Work

Shogakukan

Situation
Shogakukan wanted to expand awareness amongst web users and tech savvy young people ahead of its launch of webmanga.com, a 3-D web-based comic.

Strategy
e-storm decided to conduct market research with top-tier comic fans to understand their perception of web-based 3D comics and their readiness/willingness to pay for such. In addition, we wanted to analyze the potential of manga (Japanese comics), characterz (Shgakukan’s proprietary 3D comic) and/or e-commerce markets.

Solutions
With Shogakukan, we developed a survey, then we reached out to 500 top-tier manga aficionados to participate. We contributed to manga aficionado communities and message boards and other “affinity clubs” to spread the word about the new 3D manga website and survey. We used site sponsorships, newsletters, and opt-in emails from targeted Asian, European, and U.S. manga sites.

Results:
The results were exceptional. Overall, we increased awareness and the number of expected click-throughs to the site by about 1400%. We also increased the number of expected survey participants from 500 to 7000. Better yet, Shogakukan connected with their target audience and was able to develop a strong knowledge of audience expectations – which drove their marketing strategy.