Japan Marketing News

Fanta Japan shakes up the beverage market

I discovered this new and unique Coca-Cola Japan product the other day in the vending machine near my home. It's called Fanta Furufuru Shaker.

In some ways it's reminiscent of those jelly drinks marketed by Weider Japan. If you're not familiar with them, imagine a semi-soft version of Jello that's drinkable.

Where Coca-Cola Japan has added a twist is in adding carbonation that's activated by shaking the can.

The first mouthful feels a bit like Jello, but then the carbonation hits you, producing the sensation that you're actually eating your soda.

Less adventurous souls and the conventionally minded (in other words, adults), may find this off-putting.

But Japanese kids are going to, ahem, eat it up.

And you are simply not going to believe the TV ads.

Fanta Japan regularly produces fairly "out-there" commercials, but you won't want to miss the ones currently posted on their website. After you reach the top page, click on TVCM, then play the video that comes up in the main screen.

In particular, keep a close eye out for this character, whose can shaking technique is going to stimulate a lot of chatter in some quarters.

Halls nose how to grab Japanese viewers' attentions

So check out this Japanese TV commercial for Halls lozenges. The guy opens the pack, pops a Halls into his mouth, inhales through his mouth, exhales out of his nostrils, and two miniature versions of himself pop out of his nose! Then, the miniatures breathe out, and from their noses pop out two more guys, then from their noses out come two more, and two more and so on. The lyrics from the background music go like this: "In from your throat, out through your nose, [breathe] in and out. It feels so good to [have the air] pass through." At the end, the actors repeat the line adding emphasis on "breathe in and out." The ad closes with narration and a terop that says “Halls Menthol Candies."

This is a prototypical Japanese ad that I just can't imagine being made in any western market. It's just too far out for the US where Halls are positioned as cough drops — the zaniness simply wouldn't fly. But in Japan, Halls is considered candy. What's medicine in one market is candy in another!

Halls released this ad to promote the introduction of new flavors. The actors appearing in the ad are a Japanese comedy group, which makes them appropriate for this kind of silliness.

You can see the commercial in its entirety here.

Wacky Japanese TV commercials: Mandom

Brand Name: Mandom
Product Type: Hair gel

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How to survive and thrive in Japan

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.

For details, e-mail us.

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Irresistible Japanese TV commercials: Japan Dairy Council

This commercial from the Japan Dairy Council combines cuteness and comedy to great effect. It's one of a series of popular ads that the Council has been running to promote milk consumption in Japan (a bit like the "Got Milk" campaign in the United States). It brings a dopey grin to my face every time I watch it.

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Scene: Two school girls in a classroom.

Girl 1 (Yuko): "Wow, you're really drinking a lot of milk."
Girl 2: "Drinking milk] makes you pretty."

Yuko begins fantasizing about what might happen if she were beautiful. . .

Scene: School yard
A boy appears and hands Yuko a love letter. She takes it in disbelief.

Scene: Inside school
Yuko returns to her locker, and discovers that she's received thousands of love letters—she's received so many, in fact, that they flood the school and sweep her away. . .

Yuko: (screams)

Scene: Classroom
Hearing the screams, Girl 2 turns to her classmates

Girl 2: "Yuko is drowning."

Scene: Hallway
A boy (obviously one of the cutest at the school) bursts out of his classroom and runs down the hall screaming Yuko's name.

Boy (Jun): "Yuko!!!"

Scene: Exterior of school
On the bank of the torrential river of letters, Jun disrobes and dives straight in.

Yuko: "Jun-kun!"

Jun: "Yuko!!!"

Scene: River of letters
Jun butterflies through the deluge, and with effort, he finally reaches his goal.

Jun: "Are you all right?"

Yuko: "Yes" (slight pause) "Still, you'd better give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

Scene: Classroom
Yuko comes out of her reverie

Yuko: "I've gotta drink some milk."

The ad closes with the girls drinking milk and taking the "milk pose."*

* Goofy poses are often used in Japanese TV ads as a kind of punctuation mark.

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Copyrights to the above ad, and all others shown on this site, are the property of the organizations and creators which produced them.

Wacky Japanese TV commercials: Namakatekin

Company: Sangaria
Brand: Namakatekin
Product Type: Tea

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Wacky Japanese TV commercials: Devil May Care

Company: Capcom
Brand: Devil May Care
Product Type: Video Game

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Wacky Japanese TV commercials: Tarako

Company: Kewpie
Brand: Tarako
Product Type: Pasta Sauce

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More great Japanese TV commercials

If you're looking for more great Japanese TV commercials (besides the fun and wacky spots you see in this section), check out this other area of our site, which features some of the better Japanese ads from the past couple of years.

Wacky Japanese TV commercials: Pretz

Company: Glico
Brand: Pretz
Product Type: Snackfood

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