Thoughts about Ayumi's Marketing Strategy

[me0wie]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

I think in a Japanese performer's case it would be better to be known and somewhat disliked than completely forgotten.

somewhat true... i feel that, more ppl hate = more ppl like. there has to be a balance. Jolin Tsai for example, if u google her, u can see the number of people trashing her, but there are still so many who like her and support her. If you ask anyone on the street, they will all know who she is. similar to ayu, u may see many trashing her, saying she's fake and all. but what matters most is that there are still other people around who support her. i became a ayu fan quite late i would say, and i was deeply attracted to all her "rock" "dark" songs... its usually the music that attracts me. i dun really understand her lyrics until i look up on it. But songs like Duty, End of the World, teddy bear, marionette, momentum are very "strong" songs that attract my attention immediately and make me fall in love with them. in fact, i just recently got her Duty album. :x i'm the kind who would pre-order her super expensive japanese version CDs & DVDs and collect all her previous CDs. i guess sometimes tt's all that matters...

As long as she continues singing, more people will recognize her and more people will like her. ayu has said she is a product. perhaps we should reflect on ourselves because she probably mold herself to be what others like (to be viewed as a product and be popular) but people who like her will know that its her voice, her music, lyrics, her being such a perfectionist in everything she do, her perseverance that attract us.

+ all that glamorous and expensive clothes. its not for herself. its for us. they were for photoshoots and concerts and PVs. sometimes i think she goes through all that trouble to prove its really worth for us to buy her CDs and all. i think she still cares for her songs. the packaging is probably just another compulsory part that simply cannot be removed. one friend of mine who doesn't know ayu once told me she has never seen anyone who could fit into a pair of jeans & t-shirt so beautifully and perfectly before. (encore in concerts). if she's going to just be simple and plain, there will be no looking forward to new PVs, cd covers, and concerts. and we would have to think of the brands sponsoring her too. (are they any? i'm not too sure)

[Jwiz]

Originally Posted by sugarbasil

You have no idea how many times I heard from people in Japan that she should just retire already, and that she's "old."

oh my, that's so mean of them

Originally Posted by bluegie

Just remember one thing: no one will be on top forever.

I must admit that her idea are not as innovative as before (e.g., how many times do you hear "Boku tachi wa" in her songs? Voyage, Marionette, Together When..). And I feel that she should use some new composers/arrangements instead.

PVs did have a bit of contribution to her early success. I enjoy her older pvs because there were plots inside.

I agree with what you've said ..but it's kinda sad that we can only wait for her new releases and comment on them but can't possibly make ayu more innovative again (unless someone forward this to her or she see these herself, but... )

[Kikaru]

I think another factor that should be added is avex. Most artist at the latter point of the careers (unless they're like older and married or something or really really past their peaks) tend to release on a patterned schedule. Yes, songs like Glitter/July 1st/Fairyland/Blue Bird are poppy and repetitive, but the sales tend to be higher than the darker singles.

Personally I think while the numbers are declining, I think it's not a BAD number. Sure, she's not selling extremes, but it's a comfortable number.

I admit, I'm not a big fan of trance/pop stuff on Loveppears, and I really like the musical arrangement and rock-atmosphere in Guilty and Secret, so in some ways I can't relate to you guys.

And yes, there's the down-to-earth, perform in jeans and big fancy dress. But Ayu was never like that in the first place. Since Loveppears, she's always been a fashion icon. I really don't remember a tv performance with jeans and a t-shirt normally, unless you count the CDTV stuff at new years...

Edit: I just realized, when it comes down to it, everyone will decline -- every pop star will have their peak and every pop star will eventually fade away, or maybe selling less than they used to sale. I think really, there's no perfect marketing strategy because a single song is not going to be loved by everyone no matter what. I'm pretty sure even the Hikki people have complaints about her promotions and etc.

Which is why Avex needs to hire better marketing people. (JK JK) But it's the perks of being in business, because no business is ever going to be perfect.

[bluegie]

"hikki people..." such a weird phrase LOL.. you can simply say hikki fans .

Originally Posted by Bashumaru

I don't think there is such a thing because if that was true how come Utada doesn't have straight number ones, I'm pretty sure she has a statue too .

