Japan Game Industry Resurgence

Japanese video games have had an amazing run over the last 20 years. They were major contributors to the early 90s big boom of unforgettable video game characters. Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Samus, Kirby, and Link top the list as some of the most beloved. Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Resident Evil, Metal Gear, and Kingdom Hearts were the biggest names in gaming towards the end of the 1990s. Japanese video games and its characters held our hearts and invaded Western shores with a brunt force that hasn’t been seen before. Recently there has been a decline in the development and sales of Japanese gaming products. http://goo.gl/VZh76E

This is in part has to do with the passing console generations. In 1994 Sony introduced the Playstation; a video game console that was the beginning of a revolution that occurred in the gaming industry. It was a console that enabled Japanese developers to move over from the dominated market of arcade games to reach the home consumer market. It had the advanced graphics and availability in enough homes to make it profitable to produce games for. Thus you saw a plethora of games that were only available on PSOne that were created by Japanese developers offering new and exciting gameplay experiences not available on other consoles at the time.

With the introduction of Playstation 2 Sony had solidified itself as a major player in the gaming market and continued to grow and expand its Japanese developer pool. By then the developers had begun making games localized and only releasing them in Japanese markets. This made the games even more exclusive and US consumers did whatever they had to do to get their hands on these games even resorting to buying Japanese PS2’s just to play those games.

By 2002 the Japanese the Japanese video game market made up 50% of the global market. Japan Firmly had the world in its palm then. By 2006 Sony released PS3, but they had a fairly poor launch. They released a year later than its competitor and had an expensive price point due to the technology inside. Basically a very rocky start and because of this the Xbox 360 had a strong foothold on the industry. Since the Xbox was created by and American company, Microsoft, you saw more and more western developers develop titles that didn’t appeal to a Japanese consumer base.

Today Japanese dev’s hold about 10% of the global market. With the release of the PS4 and Xbox One they are beginning to have faith in western consumers again because now they will be on an even playing field with their competitors in terms of technology in the consoles themselves and marketability of new IP. Japan game development has a bright future aheadhttp://goo.gl/lz3Zjx

Audi’s Big Brand Push in Entertainment

Since 2005, Audi has been trying to position itself as a top tier brand in the automotive industry. For years Audi was just that German automaker little brother following behind its older siblings. Audi brought its product to American shores but has not enjoyed the sales number that it wishes to achieve. Neither television marketing nor print ads did the trick. They needed a marketing medium that grabs the audience’s attention and at the same time puts its products in a category of extreme opulence and desirability. Only one medium allows the marketing and the money making to be done at the same time and that is film industry.

The first time I really noticed Audi cars was when it was put on screen in front of me as a main character in 2005’s Transporter 2. I mean it was like a 2-hour car commercial for the Audi A8, but man was it cool. The first film featured the protagonist (The Driver) driving a BMW 735i, at the time, which was the top of the line the company offered. It was a beauty of form and function and was the main purpose for the film. Audi realized this and lobbied to have their film featured in the sequel. It was marketing genius, but didn’t really get the exposure they wanted because that movie turned out to be a bomb. A third Transporter was made which featured the updated version of the A8. http://goo.gl/mXBnbo

It wasn’t until 2008 when Marvel was ramping up their comic book movie onslaught/takeover where Audi saw their big chance to really solidify them with the audience they wanted to capture. With the release of Iron Man, Audi entered them in to a deal that would push them to the top to the sociocultural climate. Tony Stark, the man in the iron suit, was an extremely wealthy inventor who created the armor to fight against evil villains. Coincidentally they had just put on the market one of the most affordable, attractive super cars on the planet the Audi R8 roadster. In one fell swoop Audi captured two of the most attractive incentives for their brand. The upper class clientele and the action oriented buyer looking for thrills. They hit a home run and helped promote themselves as well as the film. Since then both have been doing extremely well. The partnership continued and in every movie Tony Stark featured in going forward he was always seen driving an Audi in one-way shape or form.

Audi has positioned itself next to other famous big screen outings in recent years also, such as the Star Trek and most recently X-Men’s Wolverine. In Wolverine, Audi served the same purpose it did for Marvel’s other hero Iron Man, in which they showed that not only is a car for the sophisticated but also the action oriented.For Star Trek they knew they couldn’t feature their cars on screen since the film takes place in space they had to alter their approach and go after the lore of one of the franchises most beloved characters, Spock. Audi intelligently used this tactic to also address another one of their other issues which was old v new luxury (BMW and Mercedes being the old), they did this by pitting the old Spock Leonard Nimoy v new Spock Zachary Quinto in a battle of wits, which the character is known for being highly logical.http://goo.gl/YIHLWR

The Audi group just doesn’t stop there; they often finance the cost of the events that showcase it cars. According to leading Hollywood event planners they spend about $3 Million a year on sponsorships for various festivals and galas. They have spent $150,000 for the AFI Film Fest, $75,000 on BAFTA tea events during Globe and Emmy weekends, $200,000 for John's Oscar party and about $25,000 for a Geffen Playhouse season sponsorship, to name a few. Audi is now looking like the film industry’s market leader, a market that used to be dominated by the likes of Ford, Chevy, BMW, and Mercedes. With Audi looking the invest $17 Billion to update their vehicle line up, it looks likes an amazing beginning for wanting to be the world luxury leader by 2020.

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