Buying an Apartment in Tokyo
What apartment-hunting and buying was like in Tokyo, how much apartments cost in the city, and some things that should be considered.
Buying an apartment in Japan was one of the biggest decisions in my life and also one of the most tedious and length processes I’ve ever been a part of. But alas, I, someone who often overthinks and resists taking big risks, decided to pull the trigger and buy an apartment in central Tokyo.
Why we bought an apartment in Tokyo
Japan is a second home to me. It’s a place that I have a desire and need to visit, not just to be a tourist but to go about my daily life. My wife is Japanese and from Tokyo, so it would be a place where we’d come back to anyways, with or without a home.
I also recently started my own company with a Japanese corporation and do a lot of work with and in Japan.
In short, it made sense to have a place in Tokyo.
How much do apartments in central Tokyo cost?
Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world both in population and economic size. It’s a dense city with homes on the smaller side because space comes at a premium.
Factors that contribute to the cost are things like whether or not it’s in Tokyo’s main 23 wards, and if so, which ward, what the nearest train station is, how far it is from the train station, what type of construction the building is and the age of the apartment. The difference in what you can get for your money can be quite big
For example, it would be typical for a brand new 1-bedroom apartment in desirable wards such as Minato and Shibuya to start at around ¥128M. On the other hand, one outside the main 23 wards to start around ¥40M.
Housing for sale in central Tokyo. Red dots are ¥100M+, blue dots are ¥20M and under. - At Home
Many locals actually opt to purchase homes in more affordable areas that are outside of the main 23 wards.
Our budget was roughly US $325-400k. This amount meant that it would be a struggle to get a 1LDK (1 bedroom with living room and kitchen) in a highly desirable place in central Tokyo that wasn’t too old. For most Tokyo residents with a similar budget, it would make sense to live further away from central areas or from stations.
With this budget, you could get a lived-in 2-bedroom condo further out from central Tokyo or a brand new 2-story house in places such as the small city I lived in Fukuoka.
What we considered
Location-first
Because we don’t plan on being in Japan for most of the year, we had the option to be more flexible with the size of the apartment. We decided to sacrifice the space a little and prioritize location.
This would add a lot more convenience to our stays while also helping to limit depreciation in home value, which often happens in Japan.
Our target location was the Tomigaya area, an area that we had visited often while living in Tokyo. Over the years, this “Inner Shibuya” neighborhood has grown significantly in popularity with its highly-rated eateries and coffee shops, and despite it being just outside of Shibuya and Harajuku, it still retains a quaint and somewhat sophisticated vibe.
In 2023, Time Out magazine said that “Tomigaya is one of the world's top 10 coolest neighbourhoods”.
Earthquake resistance of buildings
While apartment hunting, we learned that buildings were built with varying earthquake standards depending on the year they were built.
The Japanese Shindo earthquake scale
Buildings built before 1981 were built to withstand a Shindo-5 on the Japanese scale measuring intensity. Buildings built in 1981 or later were built to withstand a Shindo-6 or 7.
“Shindo” measures the intensity of the earthquake that is felt.
Retrofitting
The government is trying to get all buildings along main roads retrofitted to help better secure them in the event of a disaster. Not all buildings have been retrofitted yet, however, meaning that if the government requests an apartment building to be retrofitted, residents there may have to pay some money.
While we looked at 5 different apartments in our general target area, only 2 were built after 1981. These would likely be the best options both in terms of safety and property value if we were to sell the apartment sometime in the future.
We decided to apply for one of those two, and luckily we were approved.
Purchasing
One difference with Japan versus the U.S. is that there’s more freedom in Japan regarding who you work with. You can work with multiple real-estate agents and companies while doing your search, and this is what we did.
When it was time to start the next phase of the process, we went to the real estate agency managing the property we wanted to discuss making the offer.
Making the offer
Offers are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis, and buyers have the option to offer the asking amount or lower. If it’s lower but the next person offers the asking price, the buyer will likely sell to the one willing to pay the price they asked for.
After some consideration, we decided to offer the asking price and luckily the buyer accepted. While we entertained offering lower, the availability of a place like this that’s close to our budget is too uncommon and the demand in the area was just too high. We were reassured that we made the right choice when a second bid came in from someone who had been unsuccessfully looking for a place in the area for the past 7 years.
Locking in the agreement
We met with the agency and the seller in a 3-way meeting, signed and stamped several papers, and paid the seller ¥2.5M in cash to lock in the agreement. The reason why it’s recommended to pay in cash is to avoid fees. It is, however, a bit nerve-wracking to carry that much cash on you!
After this was completed, the long process of actually purchasing, handing over and registering the apartment began.
The entire process from searching to receiving the keys took a little over 3 months. It was lengthy, stressful, and something I was glad to have finally completed.
The next step is doing some renovations to the dated interior. I’ll update about that later, but this is a solid step forward in being able to have a life between two countries.
Don’t forget to watch my video which shows this entire process, including the apartments we looked at:
Watch on YouTube
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About My Japan-Related Business
I started a company that is connected to Japan, helping businesses do international marketing to the country.
In 2023, I officially started a business that works a lot with Japan.
After teaching English in Fukuoka, Japan as an ALT on the JET Program, I went back into the social media / digital marketing world. It was what I had done at a startup in Silicon Valley before moving to Japan.
I fortunately found a job at a medium-sized Japanese digital agency called TAM which had been around for more than a couple decades, and worked with the CEO to help crack a window so that the company could do more internationally related work.
What I’ve learned doing international marketing
The language and cultural barriers that exist between Japan and other countries, especially Western ones, prevent most Japanese companies from working with ones outside of Japan and vice versa. They also present enormous challenges for businesses trying to market and sell to and from Japan.
Throughout my years at TAM, I’ve worked on Japanese government projects, helping clients such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Yokohama City Government with outbound international marketing.
I’ve also worked with a lot of international companies trying to market to Japanese people - Small startups, large corporations, airlines, fashion brands and so on. While doing so, I’ve learned the different challenges that are common, what some of their needs are and what I could do to help them.
I will continue doing this through my new company.
My company is called TAMKO X, and we are an independently operating company within the TAM Group.
What my company does
The TAM Group has several companies within it doing things like digital ad strategy, content production, e-commerce site design, AI tool building, VR world creation and more. And with the way that we’re set up, we can all draw upon the group’s resources, knowledge and network when we need to in order to best help clients.
For the projects I’ve been a part of in the past several years, I collaborated with Japanese specialists at TAM because they know the market the best and they’re Japanese themselves. They currently live in Japan so they have an up-to-date pulse on things, so together we’re able to help out and provide a lot of value to these international clients.
The challenges we help businesses with
I’ve learned that most of the challenges international businesses face when trying to market to Japan extends beyond just translating and learning business etiquette and things like that.
Much of it relates to how to actually reach and communicate with people in Japan in a natural way, how to build relevance with their lifestyles which can be quite different so they pay attention, and then how to spark an interest so they think about buying.
A lot of times the approach in marketing communications is quite different from how they’d be done in places like the US, for example, and there are a lot of nuances to think about and figure out.
We help localize and connect culture so that our clients have a better chance at getting Japanese customers. We do this through things like native Japanese social media, content creation and transcreation, influencer marketing, Japanese ad management, website creation, Japanese article creation and publications. Basically if it’s a form of digital communication that can have an affect on people, we can do it.
I’m looking forward to continue working with those I currently work with but also working with new passionate clients and new people who would like to collaborate on these types of project as well.
If you’re interested, feel free to contact me.
Website: https://tamkox.com
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What it's Like Doing a Marketing Pitch to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Tokyo Metropolitan Government pitches are unique. Here’s how they go, according to my experience.
Over the years working in marketing in Tokyo, I’ve been able to work with larger international companies, small startups and boutique businesses, as well as a couple municipal governments in Japan.
Each project is different, and the desired way of pitching and presenting can vary according to the potential client, but the way that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government does theirs is unlike any other I’ve experienced.
RFP & Initial Phase
In order to even have a chance at presenting, your company has to first be registered as a potential partner in a database. This is to check credentials.
The government will send out an RFP (Request for Proposal) as they head into the next fiscal year, which begins each April. The project in our case, is a one that gets re-evaluated each year, so the period is from April until the next March.
If after your submitted proposal is accepted, an appointment to go and present is handed out.
