Exploring Anime Culture

in China, Japan and US

Leading Global Beverage Company | 2021

Image from Demon Slayer

Anime is becoming 'less Japanese' and has been embraced and adored by a global audience, especially among Gen Z. We were tasked to explore anime culture in China, Japan and the US to find an ownable, exciting and meaningful space for the company to launch a drink.

Given the tight timeline, the best way was to get anime lovers onboard - and we got two! We spent a full week diving into anime and anime fan culture in 3 markets, coming up with potential themes we could tap into. Based on this, we curated 8 experts to speak to, covering a wide spectrum in the anime world, from a cosplay themed lingerie designer in the US, to innovative anime-inspired digital artists in China as well as anthropologists specialised in the anime and creative industry in Japan. Then we spent all the rest of our time dissecting characters and identifying plot patterns of 6 priority anime IPs - what we love the most!

We came up with 3 high potential strategic territories together with Virtue team. We even managed to persuade the client to add a new Anime IP to their negotiation list. Wonder what it is? just watch out for Anime flavored drinks this summer!

In collabortion with Virtue