At San Diego’s Comic-Con, the first insight to the movie was revealed by Marvel Studios, and remember to mark May 6, 2011 on your calendars as “Thor” storms into theaters!

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the epic adventure “Thor” spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

The screenplay for “Thor” was penned by Mark Protosevich as well as Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz, and Don Payne. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige will produce the film. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, and Marvel Studio’s Co-President, Louis D’Esposito, will executive produce.

Second Life is a great case study in social media trends. First came the huge wave of hype in 2005-2006, when every marketer and his mother felt compelled to get into the pioneering virtual world created by Linden Labs, which was touted as the future of online virtual interaction. Then came the backlash, as self-identified “original” users bemoaned the influx of newbies and corporate brands, with some even engaging in acts of virtual terrorism. And then came the anticlimax: growth slowed dramatically, many newbies and marketers lost interest, and Second Life slipped from the headlines.

Last month it was back in the news, but for all the wrong reasons, when Linden laid off 30% of its workforce to consolidate operations in North America. This spurred speculation that the end of the (virtual) world was nigh, all firmly denied by the company’s bosses, who said Second Life is doing just fine, thanks. And while it’s hard to know what the future holds, Second Life does indeed appear to be surviving — even thriving. In fact, this may be the most instructive part of the social media story arc, because (like the World of Warcraft) it’s an example of an online social network reaching equilibrium, or “maturing.”

Social media watchers tend to focus obsessively on the number of users, and there’s no question that Second Life appears to have leveled off over the last year or so. From two million in 2005, the total number of members soared to 18 million this year, but only a small fraction of these are active users. Zooming in on active users, defined as those who log in several times a month to spend at least one hour on the site, the numbers increased from about 25,000 in 2005 to roughly 700,000 in 2009-2010. In 2010 there have been peaks and valleys (with the number of active users ranging from 680,000 in February to 820,000 in April) but that still puts it in the 700,000-750,000 range — stable, maybe even growing a little bit.

Long story short: after five years it’s clear that Second Life won’t be competing with Facebook, which recently crossed the 500 million mark. But I would argue that the number of active users is only half the story. The other half of the story is what those users are doing, how much time they spend doing it, and let’s not forget about money, money, money — how much are they spending online, and how much is Linden making?

Second Life’s relatively small user base logs an impressive number of hours on the site, and the total amount of time continues to increase. From 2008-2009 the number of active users increased 16% from 600,000 to 700,000, while the total number of hours logged increased 20% from 400 million to 480 million. In the second quarter of 2010 the total time spent increased 33% over the second quarter of 2009, to 126 million hours. Active users spend an average of 100 minutes on the site during each visit, and some of these people are crazy, with reports of hardcore users spending 12 hours a day or more in-world. According to the company, users create about 600 million words in text messages and other content every day.
Then there’s the money: Sales of virtual goods continue to increase at a remarkable pace, making Second Life one of the largest markets for virtual goods next to Zynga games like Farmville and Mafia Wars. Total dollars spent on virtual goods in Second Life increased steadily from $30 million in 2005 to $344 million in 2008, then jumped again to $567 million in 2009, and so far they are up about 30% year-over-year in 2010, putting the site on course for over $700 million. Not all of this goes into Linden’s pockets, of course: several analysts pegged Linden’s 2009 revenues at $80 million-$100 million, based on user fees, subscriptions, and land sales. I don’t know how much Linden spends on server costs for Second Life, so it’s hard to know if they’re turning a profit (maybe not, which would explain the layoffs).

But regardless of Linden’s profitability, all this is important because it suggests that the Second Life user base, while relatively small, is committed and heavily engaged with the site. Turning from Second Life to the larger marketplace, I think this is an important fact for marketers to bear in mind as they deal with the continuing — indeed, accelerating — proliferation of social media. Because reach and scale aren’t everything, especially online, where the audience is highly fragmented and likely to fragment further. In this arena a small, highly-engaged niche audience may be more valuable than a large, apparently indifferent one (Facebook, I’m looking in your direction).

It’s GAME ON For Generation Y!

“Farmville now outpaces Twitter.” “One in four people plays social games online.” “More than $1.8 billion worth of virtual goods has been sold in virtual worlds.” These are just some of the headlines we see today about the popularity of online gaming, but what does this all mean for Gen Y and for brands?
Studies show that half of Gen Y plays online games, with women ages 18-34 being the most-active players and purchasers of goods in virtual worlds. In full disclosure, we have recently launched a game targeted at Gen Y women, with seven brand partners. It is easy to add more brands and is attractive for the players. It’s a win-win for both.

The eight months we spent developing this game has been a period of great learning and discovery. We have absolute certainty that there is a rabid, growing audience of Gen Y gamers that are willing to play with various brands. Here’s what we learned and how your brand can participate in the online gaming phenomenon:

You’ve got to give to get: We all want a deal and most times we will go out of our way to get one. Ever been to a warehouse sale at Barneys? The thrill of getting a deal is key and if brands can deliver an offering that either accelerates game play or adds value in virtual goods or other, they will be welcomed.
Limited edition: Create demand around your brand offering by either limiting the offer to a certain number of players, giving away a limited-edition product or providing them a way to show off to their friends. The same psychology here applies to that of people’s shopping habits. Employ some form of exclusivity in your offering and you will be more apt to get a quick response coupled with the engagement and word-of-mouth you seek.
It’s not all about you: Really, it’s not. For Gen Y, it’s all about them and their beliefs — regardless of what vehicle you market with. Specifically with gaming, it’s critical to be cognizant of why the user is there and recognize that this is not the time to disrupt them. Online advertisers have become adept at loud, in-your-face experiences. The gaming space is not the platform to do this with. Instead, be clever. The game player cares about exploration and winning. Tactfully insert yourself in their world by being thoughtful of their experience and you, too, will win.
Deliver a consistent and ongoing message: We’ve done significant research over the last few months on how brands have been integrated into games. What fascinates me most is the lack of consistent and constant messaging — I have yet to see any brand deliver an ongoing campaign on the same game with continuity.
While this space is new and it’s hard to determine what success looks like, it is the same as any medium — success will not be found in a one-off test. Let’s not forget what many years of marketing education has taught us. Although the platforms have changed, the basic fundamentals have not. Maintaining a constant, consistent and on-going message is a critical component for any long-term marketing success.

The online social gaming industry is still emerging and brands are still experimenting with how they can get involved. Although this is a relatively new phenomenon, playing games is not and the psychology of the gamer is the same as the offline game players of generations past — challenge and entertainment.

As marketers, we must take the time to understand and respect what motivates an individual to participate in game-play and then construct our campaigns to live harmoniously within this setting.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The site will remain under the management of founders Jim and Emily Greer following the closing on Aug. 1.

GameStop chief executive J. Paul Raines said, “”Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers.”

Kongregate joins GameStop’s own Jolt, an online game service whose first game includes the free-to-play Legends of Zork browser game. GameStop’s strategy is to promote its online games to the millions of people who come through the doors of its retail stores every day. Now it can also promote Kongregate’s games the same way. Kongregate has grown to 10 million users a month on the strength of its Flash-based games produced by independent game developers. Those users spend about 23 million hours a month playing free-to-play games, where users can play for free and spend real money on virtual goods as they go. Kongregate’s backers include Greylock Partners, Bezos Expeditions, and an angel group led by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

But it remains to be seen if GameStop, the world biggest game retailer with more than 6,000 stores can deal with life in the era of digital distribution, where retailers are sometimes viewed as unnecessary middlemen.

Cognito Executive Producer Daniel Burwen gave me a demonstration of the first few pages of his graphic novel Operation Ajax, which is an adaptation of Stephen Kinzer’s nonfiction book All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Animated transitions give the comic a cinematic feel, and also give the artist more control over how the page unfolds. The format provides an opportunity to make supplementary material such as photos and documents available within the relevant comics panel.

It’s different from anything I’ve seen in digital comics. Technologies like ComiXology’s “guided view” create a smooth experience by moving the reader from panel to panel, but you’re still reading your basic, old-fashioned comics page. (Comics critic Douglas Wolk wrote a persuasive essay about why the transition from printed page to iPad or iPhone can be a bit awkward.) Another startup is Graphic.ly, which has built its own reader for tablets and includes social features. Meanwhile, Marvel has also created “motion comics,” which use comics art as the foundation for an animated movie.

Operation Ajax lies somewhere in between, where you still feel like you’re reading rather than watching a movie — instead of being forced along at a movie’s pace, you can stare at a page or panel for as long as you like — but with content that you couldn’t include in print. And it has the benefit of being drawn for the iPad screen, which is smaller than most comic pages, so there’s no struggle to make the art fit.

The graphic novel is the launch project for a comics creation and reading technology developed by Tall Chair, called Active Reader. Again, the idea is to create comics specifically for the iPad, rather than to optimize existing material for the device. (Although at the end the process, artists should have pages that they can turn into a printed book as well.) Chief executive Dan Brazelton said it’s hard to compare the process of creating an Active Reader graphic novel with a print graphic novel, but he estimated that the interactive iPad version probably takes about 20 percent more work than normal.

On Operation Ajax, that work is being done by Burwen and Art Director Mike De Seve. They wrote the script together in consultation with Kinzer, De Seve is creating most of the initial art, then Burwen is translating that art into an animated iPad page. Brazelton said that some comics artists will be able to handle the iPad-ization on their own, while others will want to bring on an additional team member — he compared it to traditional comics creation, where some people are good at writing and drawing, while other form a team with a writer and an artist (and an inker and a colorist and a letterer).

The companies plan to release Operation Ajax and Active Reader sometime this fall. The book will be released in chunks, with a free preview followed by eight chapters costing about $1.99 each. That means the finished product should cost about as much as a print graphic novel.

Outside comics, Tall Chair has also created mobile games like Cowboys vs. Zombies and Warner Bros.’ Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. It has raised angel funding from the Venture Development Group and Jung Soo Kang.

Warner Bros will lead the way promoting its intellectual properties on and in the official comic-con bag that will be received by attendee.

Warner Bros. Entertainment and Comic-Con Team Up On Official Bag for Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010

One of 11 Unique Collectibles Will Be Distributed to Each Comic-Con Attendee During Official Check-In, Featuring “The Big Bang Theory,” “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Human Target,” “Nikita,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “The Looney Tunes Show,”"Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated,” “Clash of the Titans”or “Brightest Day”
BURBANK, Calif. (July 2010) — For the past four years, Warner Bros. Entertainment’s limited-edition, signature oversize canvas tote bags have been a must-have at Comic-Con, with tens of thousands of fans flocking to the Warner Bros. booth on the convention floor to snag one, and Entertainment Weekly once dubbing them the Con’s “ubiquitous accessory.” This year, Warner Bros. Entertainment (WBE) and Comic-Con are teaming up to put one directly in the hands of every attendee, with the Studio signing on as sponsor of the Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010 Official Bag.