Pitch / Presentation
Each company is allowed to have 2 people present. They check in with security at the bottom of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, then go up to appropriate floor 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.
There is a waiting table to wait at, then someone comes to greet you and take you to the presentation room.
Presentation room
The organization of the presentation room is as shown above.
There is a desk and chairs for 2 presenters.
Directly in front are 5 desks each on the panel. They’re made up of government officials and possible a consultant that they work with, depending on the project.
On the side are 3 more people who work with the government and serve as moderators.
Procedure
Once you enter the room, you bow and give your greeting (in Japanese, of course).
One key rule here is that you are never allowed to say who you are or what company you’re from. This is to maintain anonymity so people on the panel aren’t subconsciously swayed by a name.
After all, it’s a government project that’s funded by tax payers, so legally and morally, it’s best to not have give preference to one private company over another. Presenters will be referred to as “Company A”, “Company B”, and so on.
When everyone is ready to begin, the moderators will run a stopwatch for 10 minutes. This is for the entire presentation. Japanese marketing presentations are quite detailed and don’t contain large visuals or impact slides like some Western pitches do, so it’s impossible to cover everything sufficiently in the 10 minutes.
A pitch has to be carefully prepared ahead of time, highlighting the key areas. This is to make the presentation time efficient.
Next, another 10 minutes are timed for Q&A. Here, members on the panel will freely ask questions in which the presenters need to respond quickly and concisely.
Finish
After the Q&A session, the presenters stand up, bow and give their greetings, and walk out to conclude the pitch.
Results are given a little later.
You may check out the project that this was for here.
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Social Media in Japan in 2021
A look at the most popular social media apps in Japan in 2021 - user numbers, usage trends and more.
Whether you’re trying to market your business to Japanese consumers, make Japanese friends, or keep in touch with a Japanese person you met on a trip or on an exchange, being in the same “communication space” is very important.
You can download this “Social Media in Japan in 2021” deck
I put together for free.
It covers:
Media consumption trends by Japanese people
The shift of attention in Japan
Activities done in mobile devices
A breakdown of the most popular social media apps in Japan
If this looks interesting to you, download the full deck here:
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The Creator Economy and the Comprehension Gap
We hear “creator” a lot these days, but there may be a slight misunderstanding by many about what creators are, what they need, and how this affects the future.
There’s a gap in the understanding about creators and their needs by businesses and society as a whole
Creators need to be good in 3 pillars of the Creator-Market Fit in order to have long, successful careers
Being a creator is attractive and seen as easy, but its areas of difficulty will begin to drive the Creator Economy
We hear the word “creator” a lot these days. More and more people are focused on growing their personal brands, creating businesses around their passions, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are taking off, and companies are looking for ways to scale their own communications.
Media was decentralized by the internet, and creators making content to become media entities of their own is the outcome.
This “Creator Economy” is only growing.
New tools, platforms, and marketplaces are constantly being built. The vast majority of them focus on 2 areas:
Distribution (ex: TikTok, Substack, ConvertKit)
Monetization (ex: Patreon, Ko-fi, Geniuslink)
Working in marketing at an agency and being somewhat of a creator myself, I’ve been thinking that there may be a slight misunderstanding by many about creators, what they are and what they need.
Let me explain.
Creator-Market Fit
This Creator-Market Fit was shared by Justin Moore, who educates about the business side of being a creator.
Moore states that in order for creators to achieve longterm success, they need a balance of 3 pillars: Psychological, financial and algorithmic strength.
Most creators only have 2 of 3 pillars, and as you can see in the diagram below, a 2-pillar combo has a weakness depending on which two the creator has.
Psychological strength - The ability to have confidence, avoid imposter syndrome, brush off negative feedback, etc.
Financial strength - The ability to monetize and/or support one’s ability to survive off being a creator
Algorithmic strength - The ability to understand various platforms, attention shifts and algorithm changes
So far, creators are assumed to be psychologically strong and attuned to the algorithms on platforms, therefore developing monetization services has been the focus.
The assumption isn’t necessarily wrong. Many creators, especially early ones, are likely relatively strong in those areas and that’s why they’ve been able to pave their own path early, grow an audience and find some success.
It’s great, but as Moore explains, there’s a lack of support in the other areas that if aren’t addressed, will lead many creators to diminishing careers or burnout.
Furthermore, just like anything that becomes trendy and gets glamorized, including entrepreneurship which is essentially what creators do, people will get Shiny Object Syndrome and flock towards it even though they may not actually be a great fit for it.
Part of the reason is that most don’t truly realize what it takes to be a successful creator.
The challenge of being a creator
I see this a lot on public forums like Quora: People assuming creators and influencers don’t do anything besides pose in front of cameras, or people asking if it’s possible to be one if you’re not good looking.
Being a creator is often thought to be an easy job, but it’s actually extremely difficult.
Being someone who takes photos and creates videos for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and a slew of other platforms myself…. it can be overwhelming to say the least.
To be successful, people first need to have a balance. Entrepreneur/VC Li Jin came up with her version of a Creator-Market Fit, and states that creators need to address “ABC”:
(A)udience - Who is the content for and do they want it?
(B)usiness model - Is this a sustainable business?
(C)ontent creation - Is making this type of content enjoyable or fulfilling?
The fact is that Creators are often a one-person media company, prOduction studio, and business consultancy.
The majority of creators are doing everything themselves, at least until they can hire help.
For example, here’s what a typical YouTube creator has to be able to do:
Identify trends and topics, and plan videos around them or around an original idea
Understand YouTube’s functions, how to use YouTube Studio, its best practices
Shoot and post-produce videos consistently, sometimes also effectively speaking in the video and/or on camera
Respond to people in comments and engage others
Analyze performance, plan optimizations and implement them
Potentially know how to use the ad platform and how to execute campaigns when needed
Know how to network, research potential collaborations, reach out and negotiate
Maintain mental strength to do this consistently despite setbacks, competition, negative judgement and feedback
And that’s not considering managing other social networks, building a community and monetizing.
So yes, it’s a lot harder than it seems, and it can eventually take a toll on creators. There is a mental and emotional wear and tear on top of the difficulty that hasn’t been fully realized by the masses nor focused on by businesses in the creator economy.
Not only are their financial needs necessary to address, but needs in the psychological pillar will only continue to rise.
What’s next for the creator economy?
Here’s a few possibilities based on what I’ve read and what I’m sensing.
1. Many more creators will continue to emerge
Becoming a creator is an increasingly attractive career option to many. It’s already a top job kids want to do when they grow up in the US and UK, and in Japan as well.
2019 survey of what kids want to be when they grow up - Business Insider
As the friction it has with society’s ability to accept it as a legitimate career continues to fade away and new tools are developed, more will attempt to be one.
Like in my previous blog about the influencer who launched a national DTC burger chain, people are understanding that building awareness means growing opportunities for themselves, and everyone wants that.
NFTs and their potential to more accurately assign credit and deliver payments to creators will strengthen viability.
A sign that we’re moving in this direction is the news saying that even with high unemployment, companies can’t fill positions. Covid has led people to reconsider their lives and how they’re living it. And with “new age” career options in the gig, passion and creator economies, more and more people will stop buying into companies in a middleman economy with weak visions and controlling contracts.
2. Creator Economy startups will grow in the psychological pillar
The focus on distribution, monetization and finance for creator economy startups has left the psychological pillar largely undeveloped. This will change as both creators and competition increase.
Mental health and behavioral health above it are already a rapidly growing space now, so it’d be safe to assume that services focused on creators’ psychological wellbeing in particular will begin to pop up.
3. Next-gen financial support for creators will arise
Areas around cryptocurrency, DeFi (decentralized finance) and the NFT market will continuing to grow, and so will services looking to help creators.
Companies like Collective already exist as an outsourced back office for solopreneurs, and more will be come up to help creators navigate these spaces.
There will likely also be a growing need to address the class split that will increasingly impact creators.
The majority of creators tend to be on the financially stable side, hence the ability to take the risk to be one. As Karol Jan Borowiecki, an economics professor at the University of Southern Denmark said, “One could hypothesize … if my family is well off, and my career doesn’t go as planned, I can fall back on that financial net.”
The balance of who actually can even try to be a creator is already tipped.
