In 2024, marketers need to pay attention to anime.
For decades, Japanese animation has been considered a niche interest, the domain of only otakus and basement dwellers. However, over the past few years, anime has become very mainstream, and by 2024, brands like McDonald's are starting to take center stage.
To date, anime-based marketing efforts have primarily focused on brands specific to gaming communities that have a strong natural connection with anime audiences. Similarities between the evolution of anime as a marketing channel and how brands have learned how to successfully leverage gaming in recent years, as more non-traditional brands seek to capitalize on anime's entry into the zeitgeist It may be wise to observe.
To explore why anime will explode in popularity in 2024, Digiday hosted a Twitter space on April 30th featuring leading journalists, marketers, and creators in the anime marketing field. Here are some important points.
click here You can listen to a recording of the full Twitter Space discussion. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
The brand is looking to expand further into anime
Veteran esports journalist and marketer Kelly Waananen has been tracking the rise of anime in marketing for years. He took part in a discussion on Twitter Space and pointed out that there are many similarities between the brand's approach to anime in 2024 and the brand's approach to gaming and esports in the past.
According to Waananen, McDonald's successful entry into the anime space may encourage more marketers to jump into the field in the near future. Anime is still seen as an area of experimentation for many brands, with more spending on innovation than a full-budget ingredient in its own right, but that could change as more brands get on board. expensive.
“I feel like brands are treating games the same way they were treating games maybe 10 years ago, where you dip your toe in, see some success, and then go upstairs to the fat store. I'm going back to being a cat and trying to figure out my next move,” Waananen said. “And I think we're kind of waiting for the next shoe to drop. I think this scale is going to continue to get bigger and bigger and people will continue to invest.”
Like sports games, sports anime are also ground floor for advertisers
One striking similarity between the use of anime and games by marketers is that in both cases, sports content is a relatively easy entry point for advertisers looking to integrate directly into the content itself. about it.
Sports games are a logical place for brands to advertise to players, as they simulate sports arenas where users are already accustomed to seeing ads from big brands. According to discussion participant Harry Field, a video producer and an award-nominated anime cosplayer, the sports anime “Haikyu!!'' is based on volleyball, and “All Out!!'' is based on rugby. It also includes similar opportunities for brands to participate.
“'All Out!!' has branding all over it. “Rugby balls were being used with specific brands and banners and there was collaboration going on,” Field said. “The other one is 'Yuri on Ice.' They've tied so many different ice skating brands into it. I think you've seen it in some smaller productions, like 'Naruto,' 'One Piece.' '', I have never seen it in a large-scale production like “Dragon Ball Z.''
Anime that benefited from the lockdown due to the new coronavirus infection
Another similarity between anime and gaming is that both forms of entertainment received a huge boost during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown. Forced to stay indoors, some consumers are flocking to gaming, while others are flocking to anime streaming services like Crunchyroll. In 2021 he will reach 5 million subscribers, and in 2024 he will reach more than 13 million.
The rise of geek culture during the pandemic wasn't limited to the North American market. This was a worldwide phenomenon, as Tatyana Tacka, founder of anime and gaming brand consultant Oni Vision, said on his Twitter space.
“A lot of people like to talk about the growth of anime in the West over the past four years, which is 100 percent true. But no one talks about the growth of anime over the past four years in Japan.” Mr. Takka said. “I have been to Japan many times, especially on my last trip, where anime was so prevalent and right in front of my eyes, compared to my first trip in 2017.”
Andiya Aditya, a podcaster and photographer based in Japan, joined the discussion to validate Tacca's observations.
“It's accepted in normal everyday life situations, but before, you wouldn't actually talk about anime in everyday life, with colleagues and so on,” he said. “And that has really changed.”