•For Comic-Con 2010, the Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing (WWTVM) unit has created 11 unique designs for the bags, with one side featuring the official Comic-Con 2010 artwork designed by WWTVM and the other side representing titles from across a number of WBE divisions, including Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment
•More than 125,000 collectible bags (24″X29″) have been produced and will be distributed to attendees when they check in at Comic-Con throughout the five days of the convention, including Preview Night
WBE and Comic-Con are unveiling artwork for four of the WBE bags, as well as artwork for the official Comic-Con side of the bags:
◦Warner Bros. Animation series “The Looney Tunes Show,” coming soon to Cartoon Network
◦Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s “Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame,” inspired by Warner Bros. Animation’s hit animated series based upon characters from DC Comics. The Videogame is available on Wii and Nintendo DS September 7. New episodes of “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” air Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network, and “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” Season 1, Part 1 is available on DVD August 17.
◦DC Comics’ best-selling “Brightest Day” comic book series
◦Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray™, DVD and digital download release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Clash of the Titans,” available July 27
•To download images of “The Looney Tunes Show,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame,” “Brightest Day” and “Clash of the Titans” bag sides, as well as the official Comic-Con 2010 artwork side of the bags, please click here:
www.thewb.com/comiccon/officialbags2010
•To download images of the creative fashions that fans have put together utilizing the Warner Bros. bags in the past, please click here:
www.thewb.com/comiccon/bagswardrobe
•Other sponsored bags will feature the following titles:
◦Warner Bros. Television series “The Big Bang Theory,” “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Human Target,” “Nikita” and “The Vampire Diaries”
◦Warner Bros. Animation series “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”
•For additional information about Warner Bros. Television activities at Comic-Con, follow us on Twitter @TheWBdotcom and use hashtag #WBSDCC, log on to www.thewb.com/comiccon, and read news at www.thewb.com/blog.
Created annually since 2006 by the Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing unit specifically for Comic-Con, the highly sought-after totes provide devoted fans with a handy carrying case for all the merchandise they take away from the Con and serve as mobile billboards for a selection of the Studio’s key Comic-Con titles.

Cartoon Network Enterprises and licensee Jazwares will reveal the first action figure for animated TV series “Robot Chicken,” which will lead up to the launch of a toy line. The 5-inch figure will be available this week, as well as an Adult Swim swag bag and an exclusive 2010 Comic-Con T-shirt. “Robot Chicken” co-creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich will also be on hand to sign autographs.

Toynami, which recently became the master licensee for UNKL, will also have a presence on the show floor. At Comic-Con, they will debut three toy lines with characters that include Gastro-Normous (the introductory character in the Dad Gummit Blobs line, which will be exclusively for sale at the show), SearchR and Viking. In addition, Fifth Sun has also recently partnered with UNKL for an apparel line (tees and hoodies), which will premiere in February at MAGIC. Licensing Street represents UNKL.

USA Network also returns to promote its original series “Burn Notice,” “Psych” and “White Collar” with cast- and producer-led panels.

Archaia, a graphic novel publisher, will be showcasing various properties and Archaia will host over 40 writers and artists for autograph sessions and meet-and-greet opportunities at its booth at Comic-Con …
GrapevineStar Entertainment will be at Comic-Con highlighting its MeMe and My World, Tex DunRight, World’s Favorite Cowboy and London Manga properties. Comic-Con has become one of the centers for new content and intellectual properties for film and TV… says Jacob R. Miles III, CEO of GrapevineStar

Meanwhile at this past weekend’s London Comic-Con, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Comics featured an exhibition of cover art and an original prop display, including the Tumbler Batmobile from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. WBCP worked with London Film and Comic-Con to celebrate the 75th anniversary of DC Comics. The collaboration formed part of a yearlong slate of activities taking place around the world to mark the anniversary. The exhibition of DC Comics cover art from the golden age of comics through to the current day, featuring popular DC super heroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern, were exhibited in a dedicated DC gallery that will be branded with DC wall murals from new WBCP licensee Coolerwalls. The DC Comics exhibition featured original movie props from DC movies Batman (1989), Supergirl (1984) and Superman (1978). Visiting fans also had the opportunity to pose for pictures with life-size models of Batman and Superman, and there was an on-site shop selling a range of DC-branded products, including wall murals from Coolerwalls, posters from Pyramid and mugs and bags from Half Moon Bay. London Film and Comic-Con was held at Earls Court

Social Gaming

Social Gaming and Virtual Goods
US market size for virtual goods will reach $1.6 billion in 2010, with social gaming contributing $835 million of that total. The report, “Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming” is the latest in-depth study in the Inside Virtual Goods series, co-authored by Justin Smith and Charles Hudson.

“2009 was the year that casual games like Zynga’s popular FarmVille took over the major social platforms and changed the way millions of people socialized with friends online. Casual games introduced a rich, new way of interacting with friends on social networks, and saw the highest engagement numbers that the online entertainment industry has ever witnessed,” Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network’s InsideFacebook.com & InsideSocialGames.com, says. “With tens of millions of returning users, and millions of new visitors daily, it is no wonder that the social gaming industry saw significant M&A activity: an up-to-$400 million acquisition of Playfish by Electronic Arts, and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional venture investments. Social games are now impacting businesses across the media landscape,” adds Charles Hudson, VP of Business Development at Serious Business, and host of the annual Virtual Goods Summit.

The second research report in the Inside Virtual Goods series, “Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010″ concludes that social games will alone make up half of all virtual goods revenue in the United States this year.

To get in and fully understand and get in the virtual goods and social gaming game, here are some must attend conferences and events to be held this year:

Virtual Goods Summit 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM (PST)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM (PST)

The Virtual Goods Summit is focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets. The market for virtual goods continues to grow – join us for two days of engaging talks and panels designed to highlight important trends in this fast growing market. With estimates suggesting this market will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, this is a must-attend event for those in the games, social media, and entertainment markets.

Virtual goods beyond games
Designing free-to-play games for maximum engagement
The virtual goods market in Asia
The virtual goods market in Europe
Virtual goods and mobile applications
Free-to-play MMOs and virtual worlds
Monetization infrastructure for virtual goods
Best practices for engagement and player lifecycle management

Social Gaming Summit
11th November, 2010
The first London Social Gaming Summit is a one day event focused on the intersection of games and the social web. The event focuses on helping social games developers build, monetise, and grow their social games. We’re bringing together the leaders in free-to-play games, social networking, and payments infrastructure for a full day of panels and talks.

Virtual Goods Summit
12th November, 2010
The first London Virtual Goods Summit is a one day event focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets. The market for virtual goods continues to grow – join us for engaging talks and panels designed to highlight important trends in this fast growing market. With estimates suggesting this market will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, this is a must-attend event for those in the games, social media, and entertainment markets.

GrapevineStar

MTV Networks Acquires Social Express, Forays Into Social Gaming           by Gavin O’Malley, from MediaPost
Hoping to refresh Nickelodeon Digital’s offerings, MTV Networks on Thursday agreed to buy games developer Social Express. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to MTV, the acquisition marks its first entry into the popular social gaming space.

Per the deal, MTV Networks will develop social games based on original IP, as well as shows and characters from MTV, Nickelodeon and its other brands, with the first games expected to be introduced in the third quarter of the year.

MTV Networks also expected to leverage Social Express to launch a publishing platform for independent game developers.

Social Express will be integrated into Nickelodeon Digital, with Social Express co-founder and CEO Tony Espinoza overseeing social gaming strategy and development as vice president and general manager of social gaming for MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group.

Neil Souza, co-founder of Social Express and FoulPlay Media, will be vice president of technology, social games.

Both will report to Dave Williams, senior vice president and general manager of games, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, who reports to Stephen Youngwood, executive vice president for Digital, Nickelodeon /MTVN Kids & Family Group.

“They are set to be a key part of our growth strategy,” Youngwood said regarding Social Express and MTV’s broader gaming strategy. In May, MTV Networks game sites attracted more than 22 million unique visitors and ranked as the number one destination in the online gaming category.

MTV Networks game sites include AddictingGames.com, Shockwave.com, Nick.com Games, Nick.com Arcade, Neopets, GameTrailers, and Xfire.

The acquisition of Social Express is the latest gaming initiative for the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, which has also launched AddictingGames on the iPhone with the AG iNetwork and introduced a virtual goods platform to the site in the past year.

Based in San Francisco, Social Express’s veteran management team boasts former executives and developers from Apple, AOL, Yahoo and Zynga.

Casual games are serious business these days. For one, they are believed to be largely responsible for continued traffic gains at Facebook. Over the past year, traffic to the social network increased 185% compared to the same week last year. As a result, Facebook surpassed Google in terms of overall traffic for the week ending March 13, according to Hitwise.

Perhaps in response, Google in April announced the acquisition of an Israeli startup named Labpixies, which develops casual games for both the Web and mobile devices. Terms of the deal were not released, but an Israeli news source reported that Google paid $25 million for the company.

Another Company acquiring Social Gaming companies is Grapevine Star Entertainment, “Social Games are at their infancy, the most popular social games will be the birthplace of new media’s next licensable character based intellectual properties”….says Jacob R Miles, Chairman of GrapevineStar

GrapevineStar is launching a social game strategy that leverages its cause and character based intellectual properties. The company is currently reviewing social gaming companies. Interested social game companies should contact the company at info@grapevinestar.com

If you thought that Lady Gaga’s large doe-eyes in her “Bad Romance” video looked just a little well, too doelike, that’s because they were. Her eyes were digitally altered to appear bigger.

FDA has not approved new contact lenses that give the appearance of wider eyes. But that hasn’t stopped the exaggerated, cartoonish look from catching on among the fashion-conscious, creating a demand for special circle contact lenses that are sold illegally in the U.S. — which doctors say could be dangerous for those who wear them.

Like any contact lens, prolonged wear can lead to infections that, although rare, can be serious, experts said. If the contacts don’t fit properly — too tight or too loose — they can scratch the cornea, which can cause vision problems.

“Lady Gaga’s broad creative talents and the way she connects with her fans in her own unique manner made her a natural choice for Polaroid,” says Stephen Miller, co-chief executive officer of PLR IP Holdings. “Polaroid has had a special connection with its customers for years, we are delighted to be partnering with Lady Gaga to continue with that tradition and bring new and exciting products to the next generation.”