Additionally, creator funds and platforms like Pearpop where people bid and take part in challenges to gain shared screentime with TikTok influencers and celebrities tend to benefit the biggest and best creators the most.
This has thought leaders talking about UCI - Universal Creator Income - to address the lower and middle class of creators that will inevitably grow. But that’s a topic for another day and something I’ve yet to truly dive into.
In any case, it’s a very interesting time, and when we talk about creators, influencers, personal brands… something tells me they’re at their infancy.
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Clubhouse - My First 48 Hours With the Audio Social Network
The latest social network to buzz, this one is different - it’s audio only.
Clubhouse is the latest social audio network to take off, starting in 2020 and reaching Japan in January 2021
It is designed to replicate real life events and social interactions
It’s growing from Millennial and Gen-X thought leaders
Clubhouse is one of the most recent social apps to take off. Unlike the other major networks, this one is different - it’s audio only.
I’ll talk about what the app is, how to use it, how it’s growing, monetization, and my thoughts on it.
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is a social audio app that is designed to mimic offline events and social interactions.
Think of going to an expo around your interests. There are probably multiple rooms and booths, speakers giving keynotes, discussion panels you can listen to, Q&A sessions, and random run-ins with acquaintances as well as new introductions. You can stop and listen to them, participate, or move along to the next thing.
The app’s design, which I’ll show below, is made to replicate this experience.
Even when a new user joins, any acquaintance they may have that is already on Clubhouse is pinged to welcome them. The co-founders also host weekly talk sessions to welcome new users.
People have been using Clubhouse for just under a year, with the earliest users being allowed on between spring and summer 2020. It began gaining more users towards the end of the year, and started being all the buzz in Japan in late January 2021.
Availability
At the moment, it’s similar to early Facebook in terms of exclusivity. Think 2004-2005 when you needed an email address from specific universities in order to create an account.
Joining is through invitation only so the platform is entirely community-driven at the moment. People receive 2 invites to give out initially and then gain more as time goes on.
It’s also mobile-only and only available on iPhone. Android is aimed to launch in 3-6 months, and they’re building out their development team now, according to co-founder Paul Davison.
Priorities
Clubhouse has 4 general priorities:
Performance - To ensure a good user experience. This is why they’re carefully scaling rather than immediately opening it up to everyone.
Support - To maximize the in-room experience, they want to provide creators and moderators the tools they need
Safety - Clubhouse has a one-strike policy when it comes to misconduct and will ban anyone who breaks etiquette. They feel diversity is the best thing about the platform, and encourage a variety of people to come together to express their opinions and have thoughtful, difficult discussions. They prioritize maintaining that.
Discovery - To help people find the conversations that best suits them, they plan to work on algorithms and optimize feeds.
How do you use Clubhouse?
There are 2 main screens to focus on: The Home feed and the Room.
The Home feed
Home feed
This is a feed of rooms tailored to you. Think of it as a personalized schedule of what’s happening at the expo. This feed is tailored based on the people and “Clubs” (communities, groups) you follow.
Above are a few icons. From left to right: Search (to find people and clubs), Invites (to invite new users), Calendar (a list of upcoming events that are outside of what you follow but may be interested in), notifications, and your account profile.
At the bottom lies the option to start your own room. You can make it “Open” for anyone, “Social” for people you follow or find interesting, or “Closed” and private.
When you create a room, mutual followers will get pinged.
Room
Room
This is the actual event. You’d think it’s intimidating to join because it’s like entering a phone call, but it’s not.
You are automatically muted when you enter, and there are no notifications that go off. You can tap the hand icon to raise your hand for a chance to speak if you want to, hit the “+” button to ping friends about the room, and leave quietly whenever you want. Ghosting is actually encouraged by Clubhouse.
The design of the room is also meant to mimic real life.
The Room is divided into 3 sections.
The Stage (or Speakerbox) - The room creator, moderators, and speakers
People followed by the speakers - Think of them as VIP guests in the front-row
Others in the room - The general audience, where you’ll be in most cases
Growth & Usage
People may think a social platform’s growth is initially driven by the young. While it’s common, Clubhouse is more akin to Twitter, which had a lot of Silicon Valley and tech Millennials and Gen-Xers onboard first. Clubhouse’s early users are of a similar makeup.
This is important for a few reasons.
Clubhouse is extremely reliant on people’s ability to provide users value through audio only. Users need to want to listen to dialogs in order to decide to spend time on the platform and invite their peers. There’s no visual space to show amazing photos or captivating b-roll transitions. Having enough to say in a way that provides value to listeners comes from experience and education.
Rooms need to be moderated by actual people, not algorithms, to maintain a quality user experience. This also comes with experience and practice.
Younger people are more willing to listen to older people or others of a similar age that they can learn from rather than the other way around. This is seen in offline keynotes and speeches as well.
Clubhouse will likely grow beyond these primary, informative and engaging talk sessions, but growing this way allows the platform to establish their core culture and scale better.
Trends
Peak usage is said to be between 4PM and midnight, but the platform’s cofounders are aware that things may change as the Covid situation changes.
Some thought leaders and companies have created Clubs, where members or staff will host scheduled events. This helps build their brand and grow awareness, just like online livestreams.
Clubs are created to host conversations and grow a community, or just to communicate within an organization. To start one, you have to request it manually by emailing Clubhouse support.
This again highlights how companies need to reassess the talent of their staff, and make sure they can help the company maneuver in the increasingly interactive, digital-social environment that our guides our society today.
“PTR”
Clubhouse only has one visual - your profile pic. Because of this limitation, people who want to quickly show a photo will temporarily use it as their profile pic and tell listeners to “PTR”, or “pull to refresh”, before changing it back.
Clear Profiles
Because of only having an icon and first name shown when in a room, it’s best to use a clear face photo of yourself and real name (which they ask for). Almost all users do this. Wearing a mask to an expo with a nickname on your name tag may be seen as poor etiquette, so you shouldn’t here either.
Profiles should be written simply, and due to a lack of messaging capabilities, you should link your Twitter and Instagram accounts to your profile, capabilities provided by Clubhouse.
Monetization
Right now there is no monetization but Clubhouse plans to build out a monetization platform.
They’ve stressed that they only want to make money from creators who are making money, and they don’t want to interrupt the user experience with invasive ads.
While Clubhouse is still working things out, they will likely start with the ability for people to tip creators. After that, they may introduce other monetization methods such as membership dues or tickets to events or private sessions, etc.
Personal Take
My Clubhouse profile: barrettish
Clubhouse has a lot of potential, it’s already buzzing and not many people are yet aware of it. The trajectory of growth may likely be affected by changes related to Covid, but it’ll be around as a dominant platform in social audio communication.
Twitter also is testing their Spaces, an add on function that looks to have similar capabilities - the ability for people to gather in rooms and talk. We’ll see what happens with that, however, it’s important to understand that having the same functionality doesn’t mean the same user experience. Instagram copied TikTok with Reels, but the algorithm, user emotions and experience are different.
I myself am more of a visual person - I take photos, make YouTube videos, learn by watching more than reading. Because of this, Clubhouse won’t become my go-to platform. However, I’d definitely tune in if there’s value being provided to me there.
While the lack of visuals may not be my personal preference, it works well for many and I am enjoying the app. If anything, it lowers the hurdles immensely to create content, host discussions, provide value, and even participate.
No camera. Lower hurdles. Frictionless experience. They're huge.
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What Businesses Should Take Away From This Influencer Opening a Restaurant Chain
MrBeast opening a DTC burger chain highlights a shift in how new businesses now start and provides lessons for businesspeople to learn from.
YouTuber MrBeast opened a nationwide burger restaurant in the US
The drive-thru line was miles long, and his app ranked #1 in the App Store - all with no ads
This highlights a shift in how businesses get started and compete
One of the biggest YouTubers just opened a burger chain in the US. I know most won’t think much of it, but it highlights a very important change that’s happening in retail and commerce.
Let me explain.
When most businesses begin, they will look to create fans and gain customers. It usually starts with their network of people they know, and will grow through advertising, publications and word-of-mouth.
More recently, early DTC (direct-to-consumer) businesses were able to do this on a large scale by taking advantage of up-to-date social media marketing and its cost-efficient advertising costs.
The “typical” approach has been to Create the business, then build the audience.
As I mentioned in a previous blog I wrote, however, commerce and communication are increasingly merging.
What do I mean by that?
