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Kidscreen West
PE2K was at the Kidscreen West conference. One of the sessions
was a case study discussion on Pokemon, titled "Pokemon Takes the Driver's
Seat". The speakers include: Holly Rawlinson from Pokemon USA (Vice President
of Licensing and Entertainment), Greg Fountain from Cartoon Network (Senior
Director of Consumer Marketing), and Eddie Hayden from JAKKS Pacific (Director
of Male Action).
The presentation was over 45 minutes long, so if you want to
read more about what was discussed during that session you can read on below.
It's an interesting look at the challenges and success of Pokemon from the
business perspective. I know this is long article, but this is actually a
shortened version of what was said at the presentation.
Pokemon Takes the Driver's Seat
Holly Rawlinson (Pokemon USA, Vice President of Licensing and
Entertainment)
Holly Rawlinson began the presentation by discussing some of the
challenges at Pokemon during 2005. The company decided to bring the brand
in-house to Pokemon USA (instead of being represented by 4Kids). Kids WB
changed their focus, so Pokemon was on Saturday mornings only. There were no
new toys introduced in several years. And the most important elements of
Pokemon (the video games, trading card game, and TV/movies) were working
independently and not working with each other. Those were the challenges, but
of course Pokemon had a lot of good things going for it as well. Pokemon
Emerald was the 2nd best selling video game of the year in 2005 on all
platforms (Rawlinson said it was 3rd, but it should be 2nd according to NPD
Group). Television ratings were strong and Pokemon sales online were strong as
well. And the Pokemon events were very well-attended.
Rawlinson mentioned how Pokemon is still a great success in
Japan and how Pokemon "never died there" because how well Pokemon was
coordinated there with the Pokemon video games and the Pokemon TV show. That
wasn't happening in the US yet in the past, so now one of the main objectives
is to model what Japan has done so successfully. Another main objective is to
build relationships with key partners (that would include JAKKS Pacific and
Cartoon Network). Rawlinson mentioned that a lot toy companies bided for
Pokemon, and although many of them had interesting things to say about it, it
was clear to her that most of those companies didn't truly understand Pokemon.
However, she mentioned that Eddie Hayden from JAKKS Pacific spent six weeks
doing nothing but playing the Pokemon game and Pokemon trading card game. She
said that she would get phone calls from Hayden asking various questions about
Pokemon while he was learning, such as what a certain Pokemon evolved into
what. It was clear to her that JAKKS Pacific "really understood Pokemon, and
really knew not just to exploit it as a toy, but to really keep it in their
stable for the next 10 years, and to be able to live with it for many many
years because that's the potential of Pokemon." She also mentioned that
Cartoon Network also had the same kind of enthusiasm for Pokemon.
Rawlinson said that bringing back key aspects of Pokemon
in-house to Pokemon USA, such as buying back the Pokemon TCG from Nintendo,
was important so that they'll able to really control that and integrate that
into with the rest of the brand. Also brought in-house was the Pokemon DVD and
movie business which allowed them to do all the advertising, artwork, and
localization. Rawlinson then went on to talk about some early results for
2007. Of course, the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl video games are doing very well
with over 1 million copies sold in the first week. Sales of the TCG in the
past two years are up 400% (from 2005 to 2006 sales has tripled, and from 2006
to 2007 it's on pace to double that from the previous year). Sales of toys in
2007 are on pace to be up 900%, but Rawlinson mentioned that due to the
minimal amount of toys available in the market the previous year, she joked
that it was easy to be up 900% (still quite impressive). Aside from some
Pokemon toys at Target, Pokemon toys was pretty much nowhere in 2006. But in
2007, Pokemon suddenly became one of the top properties at retailers (5th
through 7th, somewhere around there depending on the retailer). Which is
impressive considering the tough competition in the toys category right now.
Rawlinson talked about the challenges of talking to some retailers because
many of them thought Pokemon was dead already. So it took a lot of convincing
to get them to try it, but they soon realized Pokemon is still a powerful
brand.
Greg Fountain (Cartoon Network, Sensior Director of Consumer
Marketing)
Greg Fountain said that Cartoon Network were really happy to be
the exclusive broadcaster for Pokemon. He said it was a "very easy decision
for us to make, but there were some decisions that we had to make going into
it." Cartoon Network liked the action in Pokemon, but also the comedy elements
in the show as well. So this allowed Cartoon Network to be able to broadcast
it during their action programming during Meguzi, and also their comedy
programming during prime time. Once they made the deal, they obviously had to
make a lot of decisions because it included all nine seasons and the upcoming
tenth season with Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl.