That is because hikki didn't have several consecutive no. 1s to make a streak. Automatic wasn't no. 1, Movin' on was, First Love wasn't, then 4 singles no. 1, broken by FINAL DISTANCE, then another five no. 1 singles, broken when Passion was released. Since then Toshiba never places hikki in a safe week for single release.

Let's see ayu... ok, from Free & Easy --> talkin' 2 myself, there are 17 consecutive no. 1s (correct me if i'm wrong). That is a long no. 1 streak among female artists. If she didn't release Daybreak then probly had 6 more no.1 consecutive singles (from M to Dearest... A song is born doesn't count cuz it's a duet). This is why avex (and probly to ayu herself) wanna save this streak as long as possible.

If you dun believe that, then look at KinKi Kids, and more specially, B'z. I'm sure placing KAT-TUN battling with them will definitely kill their streaks (average debut week for KAT-TUN was ~350K), as both KK and B'z selling less than 200K on the first week.

I have a feeling tho that ayu's no. 1 streak will be broken in about 2 yrs or so.. 100K on the first week is pretty much normal now. If ayu can still manage to sell over 100K on the first week, avex can manage to get a safe week for her... If her singles starting selling like crap (e.g., talkin' 2 myself), her streak will be broken at anytime..

[Bashumaru]

Originally Posted by bluegie

"hikki people..." such a weird phrase LOL.. you can simply say hikki fans .



That is because hikki didn't have several consecutive no. 1s to make a streak. Automatic wasn't no. 1, Movin' on was, First Love wasn't, then 4 singles no. 1, broken by FINAL DISTANCE, then another five no. 1 singles, broken when Passion was released. Since then Toshiba never places hikki in a safe week for single release.

Let's see ayu... ok, from Free & Easy --> talkin' 2 myself, there are 17 consecutive no. 1s (correct me if i'm wrong). That is a long no. 1 streak among female artists. If she didn't release Daybreak then probly had 6 more no.1 consecutive singles (from M to Dearest... A song is born doesn't count cuz it's a duet). This is why avex (and probly to ayu herself) wanna save this streak as long as possible.

If you dun believe that, then look at KinKi Kids, and more specially, B'z. I'm sure placing KAT-TUN battling with them will definitely kill their streaks (average debut week for KAT-TUN was ~350K), as both KK and B'z selling less than 200K on the first week.

I have a feeling tho that ayu's no. 1 streak will be broken in about 2 yrs or so.. 100K on the first week is pretty much normal now. If ayu can still manage to sell over 100K on the first week, avex can manage to get a safe week for her... If her singles starting selling like crap (e.g., talkin' 2 myself), her streak will be broken at anytime..

Lol I misread your original post XD, by statues your talking about streaks right? XD, when you said statue I thought you meant like something they're extremely well known for like Ayus #1 streak, Utadas 10 million selling album, B'z most records sold etc. and that would earn them a safe week , my bad.

[LacusClyne]

since we're on the topic of marketing, how many Ayu's songs are actually tie-in with dramas? i only know love~destiny is.

tie-in with dramas is actually a very strong way of promotion if the drama gets popular, i wonder why there isn't any for ayu?

[bluegie]

lemme think..
SEASONS, forgiveness (well... this shows a tie-in doesn't mean good. it debuted with only 100K in 2003, really bad sales), Endless sorrow, etc.. Can't remember all. And you're right, it's good to have tie in ONLY if the drama itself is strong. So far most ayu-drama tie-ins are kinda sucky..

Originally Posted by Bashumaru

Lol I misread your original post XD, by statues your talking about streaks right? XD, when you said statue I thought you meant like something they're extremely well known for like Ayus #1 streak, Utadas 10 million selling album, B'z most records sold etc. and that would earn them a safe week , my bad.

LOL yeah I was talking about the the #1 streak statue . Now I think about this statue... when did it get started? I just know B'z last single was the 40th consecutive no. 1... I wonder if originally B'z company did that in the first place, then other companies started to follow this glory thing?