Traditionally in business, we have the “commerce” aspect on one end (ex: shop, restaurant, online store, etc.), and the “communication” aspect of it in order to gain awareness and get customers (ex: magazine ads, TV commercials, social media posts, etc.) on the other.
The two are increasingly blending together.
It’s why social networks are growing their eCommerce and live commerce (selling via livestream, something China is way ahead in) functionalities, and retail brands like Red Bull have created their own media production companies.
But why is an influencer like MrBeast launching a business worth paying attention to?
First, about MrBeast and what he did:
Real name Jimmy Donaldson, born in 1998
48.5 million YouTube subscribers (more than many corporate publications)
2nd biggest YouTube earner in 2020 (USD $24M)
Known for expensive stunts and philanthropy (but not food)
He opened up a brand new 300-location burger chain across the US together with Virtual Dining Concepts
This launch shines a light on this important change in retail and commerce:
The “new” approach is becoming have the audience first, then build the business.
Social media has allowed individual people to build a network of this type of scale.
And imagine already being able to get insights on millions of people in your network before you even open up shop. You’d get a better sense of product variety, location, pricing - a lot.
With all variables the same, the influencer can beat the businessman at launching the same business because they already have a large network that cares about who they are and what they do.
Celebrities and athletes have had endorsements and launched businesses based on that concept for a long time now as well, but the difference is rather than only being able to connect with them via channels like TV or magazines, fans are connected with influencers on multiple channels every day through a device they always carry and are always looking at. And there’s no corporation or label standing in between.
This is why celebrities like Will Smith have worked to become social media influencers. It’s begun here in Japan as well.
Someone like MrBeast can simply announce he’s opening up a business and have cars lined up for miles.
Cars waiting to try MrBeast Burger. Screenshot from MrBeast.
Not to mention, his app shot up to #1 in the US, and many other people and media publications are talking about what he’s done. All with no money spent on paid advertising.
The traditional businessperson opening up a burger restaurant can’t do this.
What’s even better about his business is that it’s completely direct-to-consumer.
Through Virtual Dining Concepts, a company that provides turnkey solutions to operating virtual restaurants, he’s using cloud/dark/ghost kitchens - rented industrial kitchen spaces - that makes it easy to relocate when needed, has virtually no retail footprint, and has the food delivered in minutes via food delivery services all while getting consumer data and credit card registrations via the app.
Influencers of all sizes will continue to get into more and more retail and commerce spaces.
There’s potential to get more money than just that from ad revenue as well as an opportunity to achieve their goals. In MrBeast’s case, a portion of each sale goes to food relief charities in the US.
This is why businesses now need to be competent at modern communication.
Let’s be honest. Most businesses aren’t novel with cutting edge products and services that people feel they can’t do without, and most don’t have deep enough pockets to keep running ads in order to maintain purchase numbers, all while not losing marketshare to a better communicating competitor.
This is why the modern communication aspect is huge - it builds reputation.
If there’s one lesson to take away from this:
Businesses are in the communications and media space now at a deeper level than just being an advertiser. They have to be - their next competitor might already have a much larger and more passionate fan base before their business even opens.
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A Juice Brand Meant to Help Farmers in Japan
Tasting The Fruits Company, a Japanese DTC brand aiming to turn wasted fruits into 100% fruit juice.
This small juice brand crowdfunded on Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake
They make 100% fresh juice made from wasted fruit
It’s a DTC brand started and operated by a Gen-Z team
I love Japanese fruits - they’re beautiful, well taken care of, and sweet beyond words.
Unfortunately, a lot of it goes to waste, largely due to the Japanese consumer market’s high demand for visual perfection.
While many are trying to change this, I found out about a small company looking to make fresh juice out of these wasted fruits.
The Fruits Company was started by a young Gen-Z team looking to help farmers who face a large portion of their crop being unsellable as well as tackle a little bit of the food loss problem.
Things like purpose-driven brands, CSR (corporate social responsibility), or SDGs (sustainable development goals) are still relatively new concepts in Japan. This isn’t to say companies are bad, they just haven’t buzzed in culture in the same way they have in other markets.
The Fruits Company ran a crowdfunding campaign on Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake, and blew past their goal rather quickly.
It’s a DTC brand, or direct-to-consumer, and they mainly sell online via their Shopify eCommerce site. They’ve also been doing a lot of pop-ups and in-store collaborations with various cafes and coffee shops.
Their grape juice, which I tried, was made with Japanese Kyoho grapes. If you saw my guide on Koshu, Yamanashi, the grape capital of Japan, you may know about them.
The juice was really good and incredibly sweet, and I’ve grown to like it the more I drink it. I’m not really a fan of artificially flavored grape juice, but this one tastes like the real fruit.
It comes in a 500ml glass bottle and is 100% real fruit juice. Only Vitamin C is occasionally added to help with the color.
I recently talked with one of co-founders, Ryohei Tokunaga, and you can see him speak about their company, what they want to do, and about his perspective on Japanese Gen-Z consumers in this video.
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Instagram in Japan in 2020
All about Instagram use in Japan in 2020. Information from the House of Instagram Japan online event held by Facebook Japan.
House of Instagram Japan was held in online on November 26, 2020
Instagram has over 33 million monthly active users in Japan
Users in Japan in particular use Instagram for search
Instagram remains one of the most significant social networks in the world and continues to be huge in Japan.
On November 26, 2020, Facebook Japan held their House of Instagram Japan, or インスタハウス in Japanese, online seminar event, going over the latest usage statistics and behaviors on the platform.
Globally, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, now 10 years after it first launched. It’s been a pretty big part of my daily life since I signed up in May 2011.
Anyways, here are some interesting facts about Instagram in Japan.
The Japan market
The Japanese market is said to have more than 33 million monthly active users. This number hasn’t been updated in a while as this was the same number announced last year at Instagram Day Tokyo 2019, so we can only speculate as to why.
Japan is an important and unique market for Instagram, Facebook Japan CEO Masahiro Amizawa said. In fact, Japan holds their only development team outside of the United States.
Instagram users in Japan have a high rate of searching via hashtags, says the Facebook Japan CEO.
In addition to browsing and discovery, users in Japan use Instagram for search purposes more than users in other markets. Compared to the global Instagram user average, users in Japan search via hashtags 5X more.
This makes Japanese hashtag strategy very important for brands.
Instagram users in Japan have a high rate of seeking shopping information
Another point of difference in Japanese usage is that Instagram users in Japan seek shopping information more.
Utilizing functions such as Instagram’s shopping tags, users in Japan are 3X more likely to look at product details compared to users in other countries.
Not utilizing shopping tags or having them link to a non-Japanese eCommerce site is a wasted opportunity.
Maintaining organic posts is important to provide further information
It’s also worth noting that advertising to Japan from a global account isn’t enough. 42% of users who become interested in a brand will visit the brand’s profile in search of more information.
I’ve seen many international brands in particular advertise in Japanese but from a single, global account, with all the posts written in a foreign language.
The truth is that English capability in Japan is notoriously low, and the type of social media content that they like is often very different. This potentially cuts off the interest cultivation in the Japanese user.
Japan-first Developments
Three functions that began in Japan were highlighted, developed due to behavior in the market.
Instagram’s account QR code
Account QR codes
This has been around for quite some time now, but it allows users to quickly connect to other people and businesses. Japanese were used to scanning QR codes from before, and you’ll likely see them around if you’re in the country.
Instagram’s event tagging
Event tagging in in-feed posts
It looks similar to shopping tags where you tap a post and information comes up. In addition to products, event information can also be tagged inside of in-feed posts. This let users set reminders to be notified 15 minutes before its start.
It was tied to high usage of the Instagram Live function after COVID-19/Coronavirus began to spread.
Instagram’s seasonal topics
Seasonal topics
A list of 10 hashtags around topics beginning to trend are curated. This is due to Japanese users’ searches by hashtags being 5X the global average, their cultural affinity for the seasons and trends that occur in them, and their strong desire to know what’s currently happening.
If you need help with Instagram or Instagram in Japan, send me an email and I’ll see if I can be of help!
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Social Media Marketing Lessons From Presidential Campaigns
A Presidential candidate's social media campaigns can provide good lessons for people looking to promote their business or themselves on social media.