Rubie’s Costume Company to Make Lady Gaga Costumes

Rubie’s Costume Company has been granted the license for Lady Gaga, licensed by Bravado International Group. Pop star and musician Lady Gaga is known for her wild collection of outfits. Her signature style includes wigs of all length and styles and her unique couture costumes.

Rubie’s is now the worldwide licensee of Lady Gaga Halloween costumes and accessories. The costumes will be available for Halloween 2010.

The cost of registration includes a pre-conference bonus session on social media on July 14 from 2 to 5 p.m., hosted by Reed Smith LLP. You will hear about a digital/social media case study from Nick Harris, director, professional services at Benjamin Moore & Co; listen to a panel of top client and agency executives discuss who owns social media; and learn about social media and the law.

If you can’t travel to the conference, you can link with colleagues digitally. On July 15—for the first time, the ANA is offering a live-streaming option. Either online or in person, attendees will be able to text message in questions and comments for speakers as well as participate in live mobile votes!

Details:

Date: July 15, 2010
Location: Grand Hyatt New York, 109 East 42nd Street at Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY 10017
Member rate: $495 for a single registration or $495 for the live-streaming option.
Member corporate rate: $995 for three attendees from the same company.
Nonmember rate: $595 for a single registration or $595 for the live-streaming option.
Register: For additional industry experts, agenda details, and to register click here or email registration@ana.net.

“This is our first time exhibiting at the Anime Expo, and we think that our lineup of titles launching over the next six months is the perfect fit for the show’s attendees,” said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. “We have highly-anticipated new entries in the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series with Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar and Rune Factory 3, the triumphant return of the Lufia series with Lufia: Return of the Sinistrals, and the fun and fright-filled rhythm game, Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove.”

Information on each title is listed below. For more information on Natsume or any of these titles, please visit www.natsume.com

Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar (DS)

The bazaar is now open! Zephyr Town’s bazaar was once the grandest in the world, drawing customers and peddlers from all four corners of the Earth. These days, though, the bazaar has more tumbleweeds than customers. Maybe you can turn its fortunes around! Raise animals, harvest crops, craft rare delicacies, and then sell your wares at your very own shop! Can you bring prosperity back to Zephyr Town?

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (DS)

The Sinistrals, four beings of legendary power, have returned to bring humanity to its knees. It’s up to the fiery monster hunter Maxim and his eclectic band of adventurers to put a stop to them once and for all. Their adventures will take them across an expansive world packed with dangerous enemies, powerful items, and diabolical puzzles!

Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)

It’s an adventure that will transform you! The people of Sharance and their horned Univir neighbors are embroiled in a bitter conflict. An age-old hatred between humans and monsters divides them. You are an adventurer with an unusual secret: you’re half human and half monster. Are you the one who can unite the humans and the Univir? And will you be in time to stop the growing evil force that threatens to destroy them both?

Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove (DS)

Gabrielle’s having a bad day. She sneezed her soul right out of her body! She’ll have to travel to Monster Town, the home of all things that go bump in the night, to get help. Only by busting out the ghostliest dance moves and thrilling and chilling people will she be able to scare up the power she needs to get herself back into her body! It’s a spooktacular rhythm adventure!

For more information on any of these titles, please visit www.natsume.com. You can also follow all of the latest Natsume news at www.natsume.com/facebook and www.twitter.com/natsume_inc.

About Natsume

Natsume Inc. is a worldwide developer and publisher that specialize in unique and family-oriented interactive entertainment software for a variety of platforms. Most known for publishing Reel Fishing and Harvest Moon, Natsume is dedicated to producing quality video games. For more information about Natsume Inc., visit www.natsume.com

Grapevine Star Entertainment, (www.grapevinestar.com) based in the Dallas-Ft worth area has been working with intellectual property owners in South America, Korea, Japan and China to help them integrate and leverage intellectual properties and new media to generate licensing and merchandis revenue. Visit GrapevineStar at the Seoul Character & Licensing Fair 2010. Are you looking for a gateway into the Korean contents market?

The Seoul Character & Licensing Fair has become one of Asia’s largest licensing exhibitions. For the past 8 years, the licensing exhibition encompassing content business and industry has provided information about trends and issues to relevant industries. The exhibition deals with all kinds of items for licensing including characters, animations, comics, games, broadcasting and entertainment. It has made progress as Asia’s largest licensing trade fair with participation of over 190,000 and 170 companies at home and abroad every year.

Seoul Character & Licensing Fair 2010, the largest of its scale, will take place on July 21(Wed) ~ 25(Sun) at Hall A, B and C, Coex, Seoul. The fair is expected to be attended by many outstanding businesses and companies at home and abroad in dealing with characters and contents. Especially, various B2B programs such as showcases, business meetings and conferences are added to provide you with ideal business environment.

We wholeheartedly welcome exhibitors and buyers from all over the world. Our aim is to provide participants with international networking opportunities for direct communication, thereby contributing to your successful business. We will offer you a professional support from preparation to the end of the fair.

Michael Jackson Estate Secures Official Merchandiser
Bravado, a global music merchandiser, has been chosen as the official manufacturer and distributor of Michael Jackson-branded products worldwide. “Bravado is the perfect partner for the estate of Michael Jackson merchandise,” says John Branca and John McClain, co-special administrators for the estate of Michael Jackson, in a joint statement. “The reputation of Tom Bennett and his team for creating compelling merchandise and providing strong product support is stellar. We are delighted to be working with them.”
A collection of licensed product is already available at retailers such as Hot Topic, Target, Old Navy and JCPenney, as well as online at www.michaeljacksonmerch.com. The line of more than 200 items includes T-shirts, “Thriller”-inspired jackets, “Who’s bad?” onesies, sunglasses, handbags and novelty items.

“We are thrilled to expand our services to become the exclusive merchandiser for Michael Jackson-related products,” says Tom Bennett, chief executive officer of Bravado. “Creating this new line alongside Michael was a privilege of a lifetime; it truly celebrates Michael’s unmistakable style and irreplaceable talent, and helps commemorate and preserve the legacy that is Michael Jackson.” The deal expands upon another with AEG Live, which had Bravado as the exclusive merchandiser for Jackson’s London tour.

“Michael Jackson merchandise will follow the leads of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Tupac expanding and growing for many years to come” says Jacob R. Miles III,  CEO of GrapevineStar Entertainment, a new media, licensing and products focused company.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2010-2014, global entertainment and media spending is expected to rise from $1.3 trillion to $1.7 trillion by 2014, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0%. The US E&M market is expected to grow at 3.8% CAGR reaching $517 billion in 2014, from $428 billion in 2009. Fast changing consumer behavior is expected to be the catalyst of the entertainment and media industry change over the next five years,

Ken Sharkey, US leader, entertainment, media & communications practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, notes that “… the digital pace of change has proven to be even quicker than anticipated with consumers embracing new media… and digital downloads at often-unexpected speeds… the continued fragmentation of the E&M sector will fuel greater experimentation by both established industry giants and niche players… ”

Digital services continue to be the primary growth engine, but traditional revenue streams are expected to remain significantly larger throughout the forecast period. The industry will need to embrace digital not as a competitor to traditional services, but as a complement. Digital spending in the US is expected to account for 26% of all E&M spending in 2014, up from 19% in 2009.

While there are signs of a rebound, advertising is unlikely to return to former levels. By 2014, the US advertising spend is expected to still be 9% below its level in 2007. Overall US advertising is expected to increase at a 2.6 % CAGR from $159 billion in 2009 to $180 billion in 2014. In the US, Internet advertising is expected to surpass newspaper advertising spend in 2010.

Advertising spending for Internet, television, radio, out-of-home, and video games are expected to be larger in 2014 than in 2009, while consumer magazines, newspapers, directories and trade magazines are expected to be smaller. These projections reflect the market fragmentation and consumer behavioral changes. The advertising industry is responding to consumers’ shifting attention and migrating towards total marketing or total brand communication. Brands are changing their focus from advertising on a medium, to marketing through, and with, content.

Consumer feedback and usage provides the only reliable guide to the commercial viability of products and services, and the global consumer base is being used as a test-bed for new offerings and consumption models. PwC has identified three themes that are expected to emerge from changing consumer behavior and the industry must anticipate and pre-empt the needs and wants of consumers.

Rising power of mobility and devices: Advances in technology are expected to see increasingly converged, multi-functional mobile devices come of age as a consumption platform by the end of 2011. By 2014, US mobile Internet access subscribers are projected to increase to 96.1 million, a 40% CAGR from 2009.
Growing dominance of Internet experience over all content consumption: Increasingly, the consumer has moved beyond thinking of the Internet as an end in itself, and expects all forms of media to embed the convenience, immediacy and interactivity of the Internet. People are already consuming magazines and newspapers on Internet-enabled tablets, and streaming personalized music services in preference to buying physical CDs.
Increasing engagement and readiness to pay for content-driven by improved consumption experiences and convenience: Consumers are more willing to pay for content when accompanied by convenience and flexibility in usage, personalization and a differentiated experience that cannot be created elsewhere. Local relevance is also expected to enhance the content providers’ ability to charge.
Digital migration and consumer behavior changes have put extreme pressure on existing business models. The proliferation of platforms and rising consumer expectations mean companies can no longer ‘be everything.’

“The industry must radically rethink its approach to monetizing content in capturing new revenue sources, from transactions or from participation with others operating in the evolving digital value chain… ” added Ken Sharkey.

Segment highlights In the US:

Internet access and Internet advertising is expected to continue to outperform the other E&M segments, with 8.8 % and 7.7% CAGR, respectively
Video games (6.4% CAGR)
TV subscriptions (6.5% CAGR)
TV advertising (5.3% CAGR)
Radio (4.6% CAGR),
Filmed entertainment (3.6% CAGR)
Out-of-home advertising (3.2% CAGR)
Consumer and educational book publishing (2.5% CAGR)
Business-to-business publishing (0.9% CAGR)
Recorded music (-2.4 CAGR)
Newspaper publishing (-2.8 CAGR)
Consumer magazine publishing (-0.5 CAGR)
Overall, US consumer/end-user spending is expected to grow by 3.7% CAGR

Almost three-quarters of chief financial officers at major entertainment and media companies say digital and mobile represent the industry’s biggest growth opportunities, despite a challenging business climate.

CFOs say they are finally seeing measurable growth in digital revenue even as declining sales from traditional media and the economic downturn combine to leave overall industry revenue stagnant, according to a new Ernst & Young report.

