A marketing proposal to address online piracy and fan culture April 18, 2010 CC: FROM: SUBJECT: Marketing Proposal to Address Online Piracy and Fan Culture DATE: April 9, 2010 The enclosed proposal outlines the possible solutions to be taken in order to start addressing the issue of online piracy and fan culture. The proposal summarizes the recent manga industry, problems faced by it and current issues regarding Viz Media, LLC. Research has been conducted to support the proposed solutions. From experience in the media field, I have seen a need for Viz Media to address the issue of piracy and technological advances. For this purpose, I have compiled research entailing industry details, practices of other companies, supporting facts regarding my solutions and benefits that come with implementing my solution. These benefits may put Viz Media in a superior position to its competitors and addresses the issues of the 21st century. Sincerely,

Enclosure: Marketing Proposal Executive Summary Viz Media, LLC.’s sales are not meeting their full potential as internet piracy increases. With the increase in popularity for manga, so does fan culture. Fan culture includes but not limited to fan-art, fan-stories and manga scanlations. Manga scanlations are the unauthorized translation and distribution of manga. The purpose of my proposal is to address this unauthorized transaction. My research has led me to conclude: The manga industry is still growing, with yearly increases exceeding thirty percent. A rise in manga scanlation groups and free online manga-content hosting websites are hindering the industry growth. Manga piracy has been addressed before in foreign countries that may also apply to North America. Viz Media has not utilized recent technological advances to their maximum capabilities. It is important to consider the use of technology as a means to combat manga piracy because technological opportunities have proven to be vital in keeping industries alive. This can be seen in the music industry (only after years of online music-file sharing has occurred) where they offer online music file purchases. If they had recognized and identified this opportunity sooner, the music industry may not have faced such harsh declines in sales. I propose that Viz Media should Create a marketing campaign promoting the educational uses and benefits of reading manga Launch a legal campaign addressing the issues of manga piracy. Offer a smart phone application that either allows manga to be viewed or manga-related content to be accessible. Turn manga-hosting websites into privateers (discretely); which entails paying Viz Media a fee for uploading their content. The benefits of these proposed solutions increases Viz Media’s control over many aspects of their emerging problem (piracy). It also allows Viz Media to get started in using technology and aids in the continual development of their company in the twenty-first century. Table of Contents Memo Transmittal ii Executive Summary iii Background 5 What is Manga? 5 Purpose 5 Analysis 5 Problem: Piracy 5 The Growth of Manga 6 Fan Culture: Scanlations 6 Recommendations 6 Technological Opportunity: The Smart Phone 7 Pirateers: Enemy…? 7 Scope 8 References 9 Background Viz Media LLC. is a company, jointly owned by Japanese publishers (Shogakukan and Shueisha) and Shogakukan’s licensing division (Shogakukan Productions- ShoPro Japan), that provides popular Japanese media, such as manga (graphic novels) and anime (graphic cartoons) to the American market (VIZ Media, 2010). In addition to their expansion into North America, they have also established themselves in the Euro market (Bookseller, 2005) and British market (Furniture/Today, 2005). According to ICv2 (ICv2, 2009), a leading trade journal, Viz Media owns licenses for fourteen of the top twenty-five manga properties as of 2009. What is Manga? Manga can be described simply as comic books. However, to many manga readers, manga is not just a comic. Manga encompass all facets of life. The variety available not only includes super-heroes, fantasy and horror, but also comedy, school life and romance. The vast assortment of manga contributes to its immense popularity. This popularity is evident by the amount of yearly conferences, fan websites and manga-related products (e.g. toys, plushies, card games). Purpose The purpose of my proposal is to increase profits, minimize losses due to manga piracy, and to utilize the technological aspects of business. By adapting to change, VIz Media can become successful figures in the electronic age of the twentieth century. It is important to act because their market in North America may dwindle in due time if consumers can obtain their manga for free. The major losses incurred by the music industry is a good example of why the players in the manga industry should react promptly. The music industry did not respond quickly to the illegal sharing of music. By the time the industry had offered music to be bought online, years had passed and potential sales lost Analysis Due to the lawlessness and freedom of the internet, It may be impossible to stop the citizens of the internet from doing what they want. Therefore, effort should be shown to minimize the damage caused by illegal activity. Stopping consumers from practicing scanlation may be difficult as the nature of the product (manga - in paperback form) is easily-movable and non-traceable after the sale. Although copyright laws protect and make it illegal to upload Viz Media content, illegal activity is still ongoing. Problem: Piracy The most prominent piracy problem in the manga industry is manga scanlation. Although the majority of scanlation groups have added notes at the end of their unauthorized releases like “support us by purchasing the manga where available” and “please do not distribute without our permission,” it does not solve the problem of Viz Media content being pirated. If this activity is left rampant, they may not be able to capture this market (if they know that they can satisfy their demands for free). They may also lose control of their products and consequently lose market share in the manga industry. The Growth of Manga In North America, manga sales are estimated to be 250 million dollars (ICv2, 2006). The growth of the manga industry has been robust and increasing for the past six years (Poitras, 2008). An attributing factor to the success of manga is due to the