Tokyo Olympics wants to create an animation IP matrix, sports promote the upgrading of the animation industry

The International Olympic Committee believes that anime images are of great significance in cultivating young people's goodwill towards the Olympics. On the other hand, sales of Olympic mascots and their surrounding products are one of the important sources of Olympic revenue.

Original title: Sun Wukong has not become an Olympic ambassador, but the Tokyo Olympics is indeed worth learning from in developing animation IP

. Recently, some domestic media quoted foreign reports as saying that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has included Sun Wukong, the protagonist of the famous comic book "Dragon Ball Super", and nine other cartoon characters are positioned as Olympic ambassadors. In fact, according to the reporter's understanding, anime IPs such as "Dragon Ball Super", Huo Ying, Astro Boy and "One Piece" have only joined the product promotion plan of the eight popular comics of the Tokyo Olympic Games and sold their products in the official online store of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee (T-shirt 3980 yen, shopping bag 3950 yen).

At present, only Doraemon among Japanese anime IPs has won the official title of "Olympic Ambassador", and its products are also sold on the official website. The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee also said that it will strive for more popular anime IPs to join.

Since the Munich Olympics in Germany in the 1970s, using anime characters (mascots) for marketing has become a custom in the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee believes that anime images are of great significance in cultivating young people's goodwill towards the Olympics. On the other hand, sales of Olympic mascots and their surrounding products are one of the important sources of Olympic revenue. It can be said that the Olympic mascot is one of the earliest cases of integrated animation IP operation.

As a major animation country, the Japanese make more use of animation IP than previous Olympic host countries. As early as the Olympic bid stage, the Japan Olympic Organizing Committee began to use animation IP to carry out publicity campaigns. At the Rio Olympics, Shinzo Abe also played Super Mario at the handover ceremony, and now he is introducing more well-known anime IPs and launching joint products. In the eyes of the Japanese, anime IP is not just for teenagers, it can also attract the attention of adults. As a result, the Tokyo Olympics raised the use of animation IP to an unprecedented level, and also attracted the attention of the younger generation around the world.

In addition to the publicity effect brought by upgrading the strategic status of animation IP, we should also pay attention to the excellent performance of the Tokyo Olympics in the commercial development of animation IP.

Previous Olympic Games had only one mascot, but IP alone obviously could not effectively develop market potential. Therefore, in recent years, Olympic mascots have been expanding, the most famous example being the "Five Blessings". The Tokyo Olympics has not yet launched its own mascot this time, but judging from its current layout, they obviously want to create an "Olympic Animation IP Matrix" and incorporate a large number of high-quality animation IPs into their commercial landscape.

Based on the experience of previous Olympic Games, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee may launch mascots in the past year or two. We cannot completely rule out the possibility of "selecting one from the existing anime IPs to be the mascot", but this possibility is relatively small. It is more likely that the Tokyo Olympics will launch an independent mascot like previous Olympics. In the past, the Olympic Organizing Committee has tried to operate the mascots as IP. For example, China once filmed cartoons for Fuwa, but they have not escaped the fate of "being obsolete after the Olympic Games." However, with the help of Japan's developed animation industry, the Tokyo Olympics mascot IP is likely to escape this fate and become a lasting cash cow for the Japanese Olympic Committee.

On the other hand, for the animation industry, the Olympics is not only a good business opportunity, but also a publicity window to change its image. Since its birth, the secondary industry has been closely bound to "otaku culture"; people have a stereotyped influence on consumers of secondary culture as "lazy, otaku, and unsports-loving". With the help of the Olympics, the animation industry can fight a publicity battle and effectively change people's impression of it.

Editor: Nancy