I am thoroughly impressed with my friend Vivian Lin’s blog, C’est La Vie. It can only be described as an exclusive glimpse inside the mind of a TVxQ fangirl, with a marketing twist.
For you, Vivian!
What is a fangirl/fanboy? Let’s look at the definition, courtesy of Dictionary.com:
| a person obsessed with an element of video or electronic culture, such as a game, sci-fi movie, comic or animé, music, etc; a person obsessed with any other single subject or hobby |
In marketing terms, fangirls/fanboys are the ultimate consumers. Much like the alpha-mom’s who advocated for Robbie’s Baby Shoes, fangirls and fanboys have extended the emotional attachment that they have with a character or story to the branded products that are related to said character/story.
This obsessive consumer phenomenon is prevalent not only in the media industry… for example, I can instantly think of several friends who purchase every single Apple product to hit the shelf, regardless of whether or not they really need the item.
For the companies that are able to establish this fiercely loyal fan base, the extraction of potential profits is unreal. I’m sure that it’s every marketer’s dream to be able to inspire this kind of fanaticism in the majority of its target market.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially the effort you went to find a definition for fangirling. Also, the fact that you we able to coin it a phenomenon and find it in your surrounding environment is great!