2020 - It’s a Presidential election year in the US. While the Coronavirus has undoubtably caused some changes in the way candidates have run, for a brand advertiser or marketer, I believe there’s a lot to learn from the way they conduct themselves on social media.
Why are a presidential candidate’s social media campaigns good to study?
Because they need to build massive awareness
They need to bring people through the funnel so they convert - aka vote for them
They have a limited time frame
They are directly battling a competitor
That’s pretty similar to most businesses.
It wasn’t really until Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign that a candidate actually tried to connect and communicate with younger voters. Until then, it was all about TV and other traditional forms of advertising. Maybe a website at best.
Fast forward to 2020 and the battleground is very different. Social media and modern communication channels have come to play a huge role. So…
How do politicians utilize social media to promote themselves, and what can we learn from them?
You’ll see there are two large, overarching themes: They’re fast and they’re detailed.
This post isn’t meant to be about the actual politics or a debate about the effects of a two-party system or Electoral College. In this case, I took a look at Joe Biden since he’s the competitor.
1. They dive into who they are and what they’re about.
These Joe Biden ads reveal different sides of him and appeal to different interests - faith, military families, auto industry jobs.
People like brands for different reasons, whether it’s a corporate one or personal one.
These Joe Biden ads showcase different sides of him, what he’s for and against, and what he’s done. They are then run against target audiences that have a high chance of having the same interests, beliefs and concerns.
There is no one message that fits all. These ads reflect that and take advantage of social media’s ability to craft multiple ads for multiple, detailed targets.
2. They’re contextualized to the audience
These Joe Biden ads are contextual to the target audience’s location - Florida, Georgia and Michigan.
These ads may look the same at first glance, but they’re actually speaking to people of different states.
Because we can target ads by location (even more specific than entire states), we can “speak” in more specific terms.
There’s a better chance that someone in Michigan will feel that the ad is for them if it’s addressing Michigan specifically, rather than the entire US.
Even though people live in the same location, however, they may be of different backgrounds and cultures, and may speak a different language altogether.
These Joe Biden ads are contextualized to the target audience’s culture and language.
The US may be thought of as an English-speaking country, but around 41 million Americans speak Spanish at home (~13% of the population) and 58 million are native speakers. This means that getting their vote is very important, so Joe Biden and other politicians will run Spanish-language ads that feature people that resonate with the target.
Things get even more diverse when looking at what the most spoken language is in each state after English and Spanish:
The most popular language spoken in each US state after English and Spanish.
Some candidates will even run ads to these targets as well. Bernie Sanders apparently did so in Korean.
3. They aggressively A/B test
These Joe Biden ads show an A/B test of copy
One benefit that social media ads allow for is the ability to A/B test. Aggressively.
Most of us are used to gathering our marketing teams and coming up with one or two creatives that we think are on-brand and have a high chance of being effective. This had to be done when running a print or TV ad.
The problem is it’s a completely subjective opinion of a handful of people at best.
Advertising on social media technically allows us to test as many creatives as we want, as much copy as we want, to as many people as we want, for as long as we want.
The Joe Biden ads above are testing various ad copy against the same creative. The ads below are testing both different ad copy and ad creatives along a similar message.
These Joe Biden ads show an A/B test of copy and creative
Another thing noticeable when looking through the ad campaigns is how fast they happen.
The ads aren’t just run for 30 days and then reviewed at a performance meeting. Multiple ad campaigns are launched every day, then adjusted or stopped after a couple of days. The speed is incredible.
Speaking of speed, this applies to organic social media as well.
4. They’re relevant to the current conversation
Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly. https://t.co/CqHAId0j8t pic.twitter.com/NbkPl0a8HV
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 8, 2020
October 8th was the Vice Presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. A fly happened to land on Mike Pence’s head for a couple minutes, and it quickly became the trending conversation online.
Almost instantly, Joe Biden’s Twitter account tweeted a picture of him holding a fly swatter with a call to action using copy that creatively plays on the word “fly”.
That tweet earned him over 216k retweets, 57k quoted retweets, and more than 910k likes.
Then, within 41 minutes, the Joe Biden team tweeted this fly swatter centric graphic, leading users to an eCommerce shop page selling these branded fly swatters to raise money.
Swats away flies and lies. Get yours today: https://t.co/ehsECKfDPO pic.twitter.com/oVLHHmq85c
— Team Joe (Text JOE to 30330) (@TeamJoe) October 8, 2020
This attention to realtime online conversations and the speed to react, plan and put something out immediately is incredible. It goes to show we’re past the generation of careful planning and week-long designing.
5. They’re authentic
It’s good to remind the audience that you’re just a part of the community. It humanizes and it increases believability.
In this case, Joe Biden rides the #NationalDessertDay topic, and shares some of the desserts he’s enjoyed while campaigning.
The fact is, people don’t only want to hear about your company, what you’re selling and your promotions. With social media putting both people and businesses in similar-looking profiles that share content into the same feeds, businesses need to be a part of the conversation.
6. They build audiences in other channels
These Joe Biden ads aim to collect leads
One issue many marketing on social media have is that they don’t connect it to any other channel. Even within social media, they’ll rely on one main channel.
Being reliant on one channel is a big risk.
Here, Joe Biden’s ads are asking people to join other channels. In this case, probably SMS (text message) and email. This allows for communication to happen in other channels, as well as for them to keep a connection should that person change or delete an account, or the channel loses popularity altogether.
It’s worth noting that in the middle ad, they are asking users to complete a short survey.
Many companies like to present an image that they know what they’re doing, but directly asking the target audience helps gain insights and shows that you care about how they feel. Also, being that it’s only 2 questions, it immediately tells users it’s short, therefore lowering the participation barrier.
7. They utilize influencers
These Joe Biden ads use influencers to speak on his behalf, in this case, Star Trek actors.
Influencer marketing is, at its core, word of mouth. It’s getting someone recognizable that has a following to say something good about your business or product.
In this case, Joe Biden uses video speeches posted by Star Trek actors and turns them into ads. We can assume that these ads were run against Star Trek fans.
8. They go where the target wants to be
Back in President Obama’s first Presidential run in 2008, the idea of going where the target wants to be came into play. It was social media.
In 2020, if a candidate or consumer-facing business doesn’t purposefully do social media, they’re probably losing relevance and giving competitors a chance to steal their fans.
eSports and gaming continues to become a huge pillar in entertainment today. This means attention lives here, which means a chance to connect with people.
This isn’t what Joe Biden did, but US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, collaborated with streamers Pokimane, HasanAbi, and several others on October 20th to livestream her playing a game on Twitch.
Anyone want to play Among Us with me on Twitch to get out the vote? (I’ve never played but it looks like a lot of fun)
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 19, 2020
You can watch highlights here, but the stream peaked at 435k viewers and became one of the biggest streams ever.
AOC, a digital native, probably should be analyzed in a separate post due to her prolific usage of social media that earns her higher engagement rates than any other major US politician. Her testing of Twitch though, is a look at how businesses should go where the people pay attention and actually want to be.
In conclusion, whether it’s a business or a personal brand, connecting with and building a relationship with the end user is key. That often happens by going where they are and being relevant at all times.
Analyzing how political candidates do it is a good way to learn.
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How Coffee and Cafe Brands are Marketing in Japan
Japanese consumers and coffee, as well as an analysis of a few popular coffee and cafe businesses in Japan to see how they’re marketing and building their brands.
Coffee and cafes play a big part in many people’s lives in Japan, and it’s been that way for a long time. In fact, it was Japan’s kissaten coffee culture that inspired Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman.
Looking around Japan, like many other countries, there seems to be a lot of coffee shops popping up. The truth is however, that the number has actually been decreasing over the past decade according to the Japanese government’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Despite this and other changes in the market over the past several years, Japanese consumers are spending more on coffee than ever.
Average annual spend on coffee per person in Japan
This is led by the under-30 year old demographic.
Prices at chains such as Starbucks and Ueshima have gone up, but that’s not the only reason for the increase in spending.
The majority of coffee, 6.54 cups per week, is actually not consumed at these chains but rather in the home.
Even though the number of coffee shops have decreased and consumers in Japan are spending more than ever, there is another battleground that wasn’t as big before: The digital space.
Coffee is a commodity, which means branding and marketing are more important than ever.
Yes, the beans, the drinks, the locations, the prices, online availability - these all matter and contribute to the success of a coffee or cafe business.