Figuring out how to manage that shift while maintaining pricing is the difficult balancing act they face. “Revenues are dropping due to the unbundling of media and the reduction of per-unit pricing, challenging CFOs to identify innovative ways to reach their financial objectives,” said John Nendick, global media and entertainment leader for Ernst & Young. “However, as the demand for digitally delivered entertainment continues to increase significantly, CFOs feel optimistic about revenue potential.”

But they can’t be happy with the downward pricing trends. The consulting firm estimates that by 2012, the average per-unit price of video and music content will decrease by almost 25% from the per-unit price in 2009. That’s on the heels of a 55% and 12% drop, respectively, in the prices of music and video between 2006 and 2009.

Total home video and music spending this year — including digital and physical products — is estimated at $28.5 billion, down from $36.4 billion four years ago.

The Ernst & Young study, which surveys CFOs at 75 global media and entertainment companies, also revealed that executives have aggressively adopted cost-cutting measures to offset contracting revenue and view technology as a way to produce content faster and more cheaply.

More than two-thirds of CFOs consider that emerging media platforms, such as e-books and mobile content, will have the greatest impact on the industry in the next two to three years. Underscoring the rise of digital media, Ernst & Young projects that 27% of households worldwide will have broadband connections by the end of the year and 55% will have 3G devices by year’s end.

The firm’s index of digital media users, growing at an annual rate of 32%, is expected to reach 2.2 billion by 2011 — more than double the total for 2007. To keep up with new media trends, CFOs say getting real-time information on where consumers are heading will help their companies better adapt product offerings, keep pace with current demand and anticipate future trends.

But the report warns that even as companies experiment with new business models, “they need to focus on maintaining revenues in the areas that have been their mainstay in decades past. CFOs cannot forsake traditional earning in their quest for the digital jackpot.”

Executives surveyed in the Ernst & Young study spanned companies including News Corp., The New York Times Co., ABC, Facebook, Hulu, Interpublic, Major League Baseball, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

LIMA) today announced that The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second installment of Summit Entertainment’s blockbuster film series based on the popular vampire romance novels, was named License of the Year at last night’s Opening Night Awards Ceremony at Licensing International Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. In addition, licensing programs supporting the Twilight property were honored in the entertainment and retail awards categories.

In all, LIMA presented 16 International Licensing Excellence Awards recognizing the best and most successful licensed properties and products in seven categories: Art, Character/Toy, Corporate, Film/Television/Celebrity/Entertainment, Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment, Promotion and Retailer. Nominations were solicited from across the licensing industry and winners chosen by a vote of the LIMA membership.

“This year’s International Licensing Excellence Award winners include classic brands such as Barbie and Scrabble as well as new properties and products that are popular with a wide variety of audiences,” said Charles Riotto, President of LIMA. “The association congratulates all of our winners, who exemplify the creativity of our industry and the strength of licensing as a brand builder.”

All awards are based on calendar year 2009. The winners, by category, are:

ART
• Best Art Program: Paul Frank
• Best Art Licensee: LF USA’s Kids Headquarters Investments Division (for Paul Frank Apparel)

CHARACTER/TOY BRAND
• Best Character/Toy Brand Program: Barbie (Mattel, Inc.)
• Best Character/Toy Brand Licensee – Hard Goods: Digital Blue (for LEGO electronics)
• Best Character/Toy Brand Licensee – Soft Goods: Mighty Fine (for Peanuts T-shirts)

CORPORATE
• Best Corporate Brand Program: Food Network
• Best Corporate Brand Licensee – Hard Goods: Creative Designs International, a Division of JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (for Black & Decker Junior role-play products)
• Best Corporate Brand Licensee – Soft Goods: adidas Originals (for Vespa footwear and apparel)

FILM, TELEVISION, CELEBRITY OR ENTERTAINMENT
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Program: The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Licensee – Hard Goods: Cardinal Industries, Inc. (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon The Movie Board Game)
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Licensee – Soft Goods: National Entertainment Collectibles Association (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon apparel and accessories)

SPORTS AND SPORTS-THEMED ENTERTAINMENT
• Best Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment Program: ESPN
• Best Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment Licensee: Electronic Arts (for FIFA videogames)

PROMOTION
• Best Licensed Promotion: Scrabble at Subway (Hasbro, Inc.)

RETAILER
• Best Retailer: Nordstrom (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon)

OVERALL BEST LICENSED PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment, LLC)

Hassenfelds Inducted into LIMA Licensing Industry Hall of Fame
Following the awards presentation the licensing industry honored the lifetime achievements of licensing industry pioneers Alan G. Hassenfeld and the late Stephen Hassenfeld of Hasbro, Inc. Among the first to recognize the impact toys and games could have in telling a story, the Hassenfelds built the company into a top toy licensing partner for many brands, and many of Hasbro’s own brands have become licensing juggernauts in their own right. Noted for their philanthropy, the Hassenfelds have been involved in hundreds of charitable and social causes through The Hasbro Children’s Foundation and other endeavors.

Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation Charity of Choice for 7th Consecutive Year
For the seventh consecutive year, LIMA selected the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation (CBTF) as its charity of choice. The Foundation works to improve the treatment, quality of life, and long-term outlook for children with brain and spinal cord tumors. All proceeds from sales of a special tribute book honoring the Hassenfelds and the Licensing Excellence Awards nominees were donated to the CBTF.

We’re moving past the recession, but digital now faces an even bigger challenge: an innovation crisis. Starcom CEO Lisa Donohue discusses how a secret weapon will help the industry thrive again.

Though it’s only been two years of managing recessionary business issues, it seems like a decade must have passed in terms of the changes weathered and obstacles overcome in the digital industry. Yet the need for change is what digital was founded on, and for those nimble professionals ready to embrace the opportunities it can bring, today may be nothing less than a renaissance for advertising innovation.

“It’s our time to seize the day,” says Lisa Donohue, CEO of Starcom USA, during her keynote presentation at the iMedia Agency Summit in Austin, Texas. Donohue contends that with clients reassessing the new industry landscape and realizing the increasing need for new ideas, models, and partnerships, digital is tragically mired in outdated structures, processes, and policies that are creating an innovation crisis.

The good news, says Donohue, is that the industry already has the power to steer and control the crisis, and just needs to place more of a priority on strategies that embrace change, reward experimentation, and let creativity lead the way for others to follow.

“The recession really was good for our industry,” says Donohue. “For all the pain it caused, it gave us a clean slate. We can push the reset button on our industry. We can begin from square one where we can reinvent ourselves.”

In the social space, Starcom is adjusting by learning how to keep pace with customers, rather than focusing on what other players in the space are doing. She feels that agencies must first build the necessary tools to understand the consumer mindset and to know what behaviors they are changing. She also believes that to develop these tools and adaptation strategies, change first needs to come from within. “We need to eliminate labels between creative and media, between campaigns and advertising, between traditional and digital,” she says. “These limit us. We need to be more open source. We need to pull information from both within and outside of our own companies.”

The new world order requires new business models

Donohue believes there are four Cs that should be the focal point of the flexible, creative business models that the digital agency of tomorrow needs to be founded on: community, conversation, content, and currency.

Community. We must renew our focus on how to join, build, and communicate with groups of people, based on how those people are doing this in their own social circles.

Conversation. Agencies need to work harder to find and participate in a natural connection with consumers.

Currency. We need to be taking a good, hard look at how we earn loyalty and attention through a dialogue. This applies both to our consumer outreach and among the employees of our own organization.

Content. Content will be the key to the future of digital. We need to stop thinking about our jobs as a means to create advertising and start thinking in terms of how we can create content and messaging opportunities.

Learning to embrace change

Donohue says she takes a look at the capabilities Starcom needs to build to address the future on a daily basis. “The recession allows us to focus on this. The limited resources we’ve had to work with are empowering us to be more creative.” Donohue also stresses the need to consider data to be an aid that can unlock insights into our creative mission, rather than an impediment. “We can use it to prove our worth, rather than explain our value [to clients],” she says.

In order to drive this shift in perception, Donohue contends that we need to develop a new entrepreneurism — and that it all boils down to talent.

But is talent also in crisis in digital marketing? While there is certainly no shortage of innovative minds and creative problem solvers, the industry needs to start fostering business cultures that let entrepreneurial minds take the lead in the industry’s forward momentum.

“Our industry has operated in a walled garden for too long. We hire people from the same old pools of advertising programs. Job descriptions haven’t changed much in 10 years. But walled gardens don’t last forever. Smart people chafe at being restricted,” says Donohue. “What we do isn’t a mystery. We need to invite others in to see how it works and create new ideas.”

How we need to change

Donohue points to three key areas where change should start: structure, culture, and recognition. We need to break down the old world hierarchy to make room for talent to thrive. We need to move from organizational cultures that focus on job descriptions and segmented responsibilities to positions that allow for shared experiences and responsibilities. And we need to shift from recognizing the accomplishments of our team members through financial compensation to a system that provides a variety of meaningful rewards.

“Company leaders are not determined by title or length of service, but rather by how they respect and support each other within the organization,” Donohue says. “It doesn’t all have to be about the money. The next generation of leaders will be about learning and experience.”

Donohue closed by reminding Summit attendees that no matter what the specific reason was that drew them to this industry, there is a commonality: the need to be challenged intellectually and creatively. And this vital quest to realize the possibilities of imagination is the lens through which we must view tomorrow’s digital marketing industry.

“At the heart of this, we are all problem solvers. We want to find creative solutions to the business challenges we face. Now, we need to take those same skills and apply them to our industry itself,” Donohue says. “In leadership, you have to model the behaviors that you seek.”

Jodi Harris is senior editor at iMedia Connection.

Want to hear the latest from this week’s iMedia Agency Summit? Follow the conversation on Twitter #iMediaSummit.

The greatest Culture Content Trade Market in Asia!!

About Asia Content Entertainment (ACE) Fair

ACE Fair is the global event for buying, selling, financing, licensing and distributing cultural Contents across all platforms. It provides one of the largest Cultural contents trade markets in Asia by offering excellent opportunities to showcase cultural contents to Asia’s key decision makers.

Do not miss out on the opportunity to network with leading attendees from all over the world at ACE Fair.

Exhibit at ACE Fair?

ACE Fair is your opportunity to increase brand awareness, enter new markets and realize the revenue potential of your property. In just four days, meet with people from exhibitors and buyers from areas of Broadcast * Audiovisual * Game * Character * Animation * Edutainment Contents and Licensing in the world and make deals to put your best ideas on shelves across the globe.

