Cartoon Network marketing dept.

[Sean Whitmore]

Someone needs to tell me I'm wrong, here. That everyone else has been seeing these commercials and I, through freak happenstance, am the only one to have missed them all.

Cartoon Network aired the new animated Hellboy movie Saturday night. The first I heard about it was 5 minutes ago, casually browsing AICN.

Last week, they premiered a new show on their Adult Swim lineup called Blood+. I saw not one commercial for this series, much less the heavy advertising campaign they used for previous new shows Bleach and Trinity Blood.

The animated Iron Man movie was on sometime last month with, again, little to no promotion. And a few months before that, the first animated Hellboy movie, with such heavy promotion that I saw the first commercial for it about an hour before it aired.

Go back even further, more of the same. Batman vs Dracula, Superman: Brainiac Attacks. Hell, that whole last season of Justice League.

And it's not that Cartoon Network doesn't know how to advertise. They'll occasionally take a new movie or show, similiar to any of the ones named above, and hype it so heavily that just seeing the commercials makes you sick after a while.

I have an interest in this sort of thing, so I'm trying to make sense of it, and I find that it's beyond me. It's possible I'm just nuts, which I'll happily cop to, if someone can tell me I'm wrong about any of the above. Are these shows being promoted, and I'm just missing it all somehow? Or are the people in charge of these things basing their decisions on the tide or the moon or some other weird shit?


SEAN

[DonC]

I didn't see one commerical for Hellboy: Blood and Iron. However, I don't watch CN right now because none of their shows I do watch are new.

[IamtheRock3]

yea remeber JLA you basicly had to find the new epsiode by luck

heck even repeats by luck

didnt say when it canceled, didnt say when new show came on


It was weird

[MKTerra]

Speaking of CN's marketing dept., have you seen Toonami's new Tom?

Aka, Thomas the Tank Engine, and friends? (Note: Not really, people have just been making the comparison alot.)

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6159/1174204539315yj1.th.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1174204539315yj1.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AujHEmrSZjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qosbx609kOA

It's been interesting watching people's reactions to this elsewhere :p

[Murrocko]

Speaking of CN's marketing dept., have you seen Toonami's new Tom?

Aka, Thomas the Tank Engine, and friends? (Note: Not really, people have just been making the comparison alot.)

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6159/1174204539315yj1.th.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1174204539315yj1.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AujHEmrSZjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qosbx609kOA

It's been interesting watching people's reactions to this elsewhere :p

What the f**k did they do to Tom?

[JDogindy]

What the f**k did they do to Tom?

They butchered him, I guess.

I'm having my cable reactivated tomorrow, but I'm going to have my TV skip Channel 53 (Cartoon Network), because I don't want to see it anymore. I'm going to miss my "Kids Next Door", but if it ensures that I don't see rampant advertisments for some lame movie 25 times a day or stupid gags between commercials or "Camp Lazlo", so be it.

Cartoon Network, technically, dosen't understand what to hype, and really dosen't understand how long you hype something before you make it unwatchable (Re-Animated, for example).

[SAMAS]

You know, it's sad, because that first video actually had a cool moment (IMO), where Tom psyched himself up by doing the space pirate chant from Outlaw Star. I thought it was a cool shout-out to Toonami's past.

Everything else had "Executive Meddling (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExecutiveMeddling)" written all over it.

I gotta say it, too: WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING WITH TOM'S REDESIGN?

[Petersen]

I missed Blood and Iron for the same reason.

[Jamal]

I have an interest in this sort of thing, so I'm trying to make sense of it, and I find that it's beyond me. It's possible I'm just nuts, which I'll happily cop to, if someone can tell me I'm wrong about any of the above. Are these shows being promoted, and I'm just missing it all somehow? Or are the people in charge of these things basing their decisions on the tide or the moon or some other weird shit?

Your not nuts, the only reason I caught it was because another website reminded me. They did manage to pump the hell out of the Toonami line between the brakes, gave me the same feeling as when I had to sit through 20 disney previews before Howl's Moving Castle:mad: :evilangry.

I'm just speculating but at Wondercon I asked McDuffie if he thought that the JLU would have lasted if it was on Adult Swim and he told me that it had nothing to do with age group, time slot, or ratings. CN canceled the show because they couldn't make money off of the merchandising and was spending more on production then they were getting back on the return.

Which leads me to believe that the shows that they have a bigger piece of the licensing they pump harder ( Like Naruto ) where as shows like Eureka 7 or Hellboy get pushed down the time line or get little to no promotionat all. To be fair Blood+ is a pretty violent show so I can see why it had little ad time.

But I could be wrong, this is only my opinion.

[Alex]

I only watch adult swim, where the commercials are either vague, or them making fun of anime.

[IamtheRock3]

Your not nuts, the only reason I caught it was because another website reminded me. They did manage to pump the hell out of the Toonami line between the brakes, gave me the same feeling as when I had to sit through 20 disney previews before Howl's Moving Castle:mad: :evilangry.

I'm just speculating but at Wondercon I asked McDuffie if he thought that the JLU would have lasted if it was on Adult Swim and he told me that it had nothing to do with age group, time slot, or ratings. CN canceled the show because they couldn't make money off of the merchandising and was spending more on production then they were getting back on the return.

Which leads me to believe that the shows that they have a bigger piece of the licensing they pump harder ( Like Naruto ) where as shows like Eureka 7 or Hellboy get pushed down the time line or get little to no promotionat all. To be fair Blood+ is a pretty violent show so I can see why it had little ad time.

