SEEKING ENDORSEMENT

How celebrities fit into Dangen’s cunning plan

To help raise the profile of its games, Dangen has borrowed a marketing technique more usually associated with the book publishing and fashion industries: the celebrity endorsement. The company has carefully targeted some of the titans of the Japanese videogame industry, such as Castlevania: Symphony

Of The Night creator Koji Igarashi, with its first run of games. Even if the celebrity doesn’t offer up a quotation that can be used on the box, sometimes just the effect of having a wellknown creator play one of the publisher’s games at a public event is enough to build word of mouth among Japanese players. It’s also a clever way to connect western indies with their heroes.