Overview of ACE Fair 2010
Title : ACE Fair 2010 (Asia Content & Entertainment Industry Fair 2010)

Duration : September 9(Thu) ~ 12(Sun), 2010
Venue : Kimdaejung Convention Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

Organizer : Gwangju Metropolitan City

Management : Kimdaejung Convention Center (KDJCC)

Gwangju Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency (GITCT)

Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)

Honam Cable Television and Telecommunications Association(HCTA)

Gwangju Design Center (GDC)

Sponsors : Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea (MCST)

Korea Culture and Contents Agency (KOCCA)

Korea Cable Television Association (KCTA)

Korea Communications Commission (KCC)

Korea Radio Promotion Agency (KORPA)

Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA)

Korea Association of Game Industry (KAOGI)

Media Sponsors : Guide to the Licensing World, I Love Character, Character goods,

Rakhshan Movies Network

Exhibits : Broadcast • Audiovisual • Game • Character • Animation •

Edutainment Content • Licensing

* Special Exhibition : 3D Technology and Display Exhibition

Conferences : 3D World Conference (Organized by GITCT)

Asia Culture Forum (Organized by MCST)

Exchange Forum of International Cultural Industry Cities (Organized by MCST)

Studies of Strategies for New Market Place Expansion (Organized by SMBA)

Lectures by Cultural Industry Experts (Organized by GITCT)

Global Game Industry Development Forum (Organized by KAOGI)

Licensing Expo : Business Matching for Cultural Content Buyers and Sellers

Events : Gwangju e-Sport Festival (Organized by GITCT)

Gwangju Cultural Content Showcase (Organized by GITCT)

The 3rd National Youth Broadcasting Content Producing Contest (Organized by KDJCC)

The 4th International Character Design Competition (Organized by GDC)

2010 ACE Content Award (Organized by KDJCC), and Exhibitors’ Various Events

Result of ACE Fair 2009

Early bird discount

The exhibitor registration closes on July31. If determined to participate, exhibitors are advised to register early. The 20% early bird discount ends on May 31. Registration is simple. Just access to the official ACE Fair website (www.acefair.or.kr) and register! Don’t miss the precious opportunity to make your presence at Asia’s most significant contents trade market.

Booth information

Category
Size
Fee
Note
Special Early Bird rate

Space Only
3m×3m(9㎡)
US$ 1,500/

Booth
Space Only
US$ 1,200/

Booth

Shell Scheme
US$ 2,000/

Booth
Space and basic installing tools
US$ 1,600/

Booth

*Shell scheme Booth, Security Service and Directory Publication (Korean& English) Charge included.

*Minimum Participation Unit: 1 Booth (3m×3m,9㎡)

*Early Bird Fee: 20% discount of the application fee by May 31, 2010.

If you want to know more about ACE Fair 2010, please visit our website, www.acefair.or.kr, e-mail me at ace_en@acefair.or.kr or call to +82-62-611-2247 with feeling free.

Sincerely,
Holly Kim
International Sales Team of ACE Fair

With Yahoo!’s recent acquisition of Associated Content, the controversial new category dubbed “content farming” moves into the mainstream. At our last OMMA Behavioral conference, we devoted a “Grill the Vendors” panel to these companies, including Associated Content, Demand Media and AOL’s Seed project. Understandably, all three companies took exception the term.

Generally, these companies are leveraging the search-driven content engine economy to create and push media that people want into the Internet bloodstream. In some cases, their libraries are filled with user-generated nano-niche content that fills specific needs for how-to material other publishers don’t carry.

In other cases, the companies are deftly reading the search trends to anticipate and then commission useful content. There is nothing outlandish about crafting content that anticipates user needs. Several traditional media providers scout under-served search terms in order to craft packages that will perform well in searches.

But many publishers complain “content farms” deliver mediocre content that is so well optimized for search, it crowds out the quality. Actually, you have to wonder why publishers with their own long tails of archived online content aren’t doing more to feed the search economy material from their own “farms.”

That is what a Idealab spinoff Perfect Market, Inc. is trying to achieve. The company evolved from a frustration among some traditional media companies that weren’t getting enough from the search economy. “We always gave the search ad opportunity short shrift,” admits Robertson Barrett, Perfect Markets Chief Strategy Officer and a veteran of Tribune Interactive, Time Inc. and Primedia. “You will generally see search ads at the bottom of pages, and they may not be very relevant, especially at news sites.”

The search-driven news economy has created duel audiences at many news sites. First, there are the brand loyalists coming to a specific news provider and generating value via long hang times and many page views. On the other hand, masses of drive-by users are coming off of search, usually to a specific page for a single hit before they are gone.

Publishers know how to monetize their well-defined loyal users (via targeted, high CPM placements, email, etc.), but they have not figured out how to monetize all of that search traffic. “Our idea is that people coming through the search engines to your site should have a different experience based on what they want,” says Barrett.

The search-driven customer is entering a site from a different mind-set, usually in research mode and in need of more evergreen content. Demand Media and others have built their businesses serving that user with the right content at the right time. But Barrett contends that traditional publishers are leaving money on the table by not realizing some of their own travel, business, auto or other content could fill this need.

Barrett uses current partner LA Times as an example of traditional media being able to play the content farm game. On a search for travel to Buenos Aires, Demand Media had already created an article that was prominent in search results and involved tips for packing and planning travel to Latin America. But the newspaper also had in its archives a multipart series on South American travel and a Buenos Aires itinerary.

The Perfect Match system uses algorithms to see what topics are not only in high demand but also have the highest revenue potential from contextually relevant search ads. They will host and create pages for publishers that optimize that material and that are also optimized for the search user rather than the brand loyalist.

“Intent-driven traffic has specific things they are looking for — the subject not the brand,” says Barrett. To maximize the revenue from that user, you want a page that will emphasize CPC advertising that best targets the intent that brought the user in the side door. And so the new landing page expressly for search-driven customers will have contextual text ads placed much more visibly than they would be on a standard page of the Web site.

Part of the model is that Perfect Match helps give search engines more granular information about the page to render better advertising. And they can help surface the keywords on pages that are falling under the radar. “We can expose more content to the ad networks so they crawl the pages better.”

But the page for intent-driven traffic also makes better use of the host publisher’s own content. “We know there are semantic clusters around relevant ideas that have high revenue potential,” he says. “We can look in the publisher’s library to see what content they already have and optimize links to that content.

Barrett says that the early results have been encouraging, with 20x and 30x the conversions on CPC ads placed on the landing pages. Barrett claims revenue-per-user lifts of $1 to $10. The company takes a share of the lift.

In the great transition from analog to digital media, intent-driven content models were a tech-fueled opportunity that seemed to elude or just offend traditional media publishers. It will be interesting to see if these publishers can start taking control of the very technologies that threaten their old models, then use them to leverage the one advantage they have left: quality.

Japanese clothing brand UNIQLO is the most hotly discussed topic on Twitter on the morning of May 24. The store, which is renowned for its low-cost but fashionable clothes, takes out the first and fifth places with the terms “UNIQLO LUCKY LINE?????” and “#uniqlo_line”. Twitter users are tweeting about UNIQLO in hope of winning one of the contests being held for the company’s 60th anniversary.

“Nigerian Monkey Pox” is trending in second place. “Nigerian Monkey Pox was a joke from the TV show “The Boondocks” that was on tonight”, explains one Twitter user.

In third place is the hashtag “iknowsomeonethat”. Microbloggers are spreading stories about the people they know, sharing their friends’ and acquaintances’ good and bad traits.

The hit American TV show “Lost” has finally come to an end after six seasons on air. The finale was aired on May 23 and fans of the show are tweeting about the much-anticipated ending with the terms “#lostfinale” (in fourth place), “About Lost” (in seventh place), “Series Finale” (in eighth place) and “Purgatory” (in tenth place).

According to recent news reports, Simon Monjack, the husband of late American actress Brittany Murphy, was found dead at his home in LA, USA on Sunday May 23. Twitter users are passing on their condolences with the term “Monjack,” which is currently trending in sixth position.

The name of Indian Bollywood film “Kites” is in ninth place. Twitter users are posting their micro reviews of the popular movie.

The top 10 most talked about topics on Twitter on May 24 at 9:30 AM GMT are:

1. UNIQLO LUCKY LINE?(new)
2. Nigerian Monkey Pox (new)
3. #iknowsomeonethat (new)
4. #lostfinale (new)
5. #uniqlo_line (new)
6. Monjack (new)
7. About Lost (new)
8. Series Finale (new)
9. Kites (new)
10. Purgatory (new)

“Owning the Peanuts business moves Iconix well beyond fashion into a true global brand management entity with a wide variety of agreements that range from theme parks to media to financial institutions,” says Neil Cole, chairman and chief executive officer of Iconix Brand Group. “It also extends our international platform with Peanuts licensed in more than 40 countries and approximately two-thirds of its revenue coming from outside of the U.S.”

The Peanuts property, created by Charles M. Schulz in 1950, had been with United Media for the last 60 years, attributing to a global licensing program of more than 1,200 partnerships with companies such as MetLife, Hallmark, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., H&M and others. In 2009, the comic gang led by Charlie Brown and Snoopy generated $2.1 billion in sales of licensed merchandise, according to License! Global’s Top 25 Licensing Agents as reported in April.

“After closing this transaction, Iconix will be diversified with fashion only representing approximately two-thirds of our revenue,” adds Cole. “Further, we believe Peanuts’ large global footprint and broad licensing relationships will also open up new doors for our existing portfolio of brands and future acquisitions. We are equally excited to have the Schulz family as our partners and believe their passion and insight will be invaluable to the future success of the Peanuts brand.”

Iconix was recently ranked No. 2 in License! Global’s Top 125 Licensors of 2009. The company reported $9 billion in sales of licensed merchandise at retail last year through its brands—Candie’s, Op, Starter, Mossimo, Joe Boxer and others—most of which have direct-to-retail partnerships with Walmart, Kohl’s, Target and others around the world.

Pending the transaction, E.W. Scripps will continue to own United Media’s syndication business. The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.

Archaia Digital Comics

GSEConnect salutes PJ Bickett a digital comic visionary, author of this article – Many people have been asking me this past week for my POV on the iPad, so I figured I would share with you in case you wanted the 1,000,000th POV. If you are already sick of hearing about the iPad, you might as well hit ‘delete’ now. For those that read on, I am going to try to keep this as short and interesting as possible.

