Sabrina Dent: Freelance web designer, developer and internet marketer living in Cork, Ireland with one dog and a husband in no particular order.
Presenting My Little Pony at the Dot Conf
Last month, I travelled up to Dublin to present a talk called “If You Build It, They Won’t Come” at the Dot Conf. Except in the days before the conference, I became obsessed with a meme I first encountered on MetaFilter. So, in a last minute change to the lineup, I spent 25 minutes at an industry conference for web and marketing professionals talking about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Presentation starts at 2:22 because I didn’t edit this video — here’s a direct link:
This presentation is subtitled “The evolving relationship between brands and consumers” and whips through candy bars, Harry Potter, and Jedis before diving into the unexpected online fan base the new My Little Pony franchise found on 4Chan.
As per usual, while I am always happy to share my slides, they’re pretty much useless as I don’t read off them and they contain virtually no text to provide stand-alone narrative. But all of the links for all of the sources and stories for these slides are listed in the first comment there, so feel free to peruse at your leisure.
This presentation went over really well with the 300-strong audience, who were great – responsive and fun – and who made #pony trend on Twitter in Ireland. (Which pretty much made my day, so thanks for that!) Many thanks to Emma Henderson and NCI, who hosted this event in excellent style and were happy to roll with it when I changed what I wanted to speak about at the very last minute.
Although I am neither an 8 year old girl nor a 22 year old straight white male, I am a genuine My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan. All 26 episodes are available as full-length uploads on YouTube, and I’ve watched them all. If you just want to dive in, I would suggest Ep 16, Sonic Rainboom.
Due to time constraints, the Dot Conf audience was spared from the planned sing-a-long, but you should feel free to rock out at home to the Equestria Girls video that premiered on Equestria Daily:
And as a special bonus round for all you secret MLP FIM fans: Equestria Girls Over-Extended 1 Hour Loop!
Update: This post was linked by Equestria Daily, generating a ton of traffic and a ton of comments over there. Thanks to the MLP community for being gracious and kind about this presentation and my errors.
27 Jun 2011
| In: Events | Tags:dotconf, FIM, my little pony
Nicely done. Only a couple nits to pick :)
The board on 4chan you referred to as /c/ is actually /co/ (COmics and cartoons.) /c/ is for Cute anime.
Bronies is usually understood to encompass all fans of the show, although fillies, bronettes, etc. will be broken out when it seems necessary to distinguish sexes. Colts or gentlecolts sometimes serves the same purpose.
But those are minor points. The fandom has become too large to easily absorb quickly.
27.06.2011, 4:58 pm (subscribed to comments)My five year old son loves this show, and watches it all the time. I wasn’t aware there was some other segment of the population that was out of elementary school that was interested in the show, but I must admit to not being terribly in touch with 4chan, /b/tards or otherwise.
We’ve let him roll with it, because we’re all gender-neutral and cool like that. Because it’s on Hub over here, I assumed it was already done as a series. He’ll be happy to know he can expect to see new ones in the future.
27.06.2011, 8:34 pm[...] came in the form of young het men enjoying the show, are discussed beautifully and engagingly by web designer and marketer Sabrina Dent on her blog here. The lecture is worth watching and is quite [...]
27.06.2011, 8:36 pmJust out of curiosity, which episode did you think was about menstruation?
27.06.2011, 9:25 pmBrilliant – Thanks for sharing, I have a feeling this talk might come in useful one day!
27.06.2011, 9:32 pmAnon – the on-going Cutie Marks thread the show has taken up makes a pretty good parallel of what it’s like for young girls waiting to get their first period.
27.06.2011, 9:50 pmThanks, guys, I’m glad it’s fun to watch – it was certainly was fun to do; I had a great time prepping for it and sharing it at the conference. Apologies to 4chan for naming the board incorrectly!
Anonymous, the episode I was talking about is Call of the Cutie. Obviously that’s just my interpretation but to me it was a perfect portrait of the social divide that can exist between pubescent and pre-pubescent girls, and the pressure, anxiety and drama that surrounds it.
Anonymous: That’d be Call of the Cutie. Getting your cutie mark has long been likened to reaching puberty.
27.06.2011, 10:14 pmOh wow. I got ninjaed by the author! Ha, I’ll take that.
The whole time I was watching this, especially near the end where ‘Equestria Girls’ was being mentioned, I was sad that this hadn’t existed before the presentation went on: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpR1lJFQ3xY/TgjZj5VF16I/AAAAAAAAGmA/oPZbWWXLxlE/s1600/264045_244821235535321_118429394841173_1152959_1731848_n.jpg
It’s a billboard design the Hub is going to put up in LA. A parody of an R-Rated movie’s poster. It’s a terrific example that shows Hasbro knows EXACTLY who’s watching their show, and who they should be targeting to get MORE people to watch. I’m in love with this poster.