[Ayumiko]

As a old fan of ayu...I was first attracted to her music. I started listening to her music without even knowing what she looked like back then. Each song was very different and I enjoyed and loved them all, despite the fact that sometimes I couldn't stand her high pitch voice. After I got hooked on to her music, I began to search more info on her and that's when I found out what she looked like from pics. To my surprise, she was very beautiful and I really liked her fashion styles...and then after that I began watching her pvs, reading her lyrics translations and so on...till now.

so for me it was:
1. her music/ lyrics
2. her fashion sense
3. pvs and concerts

Ayu changed alot over the past years...there are things I'm glad she changed and there are things I wished she didn't. Music wise, I love both her old and new songs but as much as I love her rock songs, I really miss her pop songs that she used to have a lot. The arrangements of the older songs are much better than the new ones. She really need new arrangers. She lacks unique bridges in her new songs...which songs like surreal has. I will have to agree that she's been playing it safe with her releases and even though I'm a big fan of hers, I'm getting a bit tired of releases like fairyland, bluebird, and glitter. Where are songs like unite! and inspire that she used to release in the summer time? In terms of ballads, ayu still have it in her. Together when... and untitled for her are one of my fav ayu ballads. Her vocals improved alot over the past years and I'm really glad she improved.

Pvs and concert wise...I think in the past 10 years she had good and bad pvs equally throughout her career. Concerts...her concerts are getting better in terms of production but she is slowly getting not as creative as before for her tracklist and performances (hopefully AT08 will be great!)

fashion...her fashion are becoming more and more harder to copy for normal ppl. Back in the days when she used to wear more casual clothes with accessories that you find cheap or expensive...there were alot of girls that could imitate her. Now her image is more divaish and her clothes are more name branded, more mature higher end fashion. Ayu had always been using the sexy image in her whole career...from the loveappears cover till now...but lately its kinda a little bit too much. Yes she is turning 30 and everything but I just feel like for someone like her, she doesn't need to do any of that. In AT07 until that day... performance, I didn't like the way she lets the male dancers touch her like that and mirrorcle world pv...the lingerie scenes was not necessary in my opinion. Sexy photoshoots for covers, magazines are ok for me but seeing it in motion kinda makes me think sometimes when she would stop.

I wish ayu will go back to when she used to control everything rather than letting the 'professionals' she trusts so much to handle her stuff. I can see why she is declining in sales...not only is the music industry is declining, her popularity is also declining...because ayu really changed alot over the past years...she is just not appealing to the general public like she used to...I guess that could be a good thing too.

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Ayumiko

... I really miss her pop songs that she used to have a lot. The arrangements of the older songs are much better than the new ones. She really need new arrangers. She lacks unique bridges in her new songs...which songs like surreal has.

SURREAL is a really unique song (again) in ayu's discography. I dunno if there's a chorus part in this song.. The pattern is like melody A, melody A, bridge, melody B, melody B. This is one of the best pop-rock fusion from ayu .

Originally Posted by Ayumiko

Pvs and concert wise...I think in the past 10 years she had good and bad pvs equally throughout her career. Concerts...her concerts are getting better in terms of production but she is slowly getting not as creative as before for her tracklist and performances (hopefully AT08 will be great!)

The thing is, the recent attitude/concept of her pvs are mainly 1) "I'm pretty" and 2) "the pv should be pretty... plot is not important." I really enjoy her old pvs because I could see a storyboard from the pvs.

Concert... well again she has been recycling her old performances... Cage, cross, similar songs, etc. The last concert that I really enjoyed was MY STORY tour. Since then her concerts are kinda mediocre.

Originally Posted by Ayumiko

Yes she is turning 30 and everything but I just feel like for someone like her, she doesn't need to do any of that. ... Sexy photoshoots for covers, magazines are ok for me but seeing it in motion kinda makes me think sometimes when she would stop.

Again, I think she comes to an age (or a mind) that she wanna try to be more feminine. I'm not saying being more feminine means you gotta be sexy. What I mean is that she's tryin to act like sexy, she just feels like it.

[Halla]

couple of my observations:

I'm sure Ayu gets a huge majority of her money off her tours, something like 90% of her income at least is from tours & tour merchandise. that's the way with the music industry is today for the artists all over the world.

so I'm pretty sure Ayu herself is not too worried about the actual album/single sales. and honestly people here just think way too much of the sales numbers. compared to her tours the sales are pretty insignificant really.

who cares whether your album sells 500k or a million if you have arena tour around japan and asia to full sold out arenas?

