

With these companies unable to saturate the general market, they instead focus on target audiences. To reach the Hard-core market, almost every title is advertised in at least one Anime magazine, a comics related magazine (such as COMIC BUYER'S GUIDE), and through distributors (flyers and samples for the video market, flyers and ads for the comic book market). From the advertisements, and the products released (many dubbed), one can see that in this case, Hard-core, does not even come close to the Import LD watching, dub-phobic Hard-core Anime fan, but instead applies to a more general audience. However, even in this case, I would argue that this is still a Hard-core approach because the marketing efforts (ads, reviews, etc.) are directed at the only available mass-media channels available that even come close to targeting Anime at all. Additionally, since the Anime companies must be so choosy in advertising and publicity selections, a target (hence non-mainstream) audience is inherent in every choice — it just may be less specific than we, as Anime fans, may be comfortable with. After all, this definition would mean that a 35 year old Harlock fan and his LD collection would be in the same Hard-core target audience as the seven year old who watches SAILOR MOON and DRAGONBALL Z and believes that Sailor Mercury always talked with a New York accent.
While the advertising and reviews are useful for generating consumer interest, all companies place emphasis on sales to retail stores, since this is the only market that provides the outlet to the consumer, and posesses the most tangible feedback — sales (direct sales to consumers is an extremely small portion of sales and therefore not particularly relevant). Central Park Media, Animeigo, and, occasionally, Manga Entertainment/Polygram use advertising in the video trade magazines to push their titles into mainstream retailer consciousness, and all companies use Diamond Comics Distributors to approach the comics industry.
The emphasis on the retailer not uncommon in any industry, however, Anime companies place more emphasis on retailers for two reasons:

the Anime fan is a rare and elusive beast that is spread thinly across North America and particular about its Anime diet — not always willing to consume each and every product released into the market place. (My apologies to our European, Asian and South American readers, but I do not have a fully international experience).
and
Anime companies are attempting to create brands and Anime genre awareness so that retailers will buy each and every product released into the market place because of association with successful products.

By directing attention away from the specific title and placing more emphasis on brand names and/or the category of Anime, the hope is that retail managers, who simply do not have the time to review each and every product available, will lump every Anime video into the same mental category and make purchases without evaluation.
For example: Manga Entertainment always has "Manga Man" on every advertisement and every video cover as a sign that anything Manga releases is similar and would win the approval of anyone who likes previous Manga releases. The message is obvious: "Buy VIOLENCE JACK and BOUNTY DOG because they will perform just like GHOST IN THE SHELL, after all, it has 'Manga Man' on it!"
Manga is not alone in this quest, but it is unique with its' mascot. Instead of a mascot, other companies attempt to build genres around labels: US Renditions (Books Nippan), US Manga Corps (Central Park Media), Soft Cel (AD Vision), Video Comics (Streamline/Orion), etc. There is also a conscious effort by distributors to the home video market (Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc.) to develop the Anime category in video stores. This effort, supported by Anime companies, encourages video retailers to set aside an entire section of a store for Anime just as is currently done for Horror, Action, Comedy, etc. This has already been done in many retail locations, and has helped these store owners increase revenue from sell-through (direct purchasing) and rental.
The last aspect of marketing to cover is conventions for both retailers and Hard-core markets. Conventions are useful to Anime companies because they permit one-to-one interaction directly with the potential buyer and there is no better way to market. Special promotions, premiers and personal interaction can generate enormous good will (if done competently...), and the buzz from a convention can generate word of mouth reviews that could never be bought, and are yet, invaluable.
So why do so many companies do such a half-hearted job at conventions? Why do companies do so few? Simple: Conventions are a pain in the ass, and they are expensive. Compare the following:

Convention $/Booth (approx.) No. of Attendees

Anime Expo $400 2,000

Comic Con International* $1200 40,000

VSDA Annual $1200 10,000 retailers

*includes Comic Expo Retailer convention

Then factor in travel expenses, hotel fees, labor fees (some cons are union labor only — $40/hr), and the expenses begin to rack up quickly. For Books Nippan's booth (three tables) at Comic Con International, last year's cost was in the $10,000 range, once labor, fees, and travel expenses were all totaled up. Then there is the emotional expense. Conventions require an enormous amount of energy and often force exhibitors away from their families for extended amounts of time from weeks to even months. After several weeks of the convention season in the summer, you will find most exhibitors increasingly grumpy and short tempered. Not to mention most of the exhibitors still have regular job duties that are piling up in their absence. It is a tribute to the enormous marketing power of conventions that exhibitors bother to go to any of them.
How effective is this marketing? How do strategies differ between companies? What direction is the industry heading? Very interesting questions, but potentially lengthy answers that will be have to be addressed the next time I am the writer for RIAP Writes. Until then, dear reader, enjoy your Anime, but study those ads — are they addressed to you? If not, then who are they trying to appeal to? Are they trying to appeal to anyone, or are they just fancy product announcements? By thinking about how the companies think about you, you can see how you are regarded by the companies.