Odd Rebranding

Freeza Heika · Post by **Freeza Heika** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 12:05 pm

I was browsing thoruhg Dragonball related stuffage over at CD Japan, when I noticed that a lot of the merchandise had been rebranded with Kai. This is to be expected, but why oh why has this been rebranded as Kai? http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/goods/goods_de ... EOGDS-8282

Granted, the Red Ribbon Army will eventually make an appearance in Kai, but not for a while. Though, it is preorder, so maybe they are just so excited about this product that they can't wait to let the public know.

Though the real issue that concerns me with this is that it seems Toei is trying to disavow the existence of the original in their branding. I can understand that they are trying to make money; they are a business afterall, but why do they feel a need to take pre-existing products (http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.htm ... EOGDS-8256) and simply rerelease them with a new name. Not to mention branding a DS game with quite a few filler based events as Kai.

Anyway, what are everyone else's thoughts on this?

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 12:34 pm

They want everybody to focus and spend money on the "new" stuff if you can call it that. Throw Kai on and all of a sudden people buy, if that is what Toei is thinking. They've been using "Z" for the last 20 years and I'm glad for the change.

Mystery Person X · Post by **Mystery Person X** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:32 pm

It's much the same as "Dragon Ball Kai" being treated a new series rather than just "DBZ Remastered". If it's a new franchise, it garners new attention, which means more people will be buying the products. For that to work, the branding has to be consistent for all of the products. I don't see anything particularly wrong with that -- they're a business trying to make money.

Post by **Herms** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:39 pm

There was also how DragonBall Kai: Saiya-jin Raishu was originally titled as a Z game, but was then changed to the Kai brand (and then rebranded a Z game for its European release).

ssjcj · Post by **ssjcj** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:46 pm

It's the way of the world. It is natural for companies to rebrand a product, such as DBZ, and then rebrand the merchandise. This will increase awareness of the new product and, as Kai is now basically the new name for the series, increase the chance of someone picking it up.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:28 pm

I've noticed this a lot too. They've even gone as far as too label new figures under "Kai", when they're part of a series that had previously been entirely labeled under "Dragon Ball" or "Z". Here's an example:

Dragonball Z:

Dragonball Kai:

?!