I personally see her periodic releases as a positive thing. I thinka summer single is always fun, I'm looking forward to this years summer single since Glitter was such an improvement over the last few (blue bird, fairyland).

about Ayu's tie-ins: I'm pretty sure sure that the reason she has so less is that her asking price is just really high. only few advertisers will be able to afford her, Panasonic only hires true A-list japanese celebs like Ayu & Koyuki. Kiwi campaigns are also for A-listers only, Ayu & Yuri Ebihara.
I'm not sure how the drama tie-ins work. I'm pretty sure money is somehow involved, possibly the record company must pay for get a song of their artist's used in a drama since it's great exposure. probably Avex feels Ayu singles will sell enough withouth drama tie-ins.

[TITANIC]

hikki very popular in japan because she is consistance with her music..
it's different with ayu..
ayu not only make a good music..but she is trendsetter and should give something WAH.....

hikki's sales bery well because she realese album every 2 year or more..and ayu realese album every year..

for single sales, ayu's sales quite steady..
she always sell at least 100K...

different witk hikki.her single's sales not steady...
there are singles sell well and bad...
and the position didnt well as ayu

[ayu_ayu301]

to me ... ayu marketing strategy started to follow along the same template for quite a while now ....

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

I think timing was key in Ayu's case. They define that particular era of Japanese pop music. She wrote her own lyrics.. very well might I add. Her melodies were top-notch. I believe that DAI is the most important composer in her career, and possibly one of the largest contributors to her success. BLUE BIRD, arguably her last 'successful' single further proves that.

.

I'm so glad you pointed out DAI. ALlthough it might not be the biggest reason for a loss in sales, when a lot of former ayu addicts mention her songs are not the same, but were before, the only constant through her golden age and rise of fame is really DAI. He has a straong presence in her first albums, even though the arangements, styles and themes of the songs differ a LOT (ASFXX to LOVEppears to Duty to I am...). I was one of the apparently few who loved BLUE BIRD from the start, and it was not due to the arrangements. =P

I think the way avex promotes their artists in general, in addition to the usual way of female singers in japan is the reason why she declines in sales. Instead of thinking of somwthing that wouldn't have happened IF she did something different, I think it's better to see it as something she's been postponing in a way that harly any other female idol (Yeah, she was a "mere" idol when she started..)/ artist has done. She's the exception. These females are always heavilty tied in with a fashion or a style, which also means it will fade. Ayumi's chameleon changes made her avoid that along with plausible lyrics. Her fashion changes and sound changes were much more rapid and obious before RAINBOW. I know she couldn't go on like that and I think she makes really good music now as well, but take any song form the pre RAINBOW albums and mix them up they could've made up any of her recent released albums whereas mixing her first fours would've been rather strange.

I cannot remember any other female artist of her caliber that has held up this way, on the contrary I think I can count them on one hand. her staggering number of records sold (note that even if she debuted during the peaks of CD sales, she was debutng while the sales were on their way down. Her sales records are not solely to blame on her time of release)proves this.

As an example of someone who uniquely has managed to get in and out of fashion is Namie Amuro. She was pimped just like ayu, but after her fall managed to create a new base of fans and a new craze being the queen of hip-pop.

Utada is very different from all the others. She was never an idol (which shows both in her packaging, looks and style), she made things her own way from the beginning and debuted as an artist, not to please creepy old men nor specifically teens. She debuted because she could and loved music, she's not an avex idol and it shows through her release pattern as well as many other things. I don't see the need to compare her that much to ayu. If ayu slowed down her album releases she would've been dead. SHe needs to constantly be in the spotlight and release. Like the chart of her first week sales vs other sales showed, her hardcore fans are the biggest fan base sha has left. THat's why she doesen't need as heavy tie ins as Utada for every release, fans will know. Utada needs the right song and the right tie in to attract more non-hardcore fans.

