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28 JUNE 2024

Welcome to this week’s edition of Culture Wire, a newsletter brought to you by Singapore-based pop culture and lifestyle marketing agency Culture Group.

🧴🏳️‍🌈 A quick update on Vaseline Pro Derma, the body lotion created for and by Thailand’s transgender community: last week it won the Grand Prix in Glass at Cannes Lions. It’s the first time Singapore has received the award at the annual festival. Driving social change is good for business and agencies’ shelves. 

In this week’s edition:

  • Innovation of the Week: An anime-sports mash-up is on the cards
  • Fax, No Printer: How can you tell the difference between a Gen Z and a Millennial?
  • Regional Round-up: SEA originals, micro-dramas, inclusive healthcare and more!

Innovation of the Week

🏈 ⛩️ WHEN PASSION POINTS COLLIDE 

At the US Olympic track and field trials, sprinter Noah Lyles had a secret weapon: the iconic (and rare) Blue Eyes White Dragon card from Yu-Gi-Oh!, which the current world champion kept tucked into his bib. For the uninitiated, Yu-Gi-Oh! Is a popular trading card game and anime series.

This isn’t the first time anime has popped up in sports. Dominic Solanke, who plays for Premier League side AFC Bournemouth, recently celebrated a (disallowed) goal by donning an orange mask – an homage to the character Obito Uchiha from the popular anime Naruto. Meanwhile, the NFL’s DeMarcus Lawrence has designed anime-inspired cleats and presented them at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. So, what can we learn from this collision of passion points? 

💡 OUR TAKE

1️⃣ Anime is massive, and not just in Japan. Jujutsu Kaisen was the most in-demand TV show in the world in 2023 while Sony-owned Crunchyroll surpassed US$1B in global consumer spending. In Southeast Asia, the wide availability of the genre has resulted in huge followings in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Recent data suggests interest continues to shift away from US legacy shows and towards local content, including anime.

One consequence as anime continues to reach the masses? It’s rapidly intersecting with other passion points – like sport – in organic, authentic ways (side note that ‘football anime celebrations’ has over 118M TikTok posts). And these emerging hybrid identities will create opportunities for new marketing strategies and fan engagement models. This year, McDonald’s leaned into anime – imagine if the brand took that a step further in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup 2026 with anime shorts featuring soccer players or manga-style AR activations that told athlete backstories. 

2️⃣ Anime is more than a watching experience, and fans consume in many other forms: shelling out on collectibles, engaging in cosplay, attending conventions… And with the global anime merchandising market predicted to grow at a CAGR of more than 9.4% between 2023 and 2030, there’s plenty of room for partnerships at the crossroads of anime and sports.

There are already some signs of this: My Hero Academia just revealed that a second collaboration with the NBA LAB 🏀 and Hyperfly would be available later this year; and the Boston Red Sox ⚾ will celebrate the 25th anniversary of One Piece in August with a special pre-game party and cosplay event. Our prediction? A partnership that matched anime character personalities and powers to boots or running cleats, would be an instant global hit.

So, a few things to consider: how would the right partnership allow your brand target crossover audiences that are fans of anime and sports? And how can you do this in an authentic way that mirrors the organic, totally unscripted responses of Noah Lyles and co.? Anything less could risk seeming opportunistic or oblivious.

Fax, No Printer*

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

How can you tell the difference between a Gen Z and a Millennial?

A. That middle parting

B. Their emoji usage

C. It’s all in the socks

Scroll down to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

Regional Round-up

✈️ Last week we covered the phenomenon that is Devin Halbal (AKA ‘Kudasai Girl’). The creator is making headlines again, this time thanks to a partnership with AirAsia who are sponsoring her ‘summer tour’ around Asia. We’ve previously discussed brands moving at the speed of culture – this is a great example of that. Are you constantly looking for creator partnerships that will allow your brand to show up in culturally relevant spaces?  

📺 Netflix is in-the-know when it comes to SEA consumers’ changing content preferences: at the APAC Showcase in Jakarta the streamer unveiled a slate of new local titles including Abadi Nan Jaya 🇮🇩, Tomorrow & I 🇹🇭, and Outside 🇵🇭. As Southeast Asian storytelling becomes the norm, not the exception, it might be time to work with local creators to reshape your narrative… 

💬 Another content format that’s proving popular in the region? Chinese micro dramas. A new Viddsee x Risingjoy partnership means that even more SEA viewers can experience the snappy storylines and cliffhanger endings that have made this bite-size, vertical format the latest binge-watch. Content is being scaled down into snackable chunks, perfect for commuting or between classes: what does that mean for marketing? And what will it do to attention spans?

👩‍⚕️ KonsultaMD – the largest telehealth provider in the Philippines – is promoting inclusive care with plans for same-sex couples. It’s another step towards health equality: last year, the Quezon City mayor announced that LGBT+ couples would have the right to make health-related decisions on behalf of each other. How might your brand continue to advance inclusivity in a way that combines cultural relevance with tangible benefits? 

⚠️ ICYMI: Spotify offered a ‘fans first front row’ presale for Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short N’ Sweet’ tour. It was exclusive to the singer’s top Spotify listeners and only included premium tier seats. This seems like a smart way to reward existing behavior while layering something onto the Spotify listening experience. We’ll be discussing the rise of the ‘pop girlies’ in a future newsletter, so stay tuned! 

This Week's Trivia Answer

C. It’s all in the socks 

Look down. Can you see your ankles? If the answer is yes, we’d bet that you’re a Millennial. Younger consumers are rewriting the fashion rules (again) and prefer crew – mid-shin length – socks instead of the ankle or no-show varieties (to be fair, there’s a practical aspect here; don’t those mini socks always fall off?). The Great Sock Debate has been playing out on social media over the last few months and shows no sign of going away. Gen Z is wearing their socks over their leggings, with sliders (13M views on TikTok), Crocs and loafers. 

Every generation rejects what came before, and socks do have a long history with youth culture – for example, in the 1940s, the Bobby Soxers popularized, well, bobby socks; in the 80s Club Kids wore day-glo leg warmers. Gen Z’s love of the long(er) sock is another example of ugly fashion and, when styled over athleisure, they signal the wearer’s embrace of the aspirational gym-to-brunch lifestyle. Branded crew socks – from Alo Yoga, Nike, or Ralph Lauren – also represent a relatively affordable way to buy into a luxury brand.

Here’s the long and short of it: as the NYT observes, this is another way to play up intergenerational differences online. But it should serve as a reminder that younger consumers are keen to differentiate themselves from what came before, show their individuality, and dress according to their rules. And that is something brands should take note of 🧦.

🚀 Over and Out!

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Your Culture Mavens,

Angela, Catherine, Teri, Twila, & Vicki

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