1

The Rise of

Bronys

New Sincerity

and Niche Markets

@tyahma 12 April 13

Wings

Hair

In the beginnin

gThe original line of My Little Pony began with the Earth Ponies in 1982. The Earth Ponies were followed by Pegasus Ponies, Unicorn Ponies, Flutter Ponies and Sea Ponies. Flutter Ponies were smaller and thinner than Pegasus Ponies, and had fluttering wings. Windy Wing and the Summer Wing Ponies were smaller than the Flutter Ponies and were proportioned in a similar way, with larger, butterfly-like wings. The Sea Ponies resembled seahorses, and were produced as both adults and babies. There were also male ponies called 'Big Brother Ponies', which had slightly larger bodies and feathered hooves resembling those of Clydesdale horses.

3

G4

Generation 4 began in 2010: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Spike the Dragon, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna are the top characters.

Types of ponies in G4

Earth ponies

Pegasii Unicorns Pegacorn/Alicorn

Haunch marks. Wings. Horns. All of that at once.

5

The primary market

Young girls aged 5-10. Note that I used stars here.

6

From 4 Chan

Bro + Pony = Bronies

+ =

New Sincerity

“Runs against post-modernist irony or cynicism”These guys are not in the movement.

8

Bronies in the military

A few soldiers in Afghanistan are part of the Brony movement, as a reaction against the violence there.

Illicitly, they use the hindquarter’s marks as call signs.

9

What they do at BronyCon conferences

Cos’

play

TV Voice actor panels

Bronypalooza

Show premieres

10

Their mission

statement

“BronyCon is a convention held by and for fans of the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”

11

The BronyCon general attendee is drawn from . . .

1. 7-12.4MM people in the US (!)

2. The 1-3% of people who fall into INTJ in Meyers-Briggs

12

Their favorite

character

Derpy Hooves

13

What Hasbro did with that character

Hasbro was worried that Derpy Hooves was a subtle attack on people with mental challenges, and thus

reduced Derpy’s role in the show.

14

But then . . .

There was

serious backlash for the,

uh, Derpy role-

reduction.

All roads lead to Dubstep.15

Tangent: Dance Music Genres

Dub

House

Garage

2 Step

Techno

D&B

Breakbeat

Reggae

16

The face of The face of DubstepDubstep

Skrillex + My Little Ponies = DubTrot

+ =

A micro-genre of two sub-genres.

Genre-Twisting

18

The moral of the story

1.We have some partial religion around product-market fit

2.But your market may change as you align against an old target.

3.Understanding organic markets is a vital part of product-market alignment.

19

BronyCon is only 111 days away, but tickets

are still available.Do you know your

users?

BronyCon is only 111 days away, but tickets

are still available.Do you know your

users?Thank you. I am here all week. Tell your friends. @tyahma