Aside from her sales (ayu's) and even though she might be in a decline in japan I think she could still be seen as an up and coming world wide artist. She's arguably the most known and popular aritst in east asia, and she has a rather big underground following in other parts of the world as well. While the japanese tsunami still taking the world og pop culture with storm and ayumi's english (or maybe even french Haha) improves, she still has a future ahead of her in music with increasing popularity, but maybe not mainly as the aging music diva of japan. She's IMO the first japanese singer that has this unique opportunity, one that never was presented to former like Seiko Matsuda and mome yamaguchi

know many will find this irritating to read, as I'm sounding harsh and blunt, but it's just that she has been using a simillar formula for so long and the same composers and everything. I mean, she's so conservative about her careeer, that sometimes, it really seems like things are just coming automatically, in a fordist way, as a production line. The summer single, the ballad single, the rock single, songs with simillar themes (I'm not saying I want her to shift to a Hip Hop singer but I kinda misss when she was daring enough to try electronic, medieval, arabian and religious themes in her music). Also, we hardly hear things like: "today ayu met the composer "y" famous for doing certain compositions for this and that. ayu decided she'll try something different this time and is she'll be working pretty close to him so that the final result will have her special touch, blah, blah" - i mean, things we see other succesful artists doing. All we hear about is how ayu is getting prepared to shoot a PV, or to shoot for a magazine cover, or working in her tours. We hardly ever get to hear about her getting involved in her music, I mean, there were obviously exceptions in which we got a few heads up: i.e RAINBOW - the song, HEAVEN, the Geo songs, but that's was about that

I agree with this. Allthough I like most of GUILTY, most songs are very conservative ayu and not very daring.

[KarenPang]

to me in that sense , I think it's due to the fact that ayumi has been releasing material non stop consistently on a yearly basis in which in some point in time , her material suffered & so do her sales .

You look at people like Utada , Ken Hirai who take their own time to consolidate their material . I respect both acts in that they take their own time to release their albums as though it's the most natural thing to do & it's saying something since both artistes's recent released new albums are doing pretty well , be it charts & sales wise .

I don't know about you but maybe if ayumi were to stop releasing & chunning out material on an extremely normal/regular basis , maybe her popularity will bound back ? because people will definitely bound not to be surprised that oh she's gonna be releasing X no. of songs for the year .

I rather ayumi keep everyone in suspense , take her own time to write some new fresh great material & then bound back with great songs & a great album to boot .

It's not prob not her fault putting out materials on a yearly basis but I suspect it's all due to Avex . Besides with her ear condition , she definitely needs to slow down .

Maybe she should take a leaflet from OLIVIA ?

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by Halla

I personally see her periodic releases as a positive thing. I thinka summer single is always fun, I'm looking forward to this years summer single since Glitter was such an improvement over the last few (blue bird, fairyland).

BLUE BIRD was actually my favorite of all of those summer songs. I wasn't a really big fan of glitter though.

I don't "exactly" mind her periodic releases, even though I refer to it in my criticism. I just wish we could see her putting more "heart" when producing her music. We often see news on ayu getting ready for a photoshoot, for filming a PV, for her concerts and tours....it is as if we see ayu dedicating herself more to her image and performances rather than the music. We don't hear much of ayu talking about the proccess of creating a song, of her getting things ready to record a new song, or even her giving her thoughts about how she's been producing a new song. It almost seems as if she leaves all that to H/\L and CMJK and her role is just singing whatever she has to sing and whatever they have to offer to her. She doesn't even give us indirect signs, like Hikki did with her Flavor of life -Ballad Version- PV. That PV was crap, but we get the feeling some effort was done into making the ballad version of that song: hiring the violinists, etc. It makes the song more special imo, to see that the artist put some effort into it, and not just lent their vocals to an already pre-produced synth-instrumental track. I know this is just speculation, but it's how ayu has been portraying her stuff lately. with so much timne spent in caring for her image and concerts, is there really any free time for the most important thing, the music?

[elepop]

Tie-ins play a huge factor in marketing. And tie-ins for popular drama are even better than for a movie. In Asia, dramas are in general more popular than movies. If a singer gets the chance to either have a song of theirs as an opening or ending for a popular drama, it's gonna sell. for exemple, Hana Yori Dango was HUGE drama. Both Hikki and Ai Otsuka had the chance to sing for the ending. When you hear that same song 11 weeks in a row, it really gets in your head. You end up humming it all the time. Well, at least for me. So yeah, it works!

Ayu never really had a big tie-in. Except Inuyasha maybe because it's a really popular anime. I wouldn't count SHINOBI as a big tie-in because the movie wasn't really popular.

