Japan Marketing News

Great Japanese print advertising: Sapporo

Here's an recent print ad from Japanese beer giant Sapporo that employs solid composition to create visual interest and convey the message that Draft One is a great brew to enjoy with food.

Great Japanese print advertising: Mizkan

Many people don't know it, but great sushi isn't just about raw fish. In fact, the word sushi doesn't have anything to do with seafood. In fact, it refers to the vinegared rice that serves as a base for a broad range of toppings (that include raw fish). True afficianados know that without rice that's cooked and seasoned to perfection, sushi can never be more than just mediocre.

With this refined yet unexpected execution, rice vinegar manufacturer Mizkan instantly grabs readers' attention and focuses it right on the place where its products shine.

Effective Japanese TV ads: ANA

This ANA ad targets older Japanese who have both the time and money to travel. Many over 60 still have a very romanticized view of "things international" and overseas travel, and a good proportion are enthusiastic fans of Jazz, as well. While some younger Japanese might consider the use of the New York backdrop and African-American-band-playing-typical-Jazz-standard as somewhat hackneyed, it probably strikes just the right note (ouch) with the intended audience.

While the effectiveness of the branding is questionable (after all, it's pretty easy to substitute any other airline logo into this ad—nothing about it is truly specific to ANA), I give this commercial high marks for its ability to capture your interest and keep you engaged. On that measure, it outperforms most other airline ads, which are excruciatingly predictable, and forgettable.

Great Japanese train advertising: IKEA Japan

Congrats to IKEA Japan for generating some powerful buzz through one of the best "train jacking" ad campaigns I've seen in a quite a long time.

In Japanese advertising parlance, a "jacking" occurs when an advertiser purchases a substantial portion of all of the ad space available in a particular medium or within a geographic area (the term "jacking" is derived from the English word "hijack"). Most commonly it's seen on trains, when advertisers buy out the entirety of ad slots inside the cars, and often have tailor-made graphics or billboard-like posters placed on the exteriors too.

In this case, however, IKEA has really outdone itself by thinking outside the box. Why not leverage its expertise in interior design to deliver a genuine brand experience, rather than a mere barrage of posters and such? The company recently train-jacked Kobe' Port Liner Loop Line to celebrate the opening of its latest mega store in the city.

Take a close look (here, here, and here) and you'll see that IKEA has not only filled some of the standard ad frames with its own messages, it has replaced the train's standard window shades with those from its own stores, converted the seats to sofas with IKEA brand upholstery, and has added wall coverings in some cases, as well.

Naturally this approach is generating plenty of interest amongst those who've ridden this train. But better yet is the fact that this approach is new, and thus newsworthy, making it fodder for a number of traditional Japanese news outlets and plenty of blogs, as well.

Many thanks to Sue Sato and John Cathcart for tipping us off to this campaign (via the IKEA blog and Pink Tentacle).

Effective Japanese TV ads: Mr. Donut

Here's a cute little ad from Mr. Donut Japan that reaches consumers on a couple of levels.

A young man comes to visit his grandmother and brings with him a little gift to share with her—a box of Mr. Donut doughnuts. They sit down to enjoy the treat, and just when the man picks up a doughnut to take bite, the old woman stops him with an admonition, "don't be rude," and hands him a set of chopsticks. Then they go on to eat their snack together with traditional Asian utensils.

On the one hand, the commercial goes for an easy laugh that appeals to both teens and adults, who'll find it funny that the unsophisticated grandmother thinks good decorum means never eating with your fingers, and senior consumers, who may remember a time when mass- produced doughnuts were new to Japan, and still had enough mystique to cause confusion about the best way to eat them.

On the other hand, the ad serves as a gentle reminder that doughnuts are a nice little gift to bring on a family visit (Japan has a complex gift-giving culture), and thus broadens the brand's appeal to purchase occasions that extend beyond personal consumption.

To see the commercial in its entirety, click here.

Reminder: Tokyo CRM seminar approaching

If you're one of those marketers who hasn't quite gotten around to optimizing your company's approach to CRM in Japan, let me remind you that Marcus Evans will hold a related event in Tokyo later this month.

Dubbed Customer Relationship Excellence, the 2-day seminar will be held at the Hilton Tokyo in Shinjuku on April 15 and 16.

Some topics to be covered include:

- Developing customer loyalty and strengthening relationships through CSR
- Exploring marketing strategies to target wealthy consumers in the new marketplace
- Garnering support from top management to ensure proper CRM implementation
- Enhancing organizational credibility by optimizing call centers
- Improving customer retention and loyalty through point cards
- Optimizing marketing ROI

Executives from Suntory, Family Mart, Yahoo, Nikon and other leading firms will be presenting.

I have been to previous Marcus Evans events in Japan and have come away with interesting insights each time. If you speak Japanese well and you're working in marketing in Japan, you'll want to be there.

For more information, contact Esther Wong at Marcus Evans (estherw@marcusevanskl.com)

Effective Japanese TV ads: Tipness

If you're wondering these three images have in common (click for larger view), they're taken from a series of clever (and funny) TV commercials put out by Tipness, one of Japan's largest health club chains. They're worth a peek—all you need to know is that each one ends with the tag line "He/she still trains at Tipness."

UNIQLO uses quirky clock to provide good time

I was over on Uniqlo's Japanese website seeing whether they had come out with any interesting commercials lately when I ran across a little diversion that soon had me transfixed.

It's called the UNIQLOCK.

Basically it's a flash applet that interlaces video snippets with a digital clock that constantly updates the time. What's interesting about it is that the video features lithe dancers, dressed in simple Uniqlo apparel, performing choreography that feels something like a cross between ballet warm-ups and Pee Wee Herman or Mr. Bean. First you see the clock—simple digits resting on white or color backgrounds—then there's a video wipe, and the dancing girls appear. Every few seconds it alternates: clock, video, clock, video. Meanwhile you hear these ongoing music loops that sound like a mash-up of everything from Fats Waller to trance DJ Paul Van Dyk (the music is actually by Fantastic Plastic Machine) .

At first I found myself mesmerized in the same way that you can be mesmerized by a lava lamp in a dance club dungeon at 3 a.m. But five minutes later I felt like I should pull out all my hair and run through my neighborhood screaming (a feeling that quickly subsided after I turned the sound off).

Anyway, if you're a fan of quirky music and video, check it out. You'll also be happy to know that if you like what you see you can upload the clock to your website, or download it to your computer to use as your very own screen saver.

Effective Japanese TV ads: Sony VAIO

Sony originally launched its VAIO line of computers on the strength of their multimedia readiness, and perhaps because almost all laptops these days are similarly equipped, they've chosen to re-emphasize that the brand is suited to creative types in their recent ads for the Type C model.

Claiming that the VAIO is "for people who express themselves," they're offering the Type C in five shades, and linking this to the idea that each of us can evolve into whomever we were meant to be (in a sense, show our true colors). They've done it by posing well-regarded musicians, actors, writers, dancers and models with different color machines and tagging on copy that (rather) roughly translated says:

Whether you live through your instrument. Bring innovation to tradition. Have a flair for fashion. Use words as your weapon. Or bring song to the world every day.

Are you showing your true colors?*

For people who express themselves. VAIO Type C.

(Lit. "are you maturing into a good color?")

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