Here's another example of cool advertising in Japan. Levi's Japan is presently running a series of well-engineered 3-D print ads for its "engineered" jeans. Not only are the optical illusions eye-catching and spot-on in terms of supporting the brand concept (the jeans feature "3-D construction"), they play well into the ongoing resurgence of interest in such visual diversions in this market. Click on the image for a better view (stare at it a while and the background will start to move!)
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Here's a clever bit of advertising for Bessatsu Takarajima, Takarajima Publishing's imprint that specializes in educational materials. It ran in 2004—which as you may recall—was the year bird flu panic was spreading in Asia.
The copy reads "The birds didn't know. Now, more than ever, knowledge will save you."
The ad won an Asahi Newspaper Advertising Prize in 2005. Click on the image for a better view.
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In previous articles I've casually mentioned QR (Quick Response) codes. Now it's time to provide some details to those of you who aren't familiar with this groundbreaking technology that's adding a new dimension to marketing in Japan.
The image you see above is an example of a QR code. Essentially, QR codes are a new type of bar code that can hold hundreds of times more information than in the past, including alphanumeric characters and Japanese text. Most Japanese cell phones now come equipped with QR code readers that quickly scan using the phone's camera lens.
Why is this important?
Because brands are using them in all kinds of new ways to reach consumers.
For instance, QR codes are widely seen on posters and billboards, providing anyone with a cell phone immediate access to everything from information on consumer prize campaigns to addresses and maps for retail outlets.
For example, in the below TV ad, NTT DoCoMo explains to viewers how QR codes work. The commercial employs the example of a QR code printed on a poster to provide consumers with information on a special retail sale.
QR codes are also handy for various branding purposes. They can be used to direct mobile phone users to special websites to download brand ads, ringtones, character logos, viral videos, branded flash games and more. Similarly, movie studios make it easy to view coming attractions by printing QR codes on posters that are hung all over Japan. Scan the code and voilà—you're watching previews of films right on your phone.
That's not all. Fast food brands are now printing these codes on sandwich wrappers. One quick scan and you're instantaneously provided with nutritional and/or ingredient information. As you'd expect, QR codes increasingly appear on packaged goods too.
The uses for QR codes are almost limitless. Retailers print them on receipts. Event producers employ them to provide exhibit information. Doctor's offices and beauty salons use them to let people make appointments over their mobile phones. Companies print them on business cards so clients and suppliers can suck contact info right into their cell phones and PDAs. I've even seen TV shows where QR codes appear on the corner of the screen to provide product information.
In other words, they're a great tool for marketers!
So, if QR codes or something similar are not yet available where you are, start thinking ahead. Cell phones are only becoming more ubiquitous. The day will soon come when you're going to need to add the use of phone scanning technology to your toolbox of marketing approaches.
p.s. If you're wondering what data is incorporated in the QR code at the top of this page, it's the web address of this blog: www.japanmarketingnews.com.
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The fact that you're here is proof of your interest in the Japanese market.
I'm glad that you read Japan Marketing News. We do our best to deliver a range of information, news and analyses related to products, marketing and advertising in Japan.
However, no website can cover every category and every brand in detail.
If you want to survive and thrive in Japan, you need in-depth market intelligence.
The optimal approach is to conduct tailor-made research on the market, your competitors and the consumer. But this can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What to do?
A good first step is to tap into publicly available sources. The problem is that most of this information is available only in Japanese, and only from sources that highly-experienced marketers know exist.
We can help.
We've handled information gathering and analyses for trusted international brands like Microsoft, COACH, Bruno Magli, and many others. We can do the same for you.
We can also help with marketing strategy, product localization issues, advertising production and partnerships.
In this fresh take on the idea of "you are what you eat," Ajinomoto cleverly uses cross-sections of vegetables to demonstrate that the body is a machine that relies on healthy food for good performance.
The headline: [Vegetables] are the cogs of life.
The ad appeared in Japanese newspapers earlier this year and was later recognized with a 2006 Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Advertising Award. It's a great example of the powerful visual creativity of some Japanese advertisements.
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Copyrights to this ad, and all others shown on this site, are the property of the companies and creators which produced them.
Here's a newspaper ad that won a prize in the 2005 Mainichi Design Awards. It's for a publishing company called Shinchosha.
The ad is tremendously simple but is difficult to explain without providing some linguistic background. In Japanese, quantities of various items are specified with "counters" that differ with the subject being discussed. For instance, if you're telling someone that you own three bottles of wine, you'd tell them you have san-bon. If you're telling them you have three pairs of shoes, you say you have san-soku. If you're explaining that you have three sheets of paper, you describe them as san-mai. In Japanese, san means "three." The suffixes in each of the previous examples are what clarify to the listener the type of item that you have three of.
Now, getting back to the ad, the headline says "I am _____ satsu," where in this case, the word satsu refers to a number of books. The reader, seeing this, will pause for a moment before the light goes off. Literally, it says "I am [blank number of] books." In other words, if the girl in the photo has 46 books stacked next to her, she's saying "I'm 46 books."
The cleverness of the copy is found in the fact that the stack of books can be looked at as kind of a growth chart (which it visually resembles).
The viewer of the ad—if he or she is an avid reader—gets it immediately. "I'm _____ books" is like saying "I'm _____ inches/centimeters tall."
On a subtle level, the ad challenges the viewer: We've read this many. How many books have you read?
In other words, the message is meant to promote reading. And since Shinchosha is a publishing company, they're hoping you'll buy their books.
Can you believe it took all of that to explain a three word headline?
Welcome to the crazy world of cross-cultural communication!
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** Check out other Mainichi Design Award winners here.
Simple, engaging, effective. This little gem ran in the Yomiuri Shinbun in September. It's advertising a joint promotion between Softbank (a mobile phone provider) and Apple; buy the phone and the iPod together and you get a special discount deal (promotion website here).
It's a neat little ad, since just about any Japanese person understands the simple English copy, and better yet, these two words rhyme when spoken in Japanese (click on the image for a slightly larger version).
With so many rumors about the imminent release of the Apple iPhone, it makes me wonder if this ad isn't also doing double duty as pre-promotion for that device, which presumably would be manufactured in partnership with Softbank. . .
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Here's another example of cool advertising in Japan. Levi's Japan is presently running a series of well-engineered 3-D print ads for its "engineered" jeans. Not only are the optical illusions eye-catching and spot-on in terms of supporting the brand concept (the jeans feature "3-D construction"), they play well into the ongoing resurgence of interest in such visual diversions in this market. Click on the image for a better view (stare at it a while and the background will start to move!)
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