Japan Marketing News

Nissan: a new angle to drive sales

Now this is marketing.

Nissan went and identified a consumer need, developed a ground-breaking means of addressing it, and then communicates the result in a compelling, easy-to-understand way that also leaves you intrigued by the product and feeling good about the company.

Nissan's "around view monitor"-equipped models use four built-in cameras to gather data that is combined in such a way that it gives drivers a virtual view of their vehicles from above.

Have trouble seeing the curb or worried about scraping another vehicle as you parallel park your van? No problem. Just fire up the AVM and breathe a sigh of relief as you glide right into that tight parking space.

Here's a rough translation of their TV commercial:

Now you can drive with a bird's-eye view.

[Introducing] the world's first "around view monitor."

Inventiveness that leads to driving excitement.

Try it out at your local Nissan dealer.

Shifting technology, Nissan.

If you're interested in AVM technology, Nissan features explanations in English on this website.

Morinaga/Eskimo pursue evening snackers

When consumer research showed that over 40% of Japanese women in their 20's, 30's and 40's eat ice cream after 9 p.m., Morinaga/Eskimo took the hint and test-launched Mayonaka no Zeitaku ("Midnight Indulgence") last September. Well, the brand must be doing at least reasonably well because it's going national next week. Pitching creamy indulgence with only 140 calories, Mayonaka's key copy is "the ice cream you dreamed of is no longer [just] a dream." At the moment, it's available in four flavors: Smooth* Vanilla, Smooth Green Tea, Smooth Milk Tea, and Smooth Chocolat (that's chocolat, as in the French).

Over the past 20 years the Japanese market has seen a lot of premium ice creams come and go, but nobody has succeeded in displacing Haagen Dazs Japan. Time will only tell if the newest contender can take a bite out of the dominant player, which is not likely to be asleep to this latest challenge.

* The Japanese word used for these flavors, nameraka, implies smoothness, silkiness, creaminess, softness, etc.

Cool Japanese websites: Schick on the cutting edge

Recently I saw a Schick Japan TV commercial that led me to their Hige-chen website, an interactive delight that lets you upload a picture of yourself and see how you'd look with any of 1,000 different styles of whiskers. The site is intuitive and fast, and more important, fun. Once you upload your photo (you can also work with a sample image preloaded on the site), you narrow down the styles that might suit you through search features organized according to type (mustache, beard, sideburns, etc.) or theme (sporty, sexy, seventies, wild, Japonesque, corporate, etc.). It's also possible to specify multiple parameters like face shape, hair style, age, beard thickness and hair color to come up with looks that are right for you. After you trim down your options, all you do is drag the one(s) you like off a rotating carousel and right onto your photo. Voilà. It's you looking like anybody from Charlie Chaplin to Tom Selleck, to Francis Ford Coppola, to Fu Manchu.

One bonus feature that had me falling out of my seat laughing

Tower Records Japan launches creative new ad medium

Just after Christmas last year, Tower Records Japan announced that it was introducing a clever new advertising system that may prove to be a win-win-win situation for Tower, consumers and the companies that participate in the new program.

Here's how it works. Tower finds companies that are trying to reach music-loving consumers and charges them for ads that will then be included in the packaging of newly released CDs that Tower sells. Additionally, Tower works with record companies who want to promote artists that could benefit from the link to advertised products. Then the ads are produced with the artists serving as spokespeople for the brands. In addition to appearing in the CD packaging,

Effective Japanese TV ads: Kirin Sparkling Hop

When it comes to making effective TV ads, sometimes you can capture viewers' attentions with the judicious use of graphics and animation.

Here's a great example from Japanese beer giant Kirin. It's a TV spot for their "Sparkling Hop" beer liqueur, which they've positioned as a kind of refreshing, wine-like drink.

It's extremely straight-forward, but it's intriguing in an refreshing way that leaves you with a very positive first impression.

Roughly translated, the voice-over reads:

Kirin Sparkling Hop

The secret to enjoying Sparkling Hop is to:

1. Swirl it in your glass
2. Concentrate on the fragrance of hops
3. Delight in the surprising fruitiness

Introducing Kirin Sparkling Hop

If you want to see an online version of the commercial, go here, click on the CM button, then select page two and choose the second item from the top. While you're there, enjoy the website, which is very well designed (and that goes for the brand's packaging, as well).

Japan fervent for Fit

According to a ranking put out by autobytel-japan.com, the Honda Fit is far and away the car consumers are most interested in buying these days. But it's not just consumers who are excited by the Fit, the car won a Good Design Award 2007, and was also chosen "Car of the Year" last November.

Yahoo joins Japanese TV network to drive consumers back to TV watching

TV broadcasters everywhere have been wringing their hands as consumers spend ever-increasing time on the Internet and away from their TV sets.

But here in Japan, one of Japan's major networks, TBS, has launched a promotion to lure viewers back. Surprisingly, they're doing it with the cooperation of Yahoo Japan, the country's leading net portal.

The plan is centered around TBS' new baseball-themed drama called "Rookies," which is now in pre-production. The creators have deliberately delayed casting some of the roles, which are going to be filled by aspiring actors, who are being encouraged to submit self-made audition tapes for review on a special Yahoo Japan site. Yahoo users will then be asked to view the auditions and vote for their favorites—and these new actors will be cast in roles on the show. Additionally, users are also being encouraged to vote to help select one of the starring roles, which is still up for grabs amongst 15 celebrity models and actresses.

Rookies is slated to air on TBS beginning in April.