If we take a look at the coffee and cafe-related brands growing and succeeding, they have the same thing in common: Purposeful branding and marketing.
This goes beyond having a cool name and running Facebook Ads.
It’s a mix of tactical implementations that help build a relationship with potential customers and gain their trust - something of utmost importance when it comes to selling anything to Japanese consumers.
Together with my colleague Takumi Kishimoto, we compiled a brief that takes a look at the latest information around coffee and cafes in the Japan market, and then dove into what a few successful ones are doing marketing-wise to help them grow.
If you or someone you know is looking to grow their coffee or tea brand, cafe, restaurant or eatery in Japan, this might be interesting.
You can find the download link on our agency post here, or feel free to contact me and I can send it over to you.
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Creating Brand Value for Social Commerce
Commerce and communication have merged as social networks become direct eCommerce channels. Here’s how businesses should think about social media now.
As e-commerce plays an increasing role in how people make purchases, communication in the digital space becomes ever more paramount. Research shows that once someone experiences buying a packaged good online, they’ll continue doing so.
Here in Japan, 31.6% of consumers said they increased e-commerce use between March and May 2020, and 55.6% feel that they will continue doing so going forward.
As direct-to-consumer brands become the standard for shoppers, businesses face the urgent need to fine-tune the communications that incentivize those conversions. I’ll discuss social media realities and how brands can approach value creation there.
Commerce and communication have merged.
Entire customer journeys to purchase are happening within the smartphone. Social networks have been thought of as purely communication channels but are increasingly being used to sell directly.
Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops link with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce and others. In Japan, they also work with the popular Stores.jp and Base. Social networks like TikTok, Snapchat and LINE have also dabbled in the e-commerce space.
Purchases made completely within social networks will eventually become a new norm, and forcing someone to visit a website, app, or store to make a purchase will act as barriers, especially as more competitors stop requiring people to do so.
Getting social media right is now a do-or-die situation, but many struggle with the fundamentals.
Big challenges for businesses: Categorization, Depth vs. Width, and Supply & Demand
The challenge of categorization
Most businesses have an advertiser relationship with media, and treat social media the same way.
Social media fundamentally changed the advertiser-publisher-consumer dynamic.
Any individual can post social media which means more content from more publishers than ever is being put out and consumed. This means more fragmented attention, making it harder for single ads to have the impact they used to in the pre-social media era.
Because people intend to consume content when they use social networks and are accustomed to the accounts they follow putting out interesting content, businesses should actually be categorizing themselves as publishers on social media.
The challenge of depth vs. width
Many want fans and a huge audience, but in reality, only a few successfully accomplish both equally.
Generally speaking, prioritizing reaching a large audience comes at the expense of creating relationship depth with a specific target, and vice versa. Most brands will find themselves on either side of the light blue line in the chart below to varying degrees.
Because major social media channels are mature with a lot of competition, the current trend is to lean towards the side of depth, focusing on micro-communities. This leads to the next challenge.
The challenge of supply & demand
Social networks are like stocks or real estate in the sense that investing in it early can help produce bigger results.
As a platform grows so does competition. This means standing out and providing unique value to users becomes more difficult. More resources - whether it’s in strategy, creative or production - are often required because you’re competing against similar brands that have similar products that put out similar content. There’s also more advertiser money being put in.
We can see supply and demand issues come into play when social media marketing tactics produce lackluster results.
Pretty pictures have become expected, influencers featuring products in their posts are now an everyday thing. Giveaway campaigns request user actions such as follows for a 0.001% chance of winning something from a brand they don’t have a relationship with and for a product not in purchase consideration.
We know people follow, become fans and consider purchasing because they’re being provided value of some sort. So how can value be provided on social media now that communication and commerce have merged?
Provide experiences on social that are more human.
Social commerce is about straying away from a transactions-based approach and providing people with more “human” experiences online. It’s more marketing and storytelling than advertising and clicks.
In a market where barriers to entry have decreased and commoditization is rampant, the human truth is the biggest differentiator.
The goal should be to bring a neighborhood mom-and-pop shop experience to a social media space that’s been overrun with big box retailer and superstore dynamics.
Be authentic and connect
That’s another way of saying be real and be a part of the community. One of the main reasons we support small businesses is because of its human aspect - the people, the story, the connection to the neighborhood.
In fact, 77% of consumers in a survey said that they sometimes purchase products or services solely because they believe in the brand’s values/reputation and want to support them.
Instead of only relying on a product’s features to differentiate, brands should dive into the who, what, where, when, why and how’s of their business. Then with a publisher’s approach, connect through content around those areas that may interest or benefit their specific target on that particular platform.
Allowing the target to virtually experience different aspects of the business lets them learn about how it relates to them. This grows community, builds trust and increases purchase intent.
Scale in-store interactions
When someone asks a question or makes a comment in a store, it’s expected that the owner or employee will respond. This needs to happen on social media as well.
There are two big reasons why:
Consumers think of social media as a customer service channel, and it’s also now a point of purchase.
In Japan, younger people surveyed said they prefer connecting via email (30.8%) and social media (26.4%) over phone (22.6%) and in-person (21%), so this is a primary communication touchpoint for brands. As a window into the near future, 32.2% of teens in the survey favored social media.
It provides free consumer insight into what works and what doesn’t, what people want to know about and what they’re tired of hearing and seeing.
These interactions makes the business more accessible, and with e-commerce capability built in, the consumer can seamlessly make a purchase.
Give added value
As a business enables these human experiences to happen through their social account, the ability to recognize bigger fans and customers increases.
This opens up the opportunity to strengthen the relationship with them even further. This is when businesses can provide added value. This can come in the form of coupon codes, exclusive experiences, early access, gifting and more.
Giveaway campaigns also tend to work better here since it’s targeted to followers who have some context and relationship with the brand.
Choosing fans to surprise and delight can also lead to positive reactions and increased word-of-mouth.
This message from J. Crew's CEO, for example, is thanking the customer for choosing to shop with them when there are so many options available. It's worth noting that this wasn't included with a purchase and isn’t a coupon to entice future spending- it is purely a gift.
In pre-social media days, businesses started with a product and then built an audience. Now, more and more businesses are starting with the audience first, then releasing a product after.
We can see this trend coming to play when we look at artists, celebrities and influencers increasingly launching their own brands.
As commerce increasingly shifts to various online communication channels, it is of utmost importance for businesses to focus on audience, and social media.
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Creating Brand Value in the Direct-to-Consumer Era
Decreased barriers to entry in communication and e-commerce have increased hurdles for brands to differentiate and stand out. This is how they can create value.
Increasing capabilities in digital spaces like social media and e-commerce has been a no-brainer for some time now, but COVID-19 really brought to life a do-or-die sense of urgency to the late majority and laggards.
Here in Japan, businesses have had more cushion due to consumers as a whole being slow to shift away from traditional retail and cities having a lot of foot traffic.
Major e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Rakuten have grown to about 50 million users each (~40% of Japan’s population) and the government’s pseudo-lockdown has given many a first taste of online retail.
The approaches most brands are using, however, are due for tweaking.
The typical funnel is outdated.
Here’s a typical funnel and online ad strategy that consumer-facing brands use.
The approach is not necessarily wrong, but the fact that it’s one-dimensional around product purchases puts the brand at a disadvantage when combating changes in consumer behavior and the market.
The truth is that it’s too vulnerable.
Brands like this tend to prioritize their “in-store purchases” goal due to their brick-and-mortar’s operational costs, but as we’ve all experienced, this conversion point can be completely eliminated due to something like a stay-at-home order.
Rethinking in-store experiences, communicating well on social media, and having a DTC/D2C option are the bare minimums now, but there's still the challenge of standing out and building for the longterm.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult for brands to differentiate and create value in the Direct-To-Consumer era
Why?
Most products are commoditized and not actually needed
Social networks like Instagram are mainstream channels and every competitor now has the same communication tools
E-commerce platforms like Shopify lower barriers to entry for retail which results in more competition and usage of the same tech stack
A leveled playing field means that more needs to be done in order to stand out.
Depending on a good product and having that be the only value given to customers is risky.
It can be challenged by competitors with bigger resources or data pools (see how brands can use an offline competitor’s data against them here), revenue can be completely stopped if one variable changes, and the linear, point-A to point-B customer experience doesn’t connect beyond purchase.
