Pook

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Pook's Place
Who Loves Stuff? I Sure Do!
4.21.05 - By Pook 

Hey all. Sorry I’ve been out of the loop for a little bit, but I’ve been gearing up towards the big Pook’s Place One Year Anniversary. Expect plenty of great things in the next few weeks.

I love TV, plain and simple. And I watch a lot of it. But lately, TV commercials have been hijacked by the non-stop wrecking ball known as commercial tie-ins. The best example of this, Star Wars EVERYTHING. Cereal, M&Ms, Legos, you name it, the new Star Wars movie is piggybacking off of every product in its path. But it is a brilliant marketing strategy – it’s basically free advertising for the movie (not that it really needs it – come on, who DOESN’T know Episode III is coming out?)

Now what exactly is my point? Well, as someone devoted to Yu-Gi-Oh, I’m very happy that the anime/game has not stooped to that level, although Konami does love slapping Yugi and his friends’ faces on everything from T-shirts to lunch boxes. Over doing marketing is annoying, but it does have its perks. Let’s look at this from a money-making standpoint.

Let’s say I own a cereal company and I just got to have the Yu-Gi-Oh license for my new cereal, Yu-Gi-O’s. I go to Konami, pay them money, and then they give me the rights to use the name. Then, as people walk down the cereal aisle at the supermarket, they become aware of Yu-Gi-Oh in general. So Konami just got paid to have a free advertisement. It’s crazy, but it’s how things work.

As you all know, I get some crazy ideas, so I thought, hmm, crazy ideas, ways to make money – perhaps I should come up with some new product tie-ins for Yu-Gi-Oh. Let the madness begin:

Food is an easy way to tie in a property. I mentioned Yu-Gi-O’s before, but what about something with Nabisco? Yu-Gi-Oreos. Or Yu-Gi-Oatmeal. The possibilities are endless. Then there are small items like car accessories. How about a bumper sticker reading “Property of KaibaCorp” or “My Other Car is a Blue Eyes White Dragon”. You could send your friend a postcard reading “Greetings from Duelist’s Kingdom” or “Wish You Were Here…In Battle City”.

You could also have practical devices, like a Yugi-shaped alarm clock that gets you up in the morning. For kids, when the alarm goes off, he could shout “It’s time for sch-sch-sch-sch-school” Naturally, you could extend the clothing line. Forget t-shirts with the character’s faces on them, I’m talking selling Domino High School Uniforms, with optional accessories like Yuig’s choker and Millennium Puzzle. Release the Mai Collection at JC Penny’s. Throw in the Duel Disk that’s already in stores, and everyday will be Halloween.

You see how easy this is? In the next few years, if Yu-Gi-Oh continues to grow in strength, we may be seeing a Star Wars-sized outbreak, no doubt about it. I mean, if they can repackage Lucky Charms with Star Wars shapes, what’s going to stop them from making marshmallows of Yugi’s head, Millennium Items, or BEWD? Nothing, that’s what. But, like the rest of you, as much as I’ll despise it, I’ll still run out and buy everything. Because that’s what being a loyal fan is all about. Happy dueling!