A hidden streaming juggernaut awakens.
Over the course of about 18 months, working directly for (and with) the CMO, I was tasked with an interesting problem: though one of the largest, and most storied anime publishers, the brand had a strong reliance on legacy physical media sales and personas in an increasingly shifting marketplace. The goal was to reposition the brand around a fan-first, streaming-first mentality—focusing on the strength and breadth of the anime library.
Strategic research across all touchpoints of the business led to multiple recommendations including: rethinking, rewriting (and relaunching) personas, brand positioning for funimation and its various sub brands, ecommerce, streaming strategies, as well as digital audits with targeted UX recommendations. This was all validated with the brand's 25th anniversary and acquisition by Sony.
EXPERIENCE
DESIGN ANIME STRATEGY
Naturally, I can't show the good stuff (there's a lot, like so many pages)—so look at some nice pages out of context, agnostic observations, or universally applicable insights.
Did I get to spend a lot of time with Cowboy Bebop? Yes.
And discover some new gems? Yes. (Hello, Shimoneta). But I think our proudest accomplishments in the pivot to the value of streaming was rebalancing the audiences and unshackling the 'ownership' of anime from aging dudes to the recognition and value of tweens (and girls especially)—and the impact of anime in shaping their personalities.
The other wonderful thing? There's such a wealth of imagination and content in the funimation anime IPs. All the people that work there share that deep love and desire to evangelize it to wider audiences. And now they have that chance.
Most of the work is obviously super-proprietary, but the results speak for themselves as funimation's growth continues—not just in revenue but in public awareness of its library. You've probably heard of a few titles: My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan.