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What should be the next focus of NGT fans?

Discussion in 'General NGT48 Discussion' started by antares, Jun 18, 2018.

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What should be the next focus of NGT fans?

  1. Spend more on group activities and releases

    20 vote(s)
    80.0%
  2. Continue putting most of resourses on SSK and AKB-side activities

    5 vote(s)
    20.0%
  1. antares

    antares Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2017
    Location:
    On Max Toki 315 from Akihabara to Niigata
    Oshimen:
    sugaharariko
    NGT has dominated 2RHs and 2 SSK premilinaries in a row, which drew media attention to group and some members. However, people get used to it. In the down side, fans skipped buying their recent singles and AKB handshakes to put all resources into SSK, which may hurt the group future activities. The SSK result in 2018 is more or less the same as in 2017, indicating that NGT fans have reached their buying limit.

    In your opinion, should NGT fans spend more on the group releases, or continue to put all efforts on SSK?

    1. Focus on group releases:
    * Pros:
    - If NGT has a good sale, they can get more recognition from public and expand their fandom.
    - It proves that NGT is profitable and keep Sony investing on them.
    - It helps the group as whole, not by individuals, and guarantees a healthy future.
    - The group can aim for big milestones such as MusicStation, or even Kouhakou.

    * Cons:
    - NGT does not have a strong support to go to that direction. AKS has minimum care about sister group releases; the number of releases and quality of their songs are controlled. NGT did not sign with the main but a sub agency of Sony Music. Finally, NGT base is the local support of a rural and unpopular prefecture.
    - 48 groups are still obsessed by the SSK madness. A fall in SSK ranking may make NGT and the girls look bad in fandom.
    - Unfortunately, for now, AKB-related activities are still the main platform to promote some members.

    2. Continue putting most of their budget on SSK
    * Pros:
    - Maybe no more hype, but at least they can keep NGT and the main girls to stay relevant in 48 world.
    * Cons:
    - The sale disaster puts NGT group releases in question. Sony may break the contract if they can’t see any more profit. It puts NGT singles further down in term of number and quality.
    - The group relies heavily on AKB-side. Only few invididuals are known. Basically another member pool for AKB.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2018
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  2. Arinko

    Arinko Member Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2017
    Location:
    Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    Oshimen:
    nakamuraayuka
    I am in a both option camper. I buy one of each of hatever CDs they throw out. But I am going to get a pillar account to support them nationally. AKB48 CDs have no pull for me. I only bought the AKB48 CDs where NGT48 was on the B-side.
     
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  3. ogiyukaa

    ogiyukaa Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2017
    Location:
    USA
    I love this post, I've been thinking about it a lot.

    As much as I love SSK/RH for what it has done for NGT/Ogiyuka this past year I still think mistreating NGT's individual sales is what going to hurt them the most. The cons are greatly outweighing the pros by just focusing on AKB-related activities.

    There needs to be a balance between the two. But yes, I understand that NGT is not to that point yet so I get that is why fans want to rally the forces to one side to create hype but honestly SSK/RH hype is really only temporary and can only do so much. Plus we have already succeeded at this so maybe it's time to shift forces a little bit. If we are going to rally behind anything I think it needs to be sales, that is what impresses people and shows they have support and will open up more options for being on shows like Music Station and being put in the publics eye which will lead to more recognition + opportunity to gain more fans. Which (if you want to go full circle lol) means they will probably do better at AKB-related activities. I may be way off but that's how I see it

    The situation with Sony that is what scares me the most tbh I think they have much more power than people realize and neglecting sales = neglecting them. I wish I knew more about who controls what (Ariola Japan vs. AKS) so that we really knew the damage and how much it's holding NGT back for choosing AKB activities over Sony.

    I think the answers to all our problems and our hopes for NGT are sales. Now that doesn't mean I want people to neglect AKB activities (I still want them to do well) I just want people to takes their sales more seriously and to be as competitive with sales as they are with SSK/RH lol sorry this is so long oh my god haha
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2018
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  4. Cisalpine88

    Cisalpine88 Next Girls

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2009
    Location:
    Italy
    Twitter:
    speranzom
    Well, for starters, SSK is not merely a question of demonstrating popular approval, or a place for individual fanbases to flex their muscles, for that matter. This is especially true as far as NGT is concerned, but one shouldn't forget that SSK also serves as a way to send out a statement to the main management, one that they can't pretend to ignore.

    Merely pumping up sales numbers, like you are advocating for, doesn't send nearly as poweful and well-defined a message as voting massively for specific members and what they stand for inside the group, while punishing pushes by boycotting them.
    Another benefit is that these results are so straightforward as to leave no room for convenient personal interpretations, as it would be in the case of single sales (example: "the single sold well probably because XXX was the center, so...", with all the unwanted ramifications). It should also be easy to tell from the voting patterns that at least NGT fans aren't doing it simply for the "media hype" that would spark from it.

    So far the message had been made loud and clear. While I admit not all these efforts had been recognized and rewarded accordingly, fact is that we wouldn't even have what little achievements we enjoy today if it hadn't been for these endeavors, and I don't think fans should stop with it just now.

    Actually, I think we have come to a point where suddenly decreasing or dropping support toward NGT members at the elections would be intepreted (or even spun, never underestimate their sliminess) by the people at AKS as a sign that they were right in their original treatment of the group after all, and they should feel free to continue with the same old farce of a push policy that we have all seen so far. This would be something simply unacceptable.
    No, I say that once you have committed yourself to a course of action for two years already, it'd be unwise to back out on it right now, or else you even stand the risk of undoing all the efforts made until now, also.

    Only effective thing to get us out from this vicious circle would be basically to hope for a soft coup in NGT that would enable the branch management to take over and decide their own policies for themselves according to their own interests (I don't mean any trickery a la S*H, I have always been advocating for something like NMB or STU). However, I fear it is too late for this to even be a possibility.
    So until then, this is the only way we have to show how things actually stand, show everyone what disconnect there is between the main management's policies and actual fan's choice, and take a stance against the AKS schemings.

    Now, for a counterargument to the potential "cons" of such a strategy:
    • The importance you are placing on the contract with Sony sounds way too exaggerated, in my opinion. Ask youself, what benefits have we even reaped from it so far?
      From what I have seen, NGT is as much of a Sony-affiliated group as SKE is to Avex, meaning that in both cases, for better or for worse, the label's only involvement is just printing the discs and nothing else (except for those times when they may try forcing their sales "gimmicks" onto all the artists under their label, see Avex previously with their Musicards, erm...).
      One thing for sure is that I have never seen any clear signs of Sony helping out at all in the way of publicity or investment or group development (*), like you are hinting about, so why even hoping in some pie in the sky anymore.

      * And yes, you may say they are the sponsor behind Niigatta Friend, but what good is it when it's limited to within the prefectue?
    • And while on topic of insufficient publicity, the reasons for the poor results of the 3rd single is in part also a consequence of that, don't forget it.
      As a small reminder: because the management needed to prioritize all their resources on preparing for Kitarie's graduation concert, the promotion for this single was hugely undercut.
      The simultaneous nationwide campaign (which had been a staple for NGT until then) was completely dropped in favor of some token PR campaign limited only to Tokyo, on the same day as release day, which basically consisted of just the members riding around the streets on an advertisement van and dropping by at one store to serve as clerks for a day. Too little too late, if you ask me. Even worse, this time there was literally no promotions in their home region of Niigata, when it should have been the basics and the top priority instead.
      And even in terms of TV promotions, I think this was the first single of theirs to go without none. Despite being the center, Hinatan didn't even get to appear on any show to personally talk about her single. I remember one appearance of Noepii, Gatanee and Maho which happened much later on, where the single was only mentioned tangentially, but that was just about it.
      All about the third single's promotion spelled "rushed". I wouldn't even be surprised if this single came and went without people even being informed of its existence.
      This is to say that there was more behind the issue of poor sales than just a matter of fans desperately saving money for SSK, and the lack of promotion on the label's side was as much to blame. Until I'll be proven wrong by future releases, I'm inclined to dismiss this poor sales performance as an exception from the norm for the reasons above.
    • Likewise, with or without Sony, another fact is that the near totality of their media productions still comes from local TV and radio stations, as it has always been like this, unchanged, since the beginning. And sincerely, what with their sponsors consisting pretty much of local companies (many of which NGT has had collaborations with), whether a single sells 80k or 200k is completely irrelevant to them, and I see no shortage of seasonal collaborations with the local organizations even now for that matter (the last one being with a local important aquarium, for which they have TV special planned in a few days by the way).

      For another point, keep in mind NGT has been officially branded as a "locally-rooted" group since forever (which by now seems to be more of a codeword by the main management to say that they want them to be confined in Niigata indefinitely, but I'll leave it for another time).
      As such, the assumption that just keeping up good single sales would result in getting our girls recognition out of the confines of their prefecture and that it would land them on Music Station or Kouhaku is not as much of a foregone conclusion as it sounds. For this to happen, it would imply to first have a re-negotiation of the group's policy, or at least to figure out what the hell AKS wants to do with NGT after remaining silent for so long (one would at least hope for a tour at this stage, like many members had expressed their wish for, but no).
      In the current situation it would be an almost moot effort, if you think any reward would necessarly come from it. Before getting to that, you need to take the fight through gradual steps.

    And that's all for now.
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2018
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  5. Slacker13

    Slacker13 Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    May 17, 2012
    Oshimen:
    oguriyui
    I like how Rika flexed her Muscles at the SSK - She was like "Come at me Bro!" to Bunshun
     
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  6. Qtyu33

    Qtyu33 Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2019
    Location:
    Singapore
    Oshimen:
    mukaichimion
    NGT members Boyfriends or male friends
     
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