27.06.2011, 10:19 pmI thoroughly enjoyed that presentation! Your three lessons were certainly valid points, especially that once the brand is released “into the wild”, you are no longer really in control of it, because primarily you can’t control your market or your audience. I think some people at Hasbro are still reeling from the shock! ^_^ I’ve always been fond of cartoons, from the classics by Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, to the modern cartoons, at least when they have good production values and tell engaging stories. By the bye, I am a straight male 42 years of age, and I’m not even the oldest “brony” there is. That title may very well go to former President Bill Clinton, who correctly answered three questions about “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” on a segment of the National Public Radio show, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. The growth of this fan community is explosive, and its creative output is enormous, and has to be seen to be believed. And even after all that, fans still eagerly await the next season, and even cruise the pink aisle at toy stores to buy the merchandise. It’s a changing paradigm, to be sure, in the way a producer relates to their consumer!
27.06.2011, 10:19 pmLet me just say something. Equestria daily now has 14 million views and has just linked to your presentation, which was basically a love note to them. Bronies are now going to spread the word through the internet about how awesome you are. And the fact that you were perceptive enough as a marketing expert to realize this might happen means you completely deserve it.
Well played, very well played. *Brohoof*
27.06.2011, 10:23 pmThat made my day 20% cooler! Brohoofs to you!
27.06.2011, 10:38 pmFantastic! That was the best summary of the fandom I’ve heard/read online so far. With all the terrible news reports popping up it’s great to see that someone is spreading the good word about the show and the fandom that’s grown around it. And your points about the response from The Hub and Hasbro are spot-on. If they hadn’t been so lenient with their content I and many others would never have fallen in love with this show. Thank you for explaining everything so well and giving such a wonderful presentation.
27.06.2011, 11:37 pmGreat presentation, my week is now about 20% cooler, *insert clapping Twilight gif*, etc.
Seriously though, the MLP: FiM fanbase has really been getting a bad rap from the media (I’m looking at you FOX News and NPR) and it’s great to see someone actually looking at the facts, instead of having the usual “I DON’T LIKE CHANGE!!!” mentality. I for one love the show, and since I don’t get the hub, I’m really grateful that Hasbro has allowed the episodes to be posted on Youtube and I think a lot of other bronies are in the same position I’m in where we would never have seen the show, bought the merchandise (*looks at jumbo plush Twilight Sparkle on dresser*), and then forced all of our friends to watch it so the cycle repeated itself.
But you really said everything that needs to be said and I think that companies similar to Hasbro would really benefit from taking an approach like this.
28.06.2011, 12:16 amNice lecture. You have a few minor errors that you should probably fix if you ever mean to give the lecture again, like the name of the 4chan imageboard (/co/) and the dips in the post-chart (4chan technical difficulties) and the actual discussion on 4chan (they could not have been discussing CartoonBrew’s article on the 17th because it was published on the 19th. They were discussing the show.)
28.06.2011, 12:24 amNice to hear a review of the fandom done so well. Most of the time, they are either poorly researched, or done from a position of little influence. You kept me laughing, and I just know that there will be new fans in your audience now.
“yay…”
28.06.2011, 12:41 amAwesome presentation, I love it!
28.06.2011, 1:25 am (subscribed to comments)It’s exhilarating to see a company to not only be passive to a large Internet fan response, but to embrace it. Companies can learn so much from Hasbro — free advertising for products through YouTube videos and blogs updated by fans plus a consistent showing on a network could potentially sum up to even greater profits. That, and the relative creative freedom provided by the show to Faust and her team of writers and animators is almost unprecedented. It’s great to see the finer points presented so clearly and professionally, from the initial alarmist controversy on Cartoon Brew sparking /co/ to the eventual rise, attempted suppression, and eventual readmission of bronies into 4chan (plus the offshoot Ponychan) to Equestria Daily and the steady, yet speedy take-over of the Internet as becoming the most viewed meme with the most content (comments, videos, and pictures have long exceeded even the second-highest “Know Your Meme” trend).
As the message about bronies starts to seep further into the mainstream, after obtaining more-than-passive attention by NPR, CNN, Fox News panels, and Adult Swim as of recently, it’s nice to be presented in such an objective, yet still positive light which covers all of the bases. Here’s to hoping Hasbro never changes their ways regarding the fans and the good word of the fandom spreads further to the more skeptical or abrasive observers.
28.06.2011, 1:35 amYou blew my mind. This fanbase is amazing.
28.06.2011, 2:08 am (subscribed to comments)Fantastic look into the rise of Friendship is Magic.