This leads to short-term, increasingly unsustainable behaviors like only trying to acquire new customers to convert. So what should brands do?
Explore other growth areas and connect them
Brands should consider what other related areas they can get into that provides their customers value. From there, they can rethink the strategies and funnels in each area instead of having them be used as acquisition channels centered around one conversion point.
Here’s an example of a multi-dimensional brand:
In this example, the brand is operating in 4 areas - media, products, events and subscriptions.
Let’s say it’s a cookware brand.
They may be regularly creating documentaries and how-to videos, manufacturing their cookware, hosting events featuring influential chefs that were in their videos, and selling monthly recipe packages from these chefs via subscription.
Within these areas, there may be various approaches.
Media may have some content behind a paywall, products can be sold via website or SMS, events can range from factory tours to wine-and-dine, subscriptions can be geared to families or college singles, and so on.
The areas are connected through a Gamification strategy
Customer actions are incentivized through positive reinforcement. Yu-kai Chou’s Octalysis shows us that this “leveling up” of customers can be done by implementing human-focused design, based on the drivers of human behavior such as ownership, empowerment and accomplishment.
The strategy is designed by an Objective Laddering and Value Shift framework.
By analyzing target customer behaviors, their true, often subconsciously held objectives that drive their decisions can be found. From there, the best brand actions can be planned by relating them to those objectives, increasing the chances of the customer choosing to move through the various areas of the brand.
Simply put, we can use the example of a simple store point card system and combine it with Pokémon Go’s ability to incentivize different actions by empowering customers with a sense of control over their desired outcome.
Because the brand now has multiple funnels, that outcome isn’t one-dimensionally related to product purchase, making the brand relevant to the customer in multiple ways.
Key benefits of this approach are:
Production of multiple revenue streams
Differentiation against competitors and value creation
Extended customer lifecycle
In an era that’s seeing online and offline merge more and more, one that is more consumer-centric than ever, creative strategies need to be explored in order to stand out and be of value to the consumer.
While there’s much to be done on the business side as discussed, we’re also in a time where social media influencers and personalities are leveraging the value they’ve created for their large audiences and launching competing retail brands themselves.
This means that retail-first brands now have to compete more than ever on the media side as the communication and commerce worlds merge.
I’ll talk about what I think brands should be doing on the media side next.
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UNIQLO’s Initial Black Lives Matter Statement Highlights Japanese Marketing Struggles
UNIQLO’s initial Black Lives Matter post highlights the struggles Japanese brands sometimes have when marketing to an international audience.
Today, June 3rd, 2020, is a tumultuous time right now in the US as many Americans protest against the systemic racism that has plagued society for hundreds of years.
It's a time for us, at the very least, to listen, learn and reflect.
As an American working at an agency doing marketing in Japan, I’ve become aware of the differences in marketing strategies, brand communication, customer expectations, internal struggles, etc. in Japan versus the US.
UNIQLO recently posted a statement during these protests in which they got heat for. They were able to make up for it nicely, but it does highlight an issue Japanese brands face when marketing internationally.
On average, Americans care a lot more about than just if a product is good, affordable, or from a longstanding brand. In the social media era, where everyone has a camera, production studio and mass media broadcasting capabilities in their hands, people care about transparency.
What is the role you feel your company plays in society? What are its values? Sure, you make a good product but how do you treat your employees?
Research has even shown it to be good for customer loyalty.
64% of consumers who have a relationship with a brand cite “shared values” as the main reason.
77% of consumers say that they at least sometimes purchase products or services from a brand solely because they believe in the brand’s values/reputation and they want to support them. 2 out of 5 young people make purchases based on this regularly.
Because of this, we often see companies in America communicate about their actions and values. When the effects of COVID-19 began to take place, many were quick to communicate about the measures they were taking, even before government decisions to lockdown.
It's the same for Black Lives Matter. Here are some examples.
There are many more examples.
Each of these posts clearly state their values and their positions on the issues. It should also be mentioned that when some have asked if they're making donations, some brands (like Diamond Foundry) have responded to them saying exactly where they're donating.
Now let’s look at UNIQLO’s initial post:
Some of the popular comments:
This is so vague. If you're going to put up a support message, address the community that you intend to support, address them directly because they need the support. Posting an empty message like this is nothing short of following a trend....
U SAID NOTHING.
Fire your PR team. This is a pathetic collection of words at a time when words and action are everything. That's a whole lot of words to say absolutely nothing! Way to use your platform to take zero stance.
Is this the first AI-written PR message? Because it's so non-specific and feels like an imitation. Sorry, but a bunch of vague words in white on a black background isn't it.
When I first read the post, I also stopped and though, "Wait, what did they actually say?"
In the other examples, the brands clearly state their position on a specific matter, even released statements about which organizations they're donating to and what actions they are taking in order to support their position.
UNIQLO didn't initially do this. They did not define who is feeling the pain, what diversity means to them, what specific actions they're taking, etc.
The reluctance to take a firm stand or voice a strong opinion is a common shortcoming of many Japanese companies.
There is a fear of being disliked, especially due to being rooted in a group-oriented society with comparatively low diversity. There’s a lot of trying to stand out without disrupting, and the outcome is often vanilla messaging: “Cute!”, “The most popular!” “Great for everyone!”
That type messaging doesn't work in markets with greater ethnic, religious, sexual and intellectual diversity and individuality.
My guess is that there was probably an internal struggle between the UNIQLO US team and UNIQLO Japan office, and that's why the message became a diluted mess.
UNIQLO, to their credit, managed to respond to the situation quite well.
Here is UNIQLO’s follow-up:
They showed that they’re listening and got specific in explaining what actions they’re taking. So far, the response has been largely positive.
It's a good example for future Japanese brands with foreign aspirations to learn from.
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The Professionals Using TikTok to Grow
Opportunities arise when there’s awareness of a business, and lawyers, medical professionals and others are using TikTok to grow their awareness.
TikTok often gets mistakenly written off as a network of nonsense. The reason why I say “mistakenly” is because this is a recycled conversation that’s happened with every new network before it and at the end of the day, how we judge something has no real impact on the reality.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world are using TikTok and consuming content there. In Japan, 9.5 million are as of the latest official announcement.
Many eyes and ears tune into TikTok, which means while they do, they’re not in Instagram, Facebook, etc. While people are there, many - even professionals - are building awareness about themselves and what they do in life.
As is with anything, awareness leads to opportunities.
Here are a few people I’ve come across, and each has gotten tens to hundreds of thousands of playbacks on videos, if not more, and amassed a following. Now think, how much would it cost to run an ad or TV commercial for those views?
LAWYERS
MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
TEACHERS
The reason why I chose to show examples from the legal, medical and education fields is because most wouldn’t say they fit on a network that gets stereotyped as childish, dancing and singing nonsense.
If people in these types of respected fields are growing, imagine what chefs, trainers, fashion designers, athletes, musicians and others are doing.
Now, TikTok is completely different from other networks and is, in my opinion, difficult. But if it continues to grow like expected, the sooner we try it out the better.
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How Brands in Japan are Responding to COVID-19
What some brands and celebrities in Japan are doing in reaction to COVID-19/Coronavirus.
After the Japanese government declared a state of emergency and strongly requested businesses and people to cut person-to-person contact by 70% in early April, some people and businesses have responding to help produce things in need, align messaging, and help everyone stay home.
These are some businesses in Japan have done.
Iris Ohyama
当社は、政府からの要請に対応するため、6月稼働予定の宮城県角田工場のマスク生産能力を1億5千万枚／月に増強します。
— アイリスオーヤマ株式会社【公式】 (@irisohyama_info) April 22, 2020
中国におけるマスクの重要資材である不織布の価格高騰も考慮し、同工場内に資材製造設備も新たに導入することで内製化率を高め、供給体制を見直します。https://t.co/2bNtldRjtg
The home electronics company announced that they’d be producing 60k masks/month, and will increase production starting in June.
SHARP
なお本日より生産開始したマスクは、3月下旬には出荷できますが、まずは政府への納入を優先します。より切実にマスクを必要とされる場所へ提供を図るためです。その後、一般向けには自社のECサイトでのみ販売する予定です。 https://t.co/XV450iC9Sg pic.twitter.com/t8OUiM7h7l
— SHARP シャープ株式会社 (@SHARP_JP) March 24, 2020
Due to having facilities enabling production of masks in a sterile environment, the Japanese government asked Sharp to help out. Sharp is producing masks and selling them once a week online through a lottery system.