I don't really think PVs play a big factor in sells. What people like are catchy tunes or emotional ballads. Not that Ayu doesn't really have those anymore, but let's face it. Her music isn't as catchy as it used to. And a lot of releases are really predictable. Summer single. Maybe a Zespri CM? A song that ressembles to fairyland, BLUE BIRD, glitter? And a fall/winter release. A ballad. Near January. New album? Same thing, every year.

What Ayu needs is to relax, sit down and compose some tunes. I want CREA back!

I don't think fashion is going to help her in sales either. She's not really a fashion icon/trendsetter anymore.

[freedreamer]

Avex seems to just relying on CMs to promote Ayu..and i think thats really little?

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by freedreamer

Avex seems to just relying on CMs to promote Ayu..and i think thats really little?

not to mention nowadays she always seem to endorse Panasonic LUMIX camera only .

What happened to the days where she was everywhere , commerical spread wise ?

[Bashumaru]

I agree Ayu has been in the biz for 10 years and she paid her dues. Now she just needs to slow down and release when she wants too and take her time doing it. Its not like its gonna be the end of the world without the summer/spring song and the winter ballad .

[lfe.]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Just remember one thing: no one will be on top forever.

Sad but ultimately the truth. Even the most popular artists eventually aren't "whats hot today" anymore because people get tired. Instead, people begin to appreciate not seeing their favorite artist 24/7 and rejoice when their artists release new material. Take for example Bon Jovi, who have had tremendous success up until today. They aren't the focus of discussion in the rock community anymore with new bands like Fallout Boy being the "in" group today. However, whenever they release a new album they still kill the Billboards charts and they still get sell-out crowds when they go on tour.

Same thing has pretty much happened with Ayu. She's not the main focus of J-pop anymore; Kuu is because shes younger and newer. However when Ayu releases new material, she still tops the music charts. You can talk about how the routine gets old of a summer single/rock single blah blah blah, but her singles still are the top sellers in their debut weeks. After 8 studio albums , her 9th studio album GUILTY debuts #2 on the Oricon charts. Thas still AMAZING for someone to do so well after so much time. You would think after 10 years in the music industry an artist would have been in the past and forgotten by now but she still remains quite noticable and really high up there.

Ayu's marketing strategy seems to be expanding fanbase in other Asian countries. For Japan, the strategy seems to be keeping the fanbase she has instead of trying to increase it. Reasoning behind this is her continuation of releasing music and concert tours while decreasing the amount of magazine shoots and public appearances. Musical releases and concert tours are usually for satisfying and maintaining fanbase, which she continues to do so. Publicity is what increases fanbase, and these days she seems to do a lot less advertising and magazine shoots.

Why is this so? Well she already had all of Japan in her hands at one point in her career, what more is there to grasp for now? When you have it all, only thing that can happen is losing it over time because theres nothing more to gain. What she does know is that her fanbase is just starting to grow in other Asian countries like Singapore and Taiwan and she seems to be focusing more on those countries now. A lot of artists have done so in the past. Boa moved to Japan when her Korean popularity waned once Hyolee started taking over Korea. Se7en moved to Japan too because he was getting more popular there than in Korea which was all about Rain at the time.

It does not mean Ayu's career is going down the drain. She still has millions (or do I dare say billions??) of fans worldwide today. Although her pattern of releasing material does not change and some people here seem to be annoyed by it, tons of people still buy new albums she releases and digitally downloads them onto their computers for mp3s. Shes focusing more on other Asian countries these days because that is where her fanbase has capacity to grow more, and that is the most logical marketing strategy to do.

And what is all this about hating her recent diva image? Yeah she is becoming a diva because shes 29 years old now. Yeah you will find that you cannot relate to her as much as you used to, but that is inevitable because of the age barrier. My friends in college can't communicate with freshmen anymore because they are atleast 4-5 years older now and they cannot remember or relate to being that young freshman anymore. If you want Ayu to act like the old Ayu shes been the past 10 years, then people are going to say "she should start acting her age and stop trying to pretend like shes still young". I think she makes a fine diva, and although the time has passed for her to set trends for teenage girls, shes going to start setting trends for young adults.