ICv2 sat down with Konami Digital Entertainment VP Yumi Hoashi at San Diego Comic-Con, where she filled us in on the company’s Yu-Gi-Oh! plans for the rest of 2009.  In Part 2, Hoashi filled us in on Konami’s marketing and organized play for Yu Gi Oh!.  For more on the Yu-Gi-Oh! products releasing in the second half of 2009, please see Part I.

How are this year’s regional championships going?

We kicked off the regional (Shonen Jump) championships in Anaheim in April (see “YGO Shonen Jump Championships Draw”), and then from May through July, we held over 80 regionals throughout North America.

In May, we didn’t see many new players coming in, but from June onwards, we saw a lot of new players.  It was the first time for them to participate in a regional championship.

What do you attribute these new players to?

I think it’s just the excitement for the brand and overall exposure.  We kicked off our organized play program with the Shonen Jump championship in Anaheim and the word just got out.  We heard that kids were starting to play in school again and we haven’t seen that in the last year or so.  It’s just excitement for the brand overall.

Are you doing television advertising?

Yes.  We’re doing it for all of our core booster releases.  We’ll be doing one each for Warrior’s Strike, Overdrive, and the holiday tins.  We usually do a two-week flight, one week prior to the on-sale date and one week after.  We’ve pretty much got a new commercial every month, if not more.  We’re concentrating on Cartoon Network, CW4Kids, and we’re looking at YTV and Teletoons.  It’s quite a lot of air time.

Turbo Packs will replace Champion Packs

We have a poster and window cling that we’ll be providing for Ancient Prophecy onwards.  We’re looking at other ways of branding their stores so that all of the official tournament stores will have some sort of branding that we provide for them.  Also, the Turbo Pack is our new prize support for organized play, which we’ll be offering to our tournament stores.

How many tournament stores do you have now?

We have over 500, in 48 of 50 states.  We started off, of course, with zero hobby stores at the start of the year, and we’re still signing up new stores as we go along.

What other kinds of promotional efforts are you working on?

We’re doing mall tours in over 20 Simon-managed malls in major metropolitan areas from August through November.  We’ve got a list on the events page on our Website.  We’re also reaching out to about 15 summer camps on the east coast.  We have one hour a day for campers to participate in Yu-Gi-Oh!, depending on their experience and skill levels.  We can show them animation episodes, teach them how to play, or we have a higher level for players who are experienced players and brought them decks.  We’ll give them strategies and tips on deckbuilding and gameplay techniques.