To start, by no means do I think that the iPad is “revolutionary” as it is just the convergence of several existing technologies (many Apple’s) into one device. However, I unequivocally believe that the iPad is the biggest “game changing” media device now and for years to come!

It is important to note that I used the term “media device” and not “eReader”, as the “reader” is just one of many functions this device provides and why the iPad is in an entire class by itself. The Nook, Kindle, and Sony’s eReader do not even come close.

As a result of the iPad truly being one of the most complete “media devices” ever created, the biggest opportunity for its success is the fact that the iPad will mean many things to many different people: from an entertainment device (portable DVD player and iTouch in one) to a functional work tool (eventually replacing the HP TouchPad almost every retail salesperson uses for ordering) to video gaming to educational device (Apple is working with several school districts to provide curriculum on it) to even comics (had to mention something relating to Archaia). It is for all these reasons, the Apple Brand Power and marketing prowess, and the fact that it really is more than an eReader that it will remain to be relevant. (A very important note is that Apple is already creating the third version of the iPad, so just imagine how many amazing new tools, features and functions will be available on this device.)

Now, while I have heard the many “pitfalls” (I list the three most common ones below with my response to each), not even these pitfalls have prevented an estimated 250,000 pre-orders, plus an estimated 375,000 additional units sold this weekend (reminder it is only Saturday)!!!

Main Pitfalls:
Pitfall: It is too big and doesn’t fit in your pocket.
Response: Neither does your laptop or portable DVD player, but we figure out how to keep our favorite gadgets within arm’s reach. The iPad is no different. In fact, because it is an Apple product that manufactures have confidence Apple will not change dimensions in the coming years, you will see plenty of carrying merchandise to make sure you can have it tied around your neck if you want to.

Pitfall: It is not unique and doesn’t do anything special that your iPhone or laptop doesn’t already do.
Response: I couldn’t agree and disagree more at the same time. Granted, while the iPad isn’t an original idea per se, it is the device that fills the gap between what your iPhone/Smartphone provides (minus the phone feature, even though you can add Skype to it and use your iPad as a phone through your wireless Internet connection) and laptops. Additionally, unlike software programs for computers, you have millions of “apps” that are inexpensive and powerful. Also, most importantly, less than 1% are created by Microsoft! While not a conscience reason to people, it is a big factor.

Pitfall: The iPad is a “want”, driven by personal desire, not a necessity as the iPhone is because of its phone component.
Response: While I agree it is driven by personal desire, it is because of that alone Apple will sell millions in the coming months. What is also important to understand is how much easier it is to “gift” an iPad versus an iPhone. When the price comes down to about $200 for the first iteration of the iPad as it is expected to do right after the Holidays this year, parents, grandparents, college students, friends, and bosses will see this as a great gift/present to give and not have to worry about what cell carrier you use as they would with the iPhone.

Now, for my friends who are specifically interested in my POV for comics, this is just one example of why I am feeling good about digital…

Obviously every media outlet is covering the “hype”, but the one article I read that I felt was most telling of what the comics industry has to look forward to was by CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/03/apple.ipad.sale/index.html?hpt=C1). Out of it, it was the quote from a 40 year old that made we feel even more confident about the future of digital comics:

“[The iPad] is perfect for reading digital comics,” Crosland, 40, told CNN by phone Saturday afternoon. “I tried to use it on the phone, and it didn’t give you that same feel. … Comic books are designed for a large format, so you can appreciate the art and read it. It’s difficult to do on a small device.”

While this is only one person’s comment, it is important to note a few things about what the person said:

He “tried” comics on the iPhone, but just didn’t enjoy the experience
He actually enjoyed his experience in viewing comics digitally (not a fad)
He is 40 years old!

The last point is critically important to understand because most comic book fans significantly begin to drop off at the age of 40 because they no longer interested in collecting or have no room to store. The iPad now extends readership for the “traditional” readers when collecting and storage become the issue.

By no means is anyone going to “get rich” off digitally published comics in 2010. However, 2010 is a critical year for laying the ground work for digital comics that go well beyond the iPad.

Thanks,
PJ

PJ Bickett | President
Direct: +1 310 734 5670
Mobile: +1 708 516 6977
Main: +1 310 492 5300
Fax: +1 310 735 0579

Archaia Entertainment LLC
1680 Vine Street, Suite 912
Los Angeles, California, 90028, USA
www.Archaia.com

Interactive Gaming Trends

Interactive Entertainment Trends…We thank Jesse Schell for his comments and perspectives on the future trends in entertainment, yes I intentionally did not say interactive future trends. This is because I and the team at www.gseconnect.com believe that the future of entertainment is all interactive, anything else is a dinosaur. Thanks for your perspective Jesse and for your vision.
Interactive Entertainment Trends: Jesse Schell is a great 30 minute presentation by Jesse Shell on current trends in gaming, social games (facebook), and advertising. Some of the trends we’ve talked about on Blindreason such as the convergence of reality based TV and games where you and your friends drive content creation. He gets into sensors and the potential there as well as covers some of the recent exits in the space. Check his video presentation out at www.blindreason.org

On a seperate note: Interactive Gaming Trends News 

Gamers looking forward to High Voltage Software’s Tournament of Legends received a bit of good news and a bit of bad news today. Starting with the bad, Sega has delayed the game by a couple months. Previously announced to launch May 18, the 3D fighter for the Wii will now arrive July 6.

Minotaur dude will have to smolder a couple extra months before getting his hooves on the competition.

As for the good news, Sega revealed a budget-friendly price point for the game. When it makes its belated arrival, Tournament of Legends will carry a suggested retail price of $29.95.

The release date isn’t the biggest change the game has seen in the course of its development. Now a fantasy-focused 3D fighting game with a T-for-Teen rating, Tournament of Legends began life as Gladiator A.D., a grim and bloody fighter that would have been certain to garner an M-for-Mature rating. That title was apparently never attached to a publisher, as Sega’s first public involvement with the project was the original announcement of the fighter’s revamped version.

Tournament of Legends allows players to jump into one-on-one battles with a roster of mythological combatants, including a minotaur, gorgon, golem, gladiator, valkyrie, and more. The fantasy focus follows through to the fights themselves, as players will be able to cast magic and summon assistance from the likes of man-eating lions and venomous snakes. The game is being built on High Voltage’s Quantum 3 engine, the same technology behind The Conduit and the studio’s other announced game, The Grinder. Our thanks to GameSpot for the information on the Sega update.

Stan Lee - Comic Trendsetter and Godfather

Stan Lee, is one of the all time most prolific and recognizable individuals in the “Comic Book Industry”. Lovers of comic books know his name and his work. They probably have followed him of all their comic collecting lives. We all have heard of his creations. The X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, and of course the incredible Spider-Man are all from the mind of Stan-Lee. For more then forty years as an employee of Marvel Comics, he has entertained us through the comic book art created by his imagination. He has also been a crusader and white knight of sorts to the comic book industry throughout some of the industry’s toughest times and has been one of the most influential single individuals the industry has ever birthed. He is truly a Trend Force in comics, TV, Film, Videogames and of course the Licensing industry. We catch up with Stan Lee the Trend Force at his new home and company POW! Entertainment

You know you’re in a legendary place for comic book lovers when you enter the offices of POW! Entertainment (POWN). The earthy entrance is dominated by one of those retail swivel racks you find in a magazine shop, only this one is stuffed with classic comics such as Black Rider, Captain America, and Thor. An enlarged ’60s-era cover of The Fantastic Four fills one wall, an early Spider-Man cover another wall.
This four-room suite is where Stan Lee operates creating tomorrows trends. For those who didn’t spend their youth reading comics, Stan Lee is the trendsetter and godfather of comic books, the legend responsible for Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, and dozens of other Marvel Comics characters who lived on the colorful pages and in the hearts of young boys everywhere. Now, at 87, Stan Lee runs POW!, short for Purveyors of Wonder.
Lee may be the wonder. At an age when most people have long since retired, he has no intention of slowing down. The new ideas still come to him at what seems like supersonic comic speed, although he no longer draws the characters he imagines. His legendary trendsetting creativity is what attracted The Walt Disney Co. (DIS), which on Dec. 31 paid $2.5 million for a 10% stake in POW! Disney has several deals with Lee, including a “first look” arrangement to turn his ideas into movies.
“We’re in the content creation business,” says an energetic Lee, sitting in a room dominated by pictures of himself with former Presidents, toys (many of them with his face in place of, say, the greenish scowl of the Hulk), and the ego soothing posters of his comics. One has the shapely figure of Stripperella, a stripper by night and super agent by day. It’s an animated show that Lee created seven years back for the Spike channel, whose clientele is a tad older than the usual comic book crowd. It only lasted a season on Spike, but you can catch Stripperella on your mobile phone, thanks to the Web site GoComics.com.
POW! Entertainment’s Creative Force
POW! hasn’t been a Wall Street superhero. Along with his business partner, movie producer Gill Champion, Lee formed POW! in 2003 through a reverse merger with a former minerals company. POW! is a penny stock, trading at a mere 13.5¢ a share. The idea of the reverse merger, the company says, was to jump-start Lee’s new business rather than go through the lengthy process of an initial public offering. The man, after all, was 80 at the time.
The truth is Lee has never been much of a winner when it comes to the business side. An earlier venture, Stan Lee Media, filed for bankruptcy in 2001, In 2005 he sued his longtime employer, Marvel, settling for more than $10 million, which he contended he was owed for movies that featured characters he created. “It was just a disagreement in interpreting the contract,” he says. “I never for a moment had a problem with Marvel. I worked with them then, am working with them now.” Stan Lee is truly a trensetter, a trend force having influenced the comic industry more than any one figure in the industry. Please share your comments about some of Mr. Lee more recent efforts with Anime and Manga, Paris Hilton and Playboy.

Nintendo's New Competition

The mobile video game industry and its players are changing. Smart phones will soon become the new entrants to the mobile game market — the iPhone and iPod Touch, both by Apple and others by Google, Microsoft and others will raise the pressure for Nintendo who is launching a new game system.
These new smart multifunction phone and music players will run games that can be downloaded from online stores and potentially at physical stores, like GameStop will help these companies build a fan base among less hard-core game players.

The following report is By Matthew Shaer…
And the 3D revolution rolls onwards. First it was movie theaters. Then it was 3D TV sets. Now it’s video game systems. On Tuesday, Nintendo announced it would soon begin selling a device called the Nintendo 3DS, which the company is billing as the world’s first 3D handheld gaming platform. There are a lot of question marks here: There is no word on price, for instance, and Nintendo has not specified how the 3DS technology actually works.
Nintendo says that the 3DS, which apparently does not require 3D glasses to properly view 3D games, should be available sometime in the next year. In an interview with the New York Times, Ken Toyoda, chief spokesman at Nintendo, said that the 3DS will get its official unveiling at E3, the annual electronics expo. “We’ll invite people to play with the new device then,” Mr. Toyoda said.

