Thursday, March 21, 2013

Has the Absence of NYAF Affected FUNimation? Part 1


Last time I spoke to Adam Sheehan he was the Senior Events Manager and Brand Manager. Now he has moved out of brand management for about 5-6 years and from events 1 year ago. He had the opportunity to move on to something new and decided to go for it. He is the Senior Marketing Manager for FUNimation.com. His main responsibilities are to promote and market the company website to obtain more traffic and members, support their physical product release, to promote the FUNimation apps and video subscription service.

New York Comic Con 2012

Sheehan’s impressions of this year is that it is “big, and getting bigger.” Since the convention first debut, he cannot think of any convention that has grown as rapidly as New York Comic Con (NYCC). He believes that this is a “great East Coast alternative to San Diego Comic-con” and he cannot wait for the next one.

He arrived at New York City two nights before the show started and then reached the showfloor the morning of the next day. “The floor was a flurry of booths being set-up, forklifts driving across the floor, and many pallets still to be unwrapped.” FUNimation had quite a few things for the fans: 4 autograph sessions, 6 panels, and the world premiere of one of their films. Their booth was always packed out; Sheehan could barely see the floor. It had plenty promotional items, such as posters, for the fans to take with them. The company passed out 90% of those items. Their panels were filled with an abundance of exciting and anxious fans. Because of his business schedule, he had some late nights. However, he did manage to get some sleep, just not as much as he wished.

For the majority of the convention, “luckily,” it went smoothly. However, he had a personal down point and a professional high note. “The low point I guess would be that I was a bit sick the first day of the con and didn’t make it to the floor until after it opened. The high point I would say was how well received our Mass Effect premier was. The audience was fully into it.” His professional expectations were met; all their events and sales “did better than expected.” On a personal note, he was able to see some of his NYC friends. “Living in TX I don’t get to do that as much as I would like.:-)”

© 2013 Linda Thai

Stay tune for Part 2 of the Adam Sheehan interview.

Photography by Linda Thai

For more pictures, check out the Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics Page on Facebook

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