SHARPさん@SHARP_JP ロゴがおうちの中にいるし、距離も保ってる。
— aya_endo@広報PR (@aya_pee) April 8, 2020
これは、好きっ！てなるやつ。
まさに、「目の付けどころがシャープでしょ。」 pic.twitter.com/2GExhI8wEr
They’ve also changed their logo on social media, using the kanji for “home.” Sharp’s Twitter account is regarded as one of the best company accounts in Japan due to their wit and responsiveness, a big contrast to the social stiffness that plagues Japanese companies online.
SHUEISHA
本日いまから！
— ONE PIECEスタッフ【公式】 (@Eiichiro_Staff) March 9, 2020
長期春休み応援
ONE PIECE1巻〜60巻
無料開放スタート！
👇ジャンプ＋https://t.co/UzmF5EnTJJ
👇ゼブラックhttps://t.co/jGxmw8bQmt#OnePiece pic.twitter.com/y9RuaVgS7u
A major Japanese publisher, with names like Dragonball-Z, ONE PIECE and Naruto, made some back issues of their popular manga titles free, as well as some issues of their Shonen Jump magazine through their app. This came as Japan shut down schools in early March, suddenly giving kids a lot of free time at home.
APA HOTEL
アパホテル「軽症や無症状の人 全面的に受け入れ」新型コロナ #nhk_news https://t.co/RNrq7Xsw4I
— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) April 3, 2020
To help with the overflow of people infected with COVID-19, business hotel chain APA Hotel opened its doors to those with mild symptoms.
SHISEIDO
現在生産中の手指消毒液（指定医薬部外品）。
— 資生堂 ShiseidoCo.,Ltd. (@SHISEIDO_corp) April 21, 2020
品質と安全性を何ものにも優先し、徹底した品質管理を行っています。#資生堂 #shiseidoforsociety
▼詳しくはこちらhttps://t.co/0V8s3fiBzB pic.twitter.com/Cpsa8xINKT
While it initially started only in France, Shiseido began producing hand sanitizer in its Japan factories as well, saying they will be able to manufacture 200k bottles/month for sale to medical professionals. They also will share their formula with other companies since theirs helps prevent hands from over-drying due to excessive use.
P&G Japan
P&G Japan to donate a million masks to hospitals https://t.co/vFVLxaMyU0
— The Japan Times (@japantimes) April 23, 2020
The Japan leg of P&G will donate 1M masks to medical institutions starting in mid-May. They also provided 100L of industrial-use ethanol to use as disinfectants.
VARIOUS ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE BRANDS
［ITmedia NEWS］消毒用アルコールと同じ度数の「お酒」続々 新型コロナ対策で https://t.co/mctaefhsuL
— ITmedia (@itmedia) April 10, 2020
Alcohol makers such as Meiri, Kikusui and a few others shifted production to sell bottles of non-drinking alcohol. While it’s noted that they were made for the purpose of drinking, they meet the requirements for a high-concentration ethanol product (65-80% alcohol) that can be used for disinfection.
BRANDS HAVE GOTTEN CREATIVE IN THEIR MARKETING
The shift to staying home meant brands had to adapt their messaging to people’s realities. Here are a few that have.
POCARI SWEAT
今はみんなで会えないけれど、
— ポカリスエット【公式】 (@pocarisweat_jp) April 15, 2020
歌は歌える。
新ヒロインの汐谷友希さんと、
97名の中高生たちが、
自分の場所で、自分らしく、
ひとつの歌を合唱しました。
2020年春、「渇きを力に変えてゆく。」#ポカリNEO合唱#ポカリスエット pic.twitter.com/03XhZwUnv2
Sports drink brand Pocari Sweat’s commercials always gain a lot of buzz, choreographing a song and dance that includes huge amounts of jr high and high school students. They were quick to create a stay home version that included 97 students, launching it in the middle of April. They also opened up a challenge inviting new participants through application via TikTok.
PANTENE
Pantene modified their campaign to have a double play on words. Their campaign #HairWeGo was playing on “Here we go” and relating it to their hair market, but they changed it again to “Heya we go.” Heya (部屋) in Japanese means “room”, and the new campaign invited people to post photos of their home hairstyles while including a few celebrities as well.
SUNTORY
お酒や飲料を通じて、人と人のつながりをつくってきたサントリーだから。
— SUNTORY（サントリー） (@suntory) May 8, 2020
いま「話そう。」というメッセージをお届けします。
笑って、愚痴って、分かちあって
感情が外に出れば、心は少し軽くなる。
大丈夫。つながってる。#話そう
全１３回の「話そう。」はじまります。#サントリー
Beverage brand Suntory called on over 40 celebrities and personalities and created a 13-episode longform video series featuring them conversing. Stating that Suntory’s drinks are about people-to-people connections, their “Let’s talk” campaign encourages people to laugh, complain and share in order to help lift each other’s spirits.
CELEBRITIES HAVE TAKEN ACTION
A few celebrities were early to take action in helping people to stay home, something refreshing to see in a country where many of them refrain from stirring the pot.
NAOMI WATANABE
One of Japan’s biggest celebrities, Naomi Watanabe, invited people to livestreams on YouTube of her eating dinner with the intention of keeping those who are eating alone at home company.
She has also livestreamed on Instagram, done makeup tutorials as well as featured other celebrities. Her streams have had millions of viewers.
Gén HOSHINO
Musical artist Gén Hoshino created an original song and tied it to a #DancingOnTheInside challenge, encouraging others to do the same. It sparked a series of collaborations from top celebrities and regular people alike.
YOSHIHIDE KIRYU
Japanese Olympic sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu introduced several exercises people could do at home in order to train. They’re aimed at jr high and high school students as the school year and track and field practices have been impacted by COVID-19.
MASATOSHI HAMADA
／
— 出前館【公式】 (@demaecan) April 27, 2020
吉本所属タレントの皆様、ファンの皆様、
そしてSTAYHOMEしている皆様🏡
＼
こんなキャンペーンが始まります👇
タレントの皆様は食事動画等をつけて投稿してください🎦
その他の皆様にはタレントさんの投稿から500円クーポンをゲットしてください👍#浜田のおごり #出前館 #PR #吉本自宅劇場 pic.twitter.com/k3LU5m1Lmg
In a collaboration with Japanese delivery service Demaecan, comedian Masatoshi Hamada is offering to provide a discount to other comedians, actors, musicians and performers who have been affected by canceled gigs and job losses due to COVID-19.
Know of any other brands or celebrities in Japan doing great things? Let me know!
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How Hawaii Brands are Responding to COVID-19
A list of Hawaii brands taking admirable actions to help the local community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the days and weeks following the COVID-19 / Coronavirus outbreak, as a marketer and just out of curiosity, I began to pay attention to how people and brands were responding.
Many have admirably stepped up around the world, but I’ve paid a little more attention to my hometown in Hawaii. Even more than I expected, many in the community have come together to do their share.
I put together a list of brand actions I’ve seen so far that I found admirable.
Central Pacific Bank: “Keep Hawaii Cooking”
Because Hawaii was put on lockdown, business basically came to a halt and small businesses are some of those who feel it the hardest.
To help keep things moving, Central Pacific Bank launched the #KeepHawaiiCooking campaign where they would split the bill and pay a 50% refund via DM and PayPal to people who ordered delivery or takeout from local eateries.
They launched a website with details on how to participate as well as all of the restaurant options (categorized too!).
In less than a week, they’ve reached 75% of their goal of sharing 10,000 meals and have given back $100k to local restaurants.
https://www.keephawaiicooking.com
Hawaiian Airlines: Mahalo to the Healthcare Community
In order to help local hospitals and clinics manage the logistics of their healthcare personnel, Hawaiian Airlines is providing free inter-island flights to their medical professionals so that their work goes as smoothly as possible throughout Hawaii.
https://newsroom.hawaiianairlines.com
HONOLULU MAGAZINE: Shop Local
In an effort to support local designers, artists and boutiques, Honolulu Magazine teamed up with over 50 local brands to host an online shopping event.
People, while shopping from home, can access special deals through their promotion.
Recognizing that it