As the Times points out, there is at least one existing 3D device that works without 3D glasses. The atrociously-titled Hitachi Wooo H001 cellphone, which went on sale in Japan last year, allows owners to switch to 3D parallax view by flipping a switch on the side of the device. A new video circulating the web (see below) suggests that the Nintendo 3DS could use similar parallax mapping technology to simulate depth and distance. Perhaps it will also use an accelerometer, similar to iPhone and iPod Touch, to track tilt and change the on-screen image accordingly.

In recent months, Nintendo has sought to expand the reach of the DS handheld line, which already dominates the portable gaming market. At the end of March, for instance, Nintendo is set to release the DSi XL, a large-screen version of the standard DS. Among the first games available for the DSi XL will be “100 Classic Books” – a title designed to appeal to casual audiences unlikely to be interested in first-person shooters or sports car racing.

Are you a Nintendo DS fan? We want to hear from you. Would you consider shelling over a couple of extra bucks for the Nintendo 3DS? Or does the device look gimmicky? Drop us a line in the comments section.

Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde will star in the live-action adaptation of the Platinum Studios graphic novel with Jon Favreau directing.
Favreau, who is represented by CAA, will direct the long-gestating DreamWorks/Universal project, which previously had Downey attached last summer. Daniel Craig has since replaced Downey. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard is producing with Steven Spielberg, Platinum Studios CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
Story is set in the Old West, where cowboys and Native Americans battle in Arizona (should be Texas) — until a spaceship crashes and a new enemy equipped with superior technology emerges. “Cowboys and Aliens” is based on the Platinum Studios Comics graphic novel written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley.
The popularity of 3D is evident to everyone in Hollywood. It’s pretty apparent that a comic adaptation like Cowboys and Aliens is a of film that would benefit from the 3-D treatment; but we should hope studios won’t make it 3D just because its popular instead of focusing on the story, diversity and symbolism possible from a film that has at its core the history of America’s wild wild west. I also hope they do not overlook the diversity of the cowboys. This could be result in some very interesting characters.
That graphic novel was published in 2006, but Hollywood has been hot for the high-concept project since “Cowboys and Aliens” was first acquired by Universal and DreamWorks in 1997. The script has been through at least seven rewrites.
Favreau and Downey will work together on “Iron Man 3,” which will likely be distributed by Paramount Pictures in its multipicture deal with Marvel Entertainment despite Marvel’s $4 billion acquisition by Disney.

Psychologist Craig Anderson of Iowa State University and his team analyzed existing studies of 130,000 people from the U.S., Europe and Japan. His findings held for players in Western and Eastern cultures, for male and female players and for players of various ages. They also contradict some earlier studies, whose findings the current authors say are tainted by “selection bias” — the method by which they selected studies to analyze.

The new study notes that while violence in movies and TV shows has long been examined for its potential impact on viewers’ proclivity for violence, video gaming, a much newer phenomenon, has not yet been so fully explored.

In its review of data, the new research found that exposure to violent video games was associated with aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition and aggressive “affect.” It desensitizes users and is associated with lack of empathy and a lack of “prosocial” behavior.

In an accompanying commentary, Christopher Ferguson and John Kilburn of the department of behavioral applied science and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University note flaws in Anderson’s analysis, including what they say is his own selection bias. Ferguson — whose earlier research is the main object of Anderson’s criticism — points out that, even with what he views as a bias in Anderson’s selection of studies, Anderson found only a weak connection between violent video gaming and violent thoughts and deeds. Finally, Ferguson notes that violent crime in the U.S. and other developed nations where video games are played has decreased over the decades during which video gaming has grown in popularity. The commentary concludes:

Although it is certainly true that few researchers suggest that VVGs [violent video games] are the sole cause of violence, this does not mean they cannot be wrong about VVGs having any meaningful effect at all. Psychology, too often, has lost its ability to put the weak (if any) effects found for VVGs on aggression into a proper perspective. In doing so, it does more to misinform than inform public debates on this issue.
Michael D. Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, responded in a prepared statement:

Numerous authorities, including the U.S. Surgeon General, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and numerous courts have thoroughly and critically examined the social science research and found that it does not establish any causal link between violent content and violent behavior.
Most recently in 2008, Drs. Cheryl K. Olson and Lawrence Kutner, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media, conducted a study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice on the effects of video games on young teenagers. In contrast to previous research, they studied real children and families in real situations. In their authoritative analysis, Grand Theft Childhood, they found that ‘the strong link between video game violence and real world violence, and the conclusion that video games lead to social isolation and poor interpersonal skills, are drawn from bad or irrelevant research, muddleheaded thinking and unfounded, simplistic news reports.’
But the new study’s authors, confident in their findings, say it’s time to move toward a fix:

Concerning public policy, we believe that debates can and should finally move beyond the simple question of whether violent video game play is a causal risk factor for aggressive behavior. Instead, we believe the public policy debate should move to questions concerning how best to deal with this risk factor. Public education about this risk factor — and about how parents, schools, and society at large can deal with it — could be very useful.
“Video games are neither inherently good nor inherently bad,” the study says. “But people learn. And content matters.”

Do your kids play violent video games? Do you think those games affect the way they think or act?

Time Warner’s Warner Bros. announced a new team of executives to make broader use of its portfolio. Housed at DC Entertainment, Diane Nelson presents her new team: Geoff Johns, a seasoned comic book and television writer, a great combination of skills, he was announced as Chief Creative Officer. The entrepreneurial Jim Lee, comic book creator and producer, Dan DiDio and maestro of the DC Universe Brands were appointed as publishers of DC Comics. It’s clear that Diane is focused on putting together a creativity focused team. There is no question that the focus of the team must be to leverage DC’s extensive library of characters, creating stories that are relevant to all forms of media, publishing, gaming, mobile, new digital and film. We have to take into account that DC currently releases over 85 comics per month through various imprint brands, while participating in the hot area of 3D graphic novels. Jeff Robinov, President of Warner Bros Pictures Group understands more than anyone the impact of comics and anime of feature films, having recently made several announcements about films based upon comics including Green Lantern, Jay Chou has been cast as the legendary Kato, originally played by the legendary Bruce Lee.  Jay Chou said, “It’s an overwhelming experience to take on a role made famous by Bruce Lee. I won’t try to be Bruce Lee’s Kato – I will try to bring my own interpretation to the part. Of course, it’s a dream role, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.” We will close with Jay’s comments, it is clear that Comics and Anime is a major player and influencer in the media and entertainment industry. CHOW!!!!!!

What do you think about the Comic and Anime industry or Trend Segment….is it an influential market Niche?

iPad by Apple

Mind the Gap When Talking About Teens …….By Morgan Stewart
Looking in the mirror this morning, I was forced to face reality: I’m getting old. Thus, when it comes to teen culture, I am an outsider looking in. And knowing that my personal experiences are different from theirs, I can’t afford to fall into the trap of applying anything from my experience to that of teens. Not only are their habits different from my own today, but they are different than what I did when I was a teen. The tools available to them and the social mores around those tools are simply different.
Our ongoing research, in collaboration with the Center for Media Design, compares how consumers communicate interpersonally versus how they want marketers to communicate with them. When it comes to teens, there is a marked difference in how they communicate on a personal level when compared to other demographic segments. For example:

Teens are much less likely to pick up the phone and call friends. When I was a teen, the stereotypical teenage girl was constantly talking on the phone with friends. Not so today. Only 16% of females 15-17 say they are most likely to call when they want to communicate with friends. 49% are most likely to write messages. The remaining 35% call and write messages equally. Compare that to 35-44 year old females (approximate age range of moms of teens) and we see 34% are most likely to call and only 19% are most likely to write messages.
Teens rely heavily on text messaging. When asked what type of written communication teens are most likely to use for communicating with friends, 57% said they use text. Another 10% use social networks most often. Surprisingly, for teens, 18% still say they use email and 12% use IM. This lies in stark contrast with their parents (again 35-44 year olds), where 64% are most likely to send email while only 16% are most likely to send text messages.
As marketers, we know this stuff. But this is also where we often make a typically “old” mistake by misattributing the significance of these trends as they apply to marketing.

As we look at the communication habits of “old” people (i.e., anyone over 35), it makes sense that since they (um, we) use email for interpersonal communication that we also tend to prefer email when receiving permission-based marketing communications.

However, despite the fact the majority of teens communicate with each other via text, only a small minority (10%) want to receive text messages from companies. They are much more likely to prefer companies use email (64%) or direct mail (19%) to communicate with them.

“But teens don’t use email and they don’t read direct mail,” right? Not true. They simply don’t interact with these channels as often as us “old” folks, but they do transact as a result of these channels. When asked, “Have you ever made a purchase as a result of a marketing message you received through each of the following channels?” they answered:

62% as result of a TV Commercial
55% as a result of Direct Mail
36% as a result of Email
24% as a result of an Infomercial on TV
16% as a result of text messaging
15% as a result of something they saw on a social media site
13% as a result of a Telemarketing call
10% as a result of an Instant Message
As we look at the teen market, it’s important to keep in mind the difference between “relative” and “absolute” preferences. Across the board, teens have much more favorable impressions of marketing through emerging channels such as SMS and social networks than non-teens — but these are relative views.

When targeting this market, it is crucial to have a strong presence in emerging channels, but don’t get caught in the relativity trap. In terms of absolute preferences, they are similar to other consumers in that they still prefer traditional channels for marketing communications and they are still converting through them. Note: if you are interested in reading more of these research findings, they can be found in our 2009 Channel Preference Study.

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.

Post your response here and to the public Engage:Teens blog.

See what others are saying on the Engage:Teens blog.
Morgan Stewart is Director, Research & Strategy, at ExactTarget, a provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions. Follow him at twitter.com/mostew or visit his blog: http://blog.exacttarget.com/blog/morgan-stewart.

Media Post Communications

For 2009’s fourth quarter, the toymaker reported net revenues of $1.38 billion, an increase of $144.1 million or 12 percent, compared to the $1.23 billion it tallied a year ago. 2009 fourth quarter revenues grew 7 percent excluding a $55.4 million positive impact of foreign exchange. Net earnings for the quarter were worth $165.6 million or $1.09 per diluted share, an increase of $72.0 million or 77 percent, compared to $93.6 million or $0.62 per diluted share in 2008.