But I could be wrong, this is only my opinion.

they couldnt find ideas for mercendising for a show about super heroes beating the heck out of each other

Get with the program DC direct

[Sean Whitmore]

they couldnt find ideas for mercendising for a show about super heroes beating the heck out of each other

It's not that they couldn't find ideas. It's that they didn't have merchandising rights.

I'm assuming.


SEAN

[Kevin Vetter]

I usually only watch adult swim and the advertisements for other cartoon network shows are usually only for adult swim shows. I knew the ironman and hellboy movies were on but only because I was going through the on screen guide to see how far along they are in naruto episodes. I don't watch on saturday nights though when they have the anime shows on so I never know if they get a new one unless I stumble across it while its on.

[Gaastra]

Cartoon network won't promote half thier shows but will promote the heck out of live-action movies that don't belong on cartoon network to begin with!

Why the heck was ace ventura 2 and honey i shrunk the kids on CARTOON network.

Cn wants to be disney and nick so bad they can taste it.

Funny thing about adult swim.

A few cable company's have removed it from thier kids package.

(like nick, pbs kids, etc.) Turns out parents complianed about the adult shows at night!

In the moutains adult swim comes on at 8.00 pm in prime time hours!

[K.O.V.G]

It's because Cartoonetwork sucks plain and simple, if it's called CN why do they air anime which is not for kids oh well it's has to get popular somehow.

[Johnny_Storm]

Cartoon Network used to have my favorite Sat. night lineup on television. I faithfully watched or recorded JLU, Fullmetal Alchemist, Scryed and Samurai Shamploo for months. However, I had to go to TV.com to find out when new episodes would start airing again because CN barely advertised them, Inuyasha got some respect but that was it. If I didn't have the internet I would have been out of the loop for sure.

[SuperSaiyaMan12]

It's because Cartoonetwork sucks plain and simple, if it's called CN why do they air anime which is not for kids oh well it's has to get popular somehow.
Anime is animation, man, and not all of it is shoenen for the teen to adult crowd.

K.O.V.G, once again, you prove you don't know what you're talking about.

[JDogindy]

Anime is animation, man, and not all of it is shoenen for the teen to adult crowd.

K.O.V.G, once again, you prove you don't know what you're talking about.

Please leave the fanboy (K.O.V.G) alone, guys.

[a. non]

For years i've wondered why Cartoon Network called Toonami's ship "Absolution", and i think i worked it out. It's as if the programmers at the network were saying:

"We ask for your forgiveness now, because while we're creating something kick-ass and wonderful at this moment [late 90s], we will eventually drop the ball and disappoint a whole lot of you out there."

It was meant as a far-sighted apology.

[Murrocko]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Witej4D9pEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4fwYm2UCZI

I miss the old days of Toonami.

[Jamal]

It's not that they couldn't find ideas. It's that they didn't have merchandising rights.

I'm assuming.

That's exactly what it was, DC won't let them in on the merchandising.

[K.O.V.G]

Anime is animation, man, and not all of it is shoenen for the teen to adult crowd.

K.O.V.G, once again, you prove you don't know what you're talking about.

Cartoon is super lame and I know Anime is animation ( who doesn't know that) but a cartoon is not anime. Adult swim all of it just the same to me, but don't mind me I just hate dubbed anime all together.

I don't know what I'm talking about, well look at what they did to dbz since your a fanboy of dbz SuperSaiyaMan12 tell me do you like it being milked for what it is.

[Young Avenger]

Speaking of CN's marketing dept., have you seen Toonami's new Tom?

Aka, Thomas the Tank Engine, and friends? (Note: Not really, people have just been making the comparison alot.)

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6159/1174204539315yj1.th.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1174204539315yj1.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AujHEmrSZjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qosbx609kOA

It's been interesting watching people's reactions to this elsewhere :p

*Resumes the Dark Vader position*

NNnOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tom, what have they done to you?

CN marketing policy is out of wack. I didn't know that Blood+ would be on Adult Swim until I tuned in to watch Eureka Seven.

Another thing that pissing me off about CN is that they don't advertise timeslot changes. This is frequent with anime on Adult Swim when they just switch around the timeslots of shows without warning.

[Sean Whitmore]

Resurrected the thread because, well, it's still happening. Another new series, Death Note, premiered last night, amidst the thunderous sound of zero promotion.

I liked it well enough, it has an interesting premise. I can only assume CN decided that advertising it wasn't as good an idea as stealthily airing it instead of Bleach one random night and hoping people stuck through it instead of changing the channel.


SEAN

[Toku King]

Speaking of CN's marketing dept., have you seen Toonami's new Tom?

Aka, Thomas the Tank Engine, and friends? (Note: Not really, people have just been making the comparison alot.)

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/6159/1174204539315yj1.th.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1174204539315yj1.jpg)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AujHEmrSZjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qosbx609kOA

It's been interesting watching people's reactions to this elsewhere :p

Tom, no! *cries* WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!?! That's not Tom! That's not Tom! When did they do this bastardization?!

[SAMAS]

About the same time that post was made.

After dealing with the new Toonami, my opinion of the visual style has changed slightly. I still hate Tom's redesign, but I actually kinda like the big green dude who's doing all the work lately. The look works for him.

But that brings back the point of where the hell is Tom? You rarely see him anymore. I'm worried that the next iteration is just gonna put him on a bus without even telling anybody.

[DonC]

Resurrected the thread because, well, it's still happening. Another new series, Death Note, premiered last night, amidst the thunderous sound of zero promotion.

I liked it well enough, it has an interesting premise. I can only assume CN decided that advertising it wasn't as good an idea as stealthily airing it instead of Bleach one random night and hoping people stuck through it instead of changing the channel.


SEAN


Bastards! I was wondering if that was new. I saw the anime in the store and it looked good. I wonder if it's on again tonight?