They decided they wanted to focus on the launch of Pokemon
Diamond and Pearl by using the previous content they had, which resulted in
the Gotta Know 'Em All Trivia Test. They put out a Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
"movie" two days before the launch of the video game by using the first three
episodes of Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl season, which did very well. On the
23rd, the sweepstakes began online. Working with the Pokemon USA team, they
worked on adding hints to the trivia test questions on the episodes. Another
big promotion for Pokemon is the Pokemon Master Marathon which will lead into
the premiere for the Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl season. So a lot of energy was
spent to generate enthusiasm for the Pokemon TV series. Once the season
starts, Fountain said they will continue generate enthusiasm over the summer
by having several sweepstakes opportunities. One of them includes a
sweepstakes with JAKKS Pacific, in which Fountain said "will be one of the
more extensive sweepstakes that we've ever done on our air," though this is
not a done deal yet at the time he was speaking, so he didn't speak too much
in detail about that (although Hayden did later speak more in detail about
this).
Eddie Hayden (JAKKS Pacific, Director of Male Action)
The first main point Eddie Hayden mentioned was the importance
of getting in-sync with Pokemon. He plays the Pokemon games on his Nintendo
DS, so he spends a lot of time immersing himself into Pokemon. I actually
talked to another fan about this before I attended event. I wondered if
someone like Hayden, who's in charge of the toys, would need to play the
Pokemon games. The fan I was talking to said "one can only hope" that he and
the rest of the speakers for Pokemon there, actually played Pokemon. I already
knew Rawlinson played the Pokemon games from an article I read, but how about
Hayden? The fan I talked to said he can't expect the JAKKS Pacific people to
play. I had that feeling too, but of course I would have preferred that all
these major people controlling the future of Pokemon to really understand
Pokemon (by playing the video games, watching the show, etc) so they can be,
in Hayden's case, more passionate about the toys they make. So I was partly
surprised and relieved that Hayden did play as much of the Pokemon video games
as he did.
They also spent a lot of time learning about the different
Pokemon characters. They did this in 10 to 12 different waves, for 10 to 12
different characters, for a total 150 to 200 different characters across a six
to eight month period, so there's a massive amount of information he had to
learn. He made a point that having licensee summits were very important so
that the different companies can communicate and work with each other. One
example was a promotion with Nintendo during the launch celebration of Pokemon
Diamond and Pearl at the Nintendo World Store where JAKKS Pacific products
were given out. And then Hayden talks about another promotion where they are
currently organizing a promotion on Cartoon Network this summer (which
Fountain mentioned a bit earlier). It will be a toy giveaway from during the
summer from July through August. Fans can call in or go online and to compete
in contests and win JAKKS Pacific Pokemon products. He says this is a great
opportunity to build awareness that new Pokemon toy products are available,
and that Pokemon toy products are back in the market.
Pokemon toy products boomed in 2001, but they have been falling
since. Although toy sales were down, other aspects of Pokemon (video games,
TCG, TV show) were still very strong. In 2007, things changed for the better
for Pokemon toy sales. Now there's full distribution (not just at Target), and
the results have been good (again, Pokemon in the top 5 through 7 for the
retailers, up 900% compared to the previous year). The performance in 2007 so
far: 20,000 units of the mini-plush sold in one week at Target alone and 1
million figures sold in less than 4 months. So what to expect further in 2007
and 2008? In the fall of 2007, the packaging will be themed around Pokemon
Diamond and Pearl. Another new theme would be the next Pokemon movie. The
point is to keep things fresh, so every 6 months you'll see a new look and a
new theme.
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Questions
The entire presentation clocked in at about 40 minutes, with
another 5 minutes available for questions. If given more time, I think the
attendees would have more questions to ask (I sure did). But one of the most
interesting questions was one that asked whether Pokemon had plans to take
Pokemon to the online world. Rawlinson said she would love to do something
like that, but explained that it's not exactly her call since that's
Nintendo's side of things. But as for her personal opinion on the matter, she
said "We have all of these characters, they should be living online in every
variation."
Overall Impressions
Overall it was a great conference, the speakers were very
knowledgeable about what they were talking about and communicated that
knowledge very well. I'm sure not all of you would enjoy listening to the
nitty-gritty business side of things, but it's definitely right up my alley (I
definitely learned a lot). It's more of a chance for the industry to learn
from each other and to network. But nonetheless, it's a fascinating look at
the business strategy behind Pokemon.
 
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