Japan Marketing News

Marketing & advertising seminar to be held next month in Tokyo

If you're looking to hear the latest in marketing case studies related to Japan, take note: Marcus Evans Inc will be holding its next Tokyo seminar on November 27th and 28th, 2007 at the Hilton Hotel in Shinjuku.

Dubbed Creative Advertising and Media Marketing Strategy, the conference will feature speakers from KDDI, Tokyu Hotels, Star Flyer, Tokyo Metro, Nihon Michelin and several other firms. Topics will include cross-media approaches, effective advertising, word-of-mouth marketing, consumer insights, Web 2.0 marketing, branding, and more. Detailed information related to seminar content, registration, etc. can be found here.

I attended the last Marcus Evans marketing event in September and am pleased to report that I found a number of the presentations— from industries as diverse as toys, shampoos, car navigation systems, jewelry, and airlines — to be both interesting and informative. I'm looking forward to the next conference as it involves several topics I'm eager to brush up on.

Currently the presentations are to be held in Japanese only. However, if sufficient interest is shown by the English-speaking community, Marcus Evans says it may provide interpreters.

Great Japanese train advertising: Panasonic cell phones

Here's yet another example of compelling Japanese advertising. Several variations of this poster have been used in train stations and railway cars around Japan to draw attention to the stylish designs of the W52P series of Panasonic cell phones.

Sony Pictures joins forces with Japanese cell provider for Spiderman 3 promo

au is the Japanese cell phone company with the best reputation amongst consumers for handset design. A couple of years ago they opened the spiffy four-story KDDI au Designing Studio in Tokyo to showcase each season's new models and to host special promotional events.

If it isn't already clear from the above picture, au's latest promotion involves a tie-up with Sony Pictures (Columbia) and the movie Spiderman 3. In addition to the life-size model of Spidey scaling the au building, a number of exhibits related to the film are on display inside.

The benefits to Sony are obvious, since this structure is located at the mouth of Takeshita Doori, one of Japan's most famous youth-oriented shopping streets where thousands of people pass by every hour. For au, not only does the eye-catching display lure consumers inside where they can encounter new products, thanks to special arrangements with Sony, au is also using the tie-up to promote its new auction site which has a number of original Spiderman 3 promotional items up for bidding. On the PR front, both companies win since proceeds from the auction have been promised to charity.

BTW, Spiderman 3 opens in Japan on May 1.

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More co-branded cell phones released in Japan

In a December 2006 post, I mentioned that Softbank and Swarovski had teamed up to release a co-branded cell phone to appeal to Japan's trendy consumers. More of such pairings were bound to emerge, and we've begun seeing them with the unveiling of Japan's latest crop of portables. Some of the new collaborations include a Benetton PHS phone manufactured by Wilcom, a rainbow of 20 new color models created by Softbank and Pantone, and various devices that employ Sony Bravia or Sharp Aquos displays. However, the pairing that's most caught my attention is the partnership between NTT DoCoMo and handbag brand Samantha Thavasa, which released the 903i STNY model (pictured above) at the beginning of this month. Right now, this item is only available in markets near Osaka and Kyoto, but if it sells well, we're surely going to see many more Japanese cell phones designed around fashion brands. Prada and other style houses have already lent their imprints to handsets being sold in other countries, so it's possibly only a matter of time before luxe leaders such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci join the act in Japan.

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Effective Japanese TV commercials: DoCoMo Kids Keitai

Once you've sold cell phones to just about every adult in Japan, how do you increase revenues?

One way is to broaden the market to include younger kids.

But how can you sell the idea to Moms and Dads who already spend so much raising children?

You do what NTT DoCoMo has done with its Kids Keitai cell phones—incorporate features that play to parental concerns!

Check these new phones out. Not only are they cute, they're equipped with an alarm buzzer feature that can send a distress signal if the child gets in trouble. Plus if both parents and child are registered with NTT's satellite tracking services, Mom and Dad can know exactly where their little one is at all times.

NTT's TV commercial does a great job of selling the device, so take a look at translated version by clicking on the graphic. (To see the original ad, go here and hit the start button on the video player.)

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NTT DoCoMo launches video gallery of 703i models

Just yesterday, NTT DoCoMo posted to its website a compelling 2-minute promotional video for its new 703i series of cell phones. The footage was originally shown at an event on January 16 where the new models were introduced. While I'm not crazy about the designs of some of the handsets, the video itself is worth watching for the extremely high production value. The NTT site is in Japanese, but it is easy enough to navigate. Just hit the play button on the video window that appears when you click here.

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Get a whiff of these new cell phones

They look great, they feel great and they sound great. Japanese cell phones have long led the world in terms of aesthetics (to say nothing of functionality).

But now, thanks to a new innovation brought to us by the international collaboration of Sony and Ericsson, your new portable can smell great too.

Say hello to the scented cell phone—the DoCoMo SO703i—now available in a multitude of styles, each outfitted with an "aroma sheet" that gives off a pleasant scent. The sheets—which are really a kind of scratch-and-sniff adhesive strip located near the phone hinge—are guaranteed to work for three months, but apparently can be expected to last quite a bit longer.

Now all we have to do is wait for some innovative company to tackle the last of the five senses so we can have phones that taste good, too.

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