Manga distribution company Viz Media announced on Monday that they will be making a big staff change. Brad Woods, previously the Senior Vice President of Dreamworks Animation, has been named as the Chief Marketing Officer at Viz.
What this means is Woods will be in charge of marketing all the titles Viz holds. Woods has had experience marketing successful film franchises, notably ‘Madagascar’ and ‘How To Train Your Dragon.’ This is also not his first, or even second, company rodeo. Woods worked at Mattel and Warner Bros. before Dreamworks.
While hiring a man with a successful marketing background may seem like a very good idea, it has some wondering. How much does Woods know about manga, anime, and the world he is entering into? Will he hep put manga ‘on the map,’ so to speak? Or will he end up mis-marketing the titles? How will this affect Viz Manga in the long run? It is interesting to note that Woods is coming from Dreamworks Animation, the offshoot to Dreamworks, and the company responsible for the upcoming ‘Ghost in The Shell’ movie. Could bringing in a man with such a Hollywood background mean we may get more of a Westernised, Hollywood feel to Viz Manga? And if so, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
Only time will tell as Woods embarks into the world of manga. But we’ll be watching to see if the changes he makes are good, or if he makes any change at all.
Laura is a Douglas College student and an avid anime aficionado. She can sleep through anything, except the latest manga chapter release. Any questions, fire off a message to lmdeheer@shaw.ca!