Shared this on a small facebook fanpage I run about the show, as it really provides some excellent background for those not aware of the popularity of MLP: Friendship is Magic.
I’ll add a few nitpicks of my own here.
Derpy (Hooves) is actually the primary fan character creation (as opposed to DJ PON-3), and was discovered after fans found an animation error in the first episode; the cross-eyed nature of a background pony. From this rose an attentiveness to the presence of the pony, who was in later episodes presented with the same facial expression in tribute to the fan creation.
DJ PON-3 (Also known as Vinyl Scratch) was a later creation by the fans, following a 2-3 second clip of a nodding pony at a set of turntables. The character has since been used to create music videos, seen nodding in time to the beat.
Lauren Faust has acknowledged not only bronies, and the fan creations of such, but also the origins of the show’s popularity on 4chan’s /co/ board. Her, and other creators/staff of the show, have shown an awareness to 4chan’s pony-affiliation – with posts on DeviantART reflecting such.
Thank you again for a wonderful presentation. It’s great to see a positive spin on ponies given the questionable nature [according to Fox 'news', wired.com, and NPR] associated with adult male liking of a female childrens’ cartoon.
28.06.2011, 7:27 am (subscribed to comments)Awesome presentation! Your recollection of events regarding the following on 4Chan and that horrendous Cartoon Brew blog are quite spot on.
There was one thing that you brought up though, when you said jokingly that one of the ponies was flying a rainbow flag, make of it what you will, and that there hasn’t been any clarification of it.
There actually is clarification of the supposed lesbian undertones of the character Rainbow Dash. The creator of the show, Lauren Faust, has gone on the record stating that she is not lesbian, but just highly athletic and butch in appearance. The rainbow is because she is derived from a Generation 1 character, Firefly.
Let’s see if I can nab a link here…This article is a fantastic read by the way.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/
“Rainbow Dash has rainbow-striped hair because of her name and because she is very interested in sports, specifically flying. She is a tomboy, but nowhere in the show is her sexual orientation ever referenced. As we all know, there are plenty of straight tomboys in the world, and assuming they are lesbians is extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys.”
By the way, my favorite observation you made, and I just love it to bits, is the legal J.K. Rowling ‘Cease and Desist Collectibles.’ I wasn’t aware of such, lol. That’s amazing!
28.06.2011, 7:43 amSomething very interesting is that some pony fans even went on to sell pony merchandise through means such as Cafe Press and Spreadshirt because the merchandise Hasbro currently churns out isn’t very appealing to this teenage-adult demographic.
I remember one guy who made a shop when asked about legal issues, he responded by saying something along the lines of…
“I’m not going to sugar coat it, it’s illegal….
Something something something
…I make a whopping $0.59 per shirt sold…
Something something something
…Donate ALL my proceeds to the Hasbro’s Children’s Hospital…
Something something something
…Got an email from them after my donation…
Something Something Something.”
The whole scoop on that is here:
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/shirt-brony-and-his-charity-shirts.html
And a few other custom pony merchandise is here:
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/custom-mlp-merch-shops.html
I… don’t think Hasbro actually knows about those yet.
Ooh! Ooh! And VALVe (Video game company) is another company that embraces it’s fanbase. In fact, I heard that it pretty much takes their ideas and profits from them. But hey, the fans love it.
28.06.2011, 1:11 pm (subscribed to comments)Fantastic presentation, all the nits I would pick are already mentioned above. You might add a fan mashup like Ponycraft 2 or The Rainbow Knight as an example for future presentations; obviously Hasbro isn’t going to come after you.
More than anything else I was relieved to hear that the show is pulling good ratings for The Hub. I know it was initially airing in a really odd timeslot, 1:30 PM, and I know the network is averaging only about 20-25k viewers and is making moves indicating it’s not doing all that well. I hope Hasbro can come out with the Season 1 DVD and maybe some nice t-shirts soon. I stopped buying toys in fifth grade and I can’t get The Hub so I’ve been trying to figure out how to support the show other than talking about it on various blogs to further spread the virus.
Overall I agree that Hasbro has been extremely smart to not issue takedown notices – free on Youtube is the only way I would have given the show a shot given the target demographic and previous schlocky reboots. I’m 19 episodes in now, and I actually even gave several of their other shows chances as well after enjoying MLP:FiM. Nothing else amazing but eh. I enjoy the irony that of all the 80′s reboots at least partially targeted at young adult men (Transformers, GI Joe) MLP is dominating.
28.06.2011, 6:46 pmAww Those little pony are proper cute. I am not sure if my 1 year old will like thus but hey guess what? I love it already :)
03.09.2011, 7:52 pm