For the full year 2009, Hasbro reported revenues of $4.07 billion, an increase of $46.4 million or 1 percent, compared to $4.02 billion a year ago. 2009 revenues grew 3 percent excluding a $65.2 million negative impact of foreign exchange. Net earnings for the 12 month period were $374.9 million, or $2.48 per diluted share, an increase of $68.1 million or 22 percent from $306.8 million or $2.00 per diluted share in 2008.

“We are extremely pleased with our fourth quarter and full-year results that demonstrate Hasbro’s strategy is working,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s president and CEO. “The Hasbro teams around the globe performed at a high level in 2009, delivering innovation and strong marketing programs to our consumers and retailers. The result is our fifth consecutive year of revenue growth and ninth consecutive year of E.P.S. growth, achieved in a challenging global economy. Continued investments in our business, including the joint venture with Discovery Communications to form The Hub television network, the creation of Hasbro Studios, establishing a local presence in emerging geographies and securing long-term key licenses, position us not only for the success we had in 2009 but over the long term as we execute our branded play strategy globally.”

For the full year 2009, the company’s Boys product category grew 9 percent to $1.47 billion; the Games and Puzzles category increased incrementally to $1.34 billion; the Girls category declined 5 percent to $790.8 million; and the Preschool category was down 1 percent to $451.4 million.

U.S. and Canada segment net revenues were $2.45 billion, an increase of $41.2 million or 2 percent, compared to $2.41 billion in 2008. The results reflect “strong” performances in the Boys and Preschool categories, partially offset by declines in Girls and the Games and Puzzles categories. The U.S. and Canada segment reported an operating profit of $380.6 million compared to $283.2 million in 2008.

International segment net revenues were $1.46 billion, a decrease of $39.9 million or 3 percent, compared to $1.50 billion in 2008. Absent the negative $64.5 million impact of foreign exchange, International segment net revenues increased 2 percent from 2008. Revenue in the International segment reflects growth in the Boys category offset by declines in Preschool, Girls, as well as the Games and Puzzles categories. The International segment reported an operating profit of $162.2 million compared to $165.2 million in 2008.

Entertainment and Licensing segment net revenues were $155.0 million, an increase of $47.1 million or 44 percent, compared to $107.9 million in 2008. Revenue in the Entertainment and Licensing segment reflects growth in lifestyle licensing and digital gaming. The Entertainment and Licensing segment reported an operating profit of $65.6 million compared to $51.0 million in 2008.

“As we continue to execute our strategy to re-imagine, re-invent and re-ignite our global core brands, we believe we should be able to grow revenues and earnings per share for the full year 2010, including the dilution from our television investments and absent a deterioration in consumer spending, global economic conditions or the value of foreign currencies,” said Goldner.

Arguing Comics – Literary Masters on Comics
An anthology charting the longstanding cultural conversation that the comics sparked when Art Spiegelman’s Maus-a two-part graphic novel about the Holocaust-won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, comics scholarship grew increasingly popular and notable. The rise of “serious” comics has generated growing levels of interest as scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals continue to explore the history, aesthetics, and semiotics of the comics medium.

Yet those who write about the comics often assume analysis of the medium didn’t begin until the cultural studies movement was underway. Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium brings together nearly two dozen essays by major writers and intellectuals who analyzed, embraced, and even attacked comic strips and comic books in the period between the turn of the century and the 1960s. From e. e. cummings, who championed George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, to Irving Howe, who fretted about Harold Gray’s Little Orphan Annie, this volume shows that comics have provided a key battleground in the culture wars for over a century.

With substantive essays by Umberto Eco, Marshall McLuhan, Leslie Fiedler, Gilbert Seldes, Dorothy Parker, Irving Howe, Delmore Schwartz, and others, this anthology shows how all of these writers took up comics-related topics as a point of entry into wider debates over modern art, cultural standards, daily life, and mass communication.

Arguing Comics shows how prominent writers from the Jazz Age and the Depression era to the heyday of the New York Intellectuals in the 1950s thought about comics and, by extension, popular culture as a whole.

A columnist for the National Post (Canada), Jeet Heer has been published in Slate, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, the Comics Journal and many other venues.

Kent Worcester, a professor of political science and international studies at Marymount Manhattan College, is the author of C. L. R. James: A Political Biography. His work has appeared in the Comics Journal, New Statesman, Popular Culture Review, and numerous other publications.

Alternative Comics – A Study of long form comics or Graphic Novels
An exploration of the tremendous potential for self-expression found in groundbreaking comics and graphic novels
In the 1980s, a sea change occurred in comics. Fueled by Art Spiegel- man and Françoise Mouly’s avant-garde anthology Raw and the launch of the Love & Rockets series by Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez, the decade saw a deluge of comics that were more autobiographical, emotionally realistic, and experimental than anything seen before. These alternative comics were not the scatological satires of the 1960s underground, nor were they brightly colored newspaper strips or superhero comic books.

In Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature, Charles Hatfield establishes the parameters of alternative comics by closely examining long-form comics, in particular the graphic novel. He argues that these are fundamentally a literary form and offers an extensive critical study of them both as a literary genre and as a cultural phenomenon. Combining sharp-eyed readings and illustrations from particular texts with a larger understanding of the comics as an art form, this book discusses the development of specific genres, such as autobiography and history.

Alternative Comics analyzes such seminal works as Spiegelman’s Maus, Gilbert Hernandez’s Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories, and Justin Green’s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary. Hatfield explores how issues outside of cartooning-the marketplace, production demands, work schedules-can affect the final work. Using Hernandez’s Palomar as an example, he shows how serialization may determine the way a cartoonist structures a narrative. In a close look at Maus, Binky Brown, and Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, Hatfield teases out the complications of creating biography and autobiography in a substantially visual medium, and shows how creators approach these issues in radically different ways.

Charles Hatfield, Canyon Country, California, is an assistant professor of English at California State University, Northridge. His work has been published in ImageTexT, Inks: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, the Comics Journal, and other periodicals.

See the author’s Web site at www.csun.edu/~ch76854/.        256 pp., 60 illustrations, bibliography, index

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Newtype: 160,750, Animedia: 96,225, Animage: 65,660

The Japanese Magazine Publishers Association has released the circulation numbers of Japanese game and anime magazines from its Magazine Data 2010 book. The data covers the period between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009.

Magazine Publisher Circulation
Animage Tokuma Shoten 65,660 *
Animedia Gakken Publishing 96,225 *
COMPTIQ Kadokawa Group Publishing (Kadokawa Shoten) 74,417 *
Seiyū Animedia Gakken Publishing 20,330 *
Dengeki PlayStation ASCII Media Works 131,061 *
Newtype Kadokawa Group Publishing (Kadokawa Shoten) 160,750 *
Newtype THE LIVE Kadokawa Group Publishing (Kadokawa Shoten) 24,500 *
PASH! Shufu-to-Seikatsu Sha Ltd. 23,450 *
Famitsu DS+Wii Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 100,417 *
V Jump Shueisha 379,167 *
Megami Magazine Gakken Publishing 63,475 *
Arcadia Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 120,000
Game Japan Hobby Japan 30,000
Weekly Famitsu Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 500,000
Tech Gian Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 130,000
Dengeki Girl’s Style ASCII Media Works 80,000
Dengeki G’s magazine ASCII Media Works 120,000
Dengeki Nintendo DS ASCII Media Works 160,000
Dengeki Hime ASCII Media Works 80,000
Dengeki Maoh ASCII Media Works 100,000
B’s-LOG Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 50,000
Famitsu Wave DVD Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 100,000
Famitsu Xbox 360 Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 120,000
Famitsu Connect! On Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 80,000
Famitsu PSP+PS3 Publisher: Enterbrain
Distributor: Kadokawa Group Publishing 150,000

* Verified circulation

We call upon everyone to pray and send financial and other support to the people of Haiti through your religious organization and through the following organizations:

www.unicef.org

www.worldvision.org

www.un.org

The following press release was issued by the The Embassy of Haiti in Washington DC.

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January 13, 2010

The Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C. wishes to thank the general public and the international community for the outpour of support and the solidarity expressed in response to the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday, January 12th, 2010 just before 5:00pm. The Embassy has been continuously monitoring the situation since yesterday.

Assessment is currently being conducted, but as you already know, telephone communication is down, and internet communication is sporadic. We have been informed that aftershocks continued well through the night until approximately 3:00 o’clock this morning. Infrastructure damage is significant; the National Palace has collapsed, and the National Cathedral, many Government buildings, the U.N. Headquarters and the Hotel Montana have been severely damaged.

As you may know, Haiti was gravely affected in 2008 by a series of hurricanes, and was still, to date, recovering from the losses incurred from these natural disasters. Preliminary assessment indicates that losses will be as severe or worse  than those of 2008 as a result of the 7.0 earthquake.

We are already extremely grateful for the offers of assistance that we have received, and we urge you to consider donating cash as opposed to in-kind donations.

We share the pain of our fellow citizens of the Haitian diaspora everywhere but urge them to remain faithful and strong in the face of such adversity. “United we are strong” and the Embassy will do its best to respond swiftly and efficiently.  In that light, we will provide guidelines on donations to Haitian institutions later today.

–

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Eliminate Poverty Worldwide!

GSEConnect.com is the most comprehensive collection & network of niche online communities focused on the work that media and entertainment professionals around the world live with, have fun with and work on everyday. The users of this site understand that this is the only place on the worldwide web where content creators, actors, producers, fans and consumers can come together in professional communities and participate, teach, learn, share at the niche (example: urban) level and at the sub-niche (example: urban music) level in a professional environment. Niches include corporate, global,anime & comic, urban, pop culture, heritage & western, family, and fine arts. Each niche has an extensive list of sub-niches.

GSE’s global media and entertainment strategy is focused around the following core principals:

Leadership

Lead in aiding global media and entertainment entrepreneurs, businesses to access and grow through understanding and participation in global markets.

Planning and Development

Working with global businesses to plan and develop trend forward quality acceptable content for the Global markets.

Cultural Heritage Development and Promotion

Utilize media and entertainment resources, knowledge and our users’ content to develop and promote the content and cultural heritage of all countries to the global market.

Scale and Capacity

Developing with our partners the largest community of media and entertainment professionals in the world. Promote with our users/members the importance of media and entertainment in aiding the adding of balance to our lives with comedy, drama and performances and in addressing the social problems (poverty, racism, aids, violence etc.) of the world at a capacity and scale not yet seen.