fact that there are manga titles targeting girls, whom have been largely neglected by the American comic book industry. This untapped market has proved to be profitable for Viz Media and other manga publishers as seen by the increase in titles targeted towards girls. Manga titles on the television via their anime counterparts have increased exposure and viewership. Due to the increased exposure, manga sales are also likely to rise in conjunction with their anime (cartoon) counterparts. Fan Culture: Scanlations As the popularity of manga rises outside of Japan in America and Europe (Fishbein, 2007), fan-created media begins to increase proportionately. This media ranges from fan-art to unauthorized uploading and translation of manga titles onto the internet. This illegal activity is known as scanlation. The demand for scanlation is driven by fan culture, where overseas fans crave the latest updates to their favourite mangas. These avid fans cannot stand the lag time between the release of titles in Japan and their country. Various online scanlation groups obtain ‘raw chapters’ from an undisclosed source, translate and edit with translations and distribute these unauthorized documents on popular manga-viewing websites. Some websites include www.onemanga.com (One Manga, 2010) and www.mangafox.com (Manga Fox, 2010). Recommendations First, Viz Media must increase the awareness and readership of manga. Viz Media can do this by creating a marketing campaign promoting the idea of manga is more than just comics. If Viz Media is able to market manga beingan educational tool to introduce young readers to reading, it may be more readily accepted by parents. This campaign also aims to decrease the stereotypical view that manga is just pictures with no real content. The success of the campaign can be measured by the increases of sales in stores. To address piracy, it would also be effective to launch a legal campaign centered around the issue of stealing and uploading manga. We would be educating the consumers (the fans) about piracy. With greater understanding, sales may also increase. Legal campaign’s have proven to be effective and feasible (Holsapple, 2008). Technological Opportunity: The Smart Phone In Japan, more than 50 million people subscribe to entertainment content services on their phone (Fitzpatrick, 2004). The smart phones that are so predominant in Japan are beginning to emerge in America. To recognize this opportunity, Viz Media should create and offer a smart phone application(s) that includes manga content. The feasibility of this option is quite high as there are over 50000 applications for the iPhone (Elmer-DeWitt, 2009), showing that it is profitable and that consumers are willing to purchase media content for their phone. This content, depending on the risk that Viz Media feels, can include games, pictures, and even the manga itself (thereby battling free manga websites hea-on). Publishers in Japan have also offered paid-for content such as manga comics and serialised novels (Fitzpatrick, 2004). To generate revenue, Viz Media can charge consumers a one-time fee each time the app is purchased. To conclude, the market has already been tested, the risk is very low and we are lowering the technological barriers that currently exist between Viz Media and the current technological landscape. Pirateers: Enemy…? It may be impossible to stop manga piracy, so we may want to consider them as allies. It is essential to recognize their existence. If a free manga website gets shut down, more will just come back. So Viz Media may want to consider contacting the major websites and allowing them to post their content, but charging them a fee every month (for Viz Media allowing the website to post their content). This in turn, almost makes these websites privateers, and in turn gives Viz Media more control over them. If there is only one dominant player in the internet, this may decrease the overall number of providers as most consumers would gravitate towards that website. Scope The scope of my document only covers North America. Due to the time constraint, lack of resources, experience and expertise, it is not within my capacity to research and provide insights for countries outside of North America. I have mainly used secondary research techniques to formulate my ideas and propositions. In addition, I was unable to find exact industry numbers and thus had to rely on estimates. References Bookseller (2005). Viz brings in Euro Manga. Bookseller, (5197), 11. Retrieved from Business Source
Complete database. Elmer-DeWitt, P. (2009, June 20). Apple fact check: 50,000 iPhone apps? – Update 2. Brainstorm Tech.
Retrieved March 31, 2010, from brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/06/10/apple-fact- check-50000-iphone-apps/ Fishbein, J. (2007) ‘Europe’s Manga Mania’, Business Week 26 December. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from Business Source Complete database. Fitzpatrick, M. (2004). The big read. New Media Age, 23. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database Furniture/Today (2005). Viz Media joins with British firm to promote properties. Furniture/Today, 30(7),
14. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. Hye-Kyung, L. (2009). Between fan culture and copyright infringement: manga scanlation. _Media, Culture & Society_, 31(6), 1011-1022. doi:10.1177/0163443709344251. ICv2 - Graphic Novel Growth Continues. (2006, May 19). ICv2 : Inside Pop Culture. Retrieved March 31,
2010, from http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/8699.html ICv2 - Manga Market Continues Robust Growth in '04. (2005, January 26). ICv2 : Inside Pop Culture.
Retrieved March 25, 2010, from http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6340.html Manga Fox: Read Free Manga Online!. (n.d.). Manga Fox. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://www.mangafox.com/ One Manga - Read Free Online Manga. (n.d.). One Manga. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://www.onemanga.com/ Poitras, G. (2008). What is Manga?. Knowledge Quest, 36(3), 49. Retrieved from Academic Search
Complete database. References (continued) Viz Media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March
25, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viz_Media VIZ Media about jobs. (n.d.). VIZ Media, LLC. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from
http://www.vIz.com/about/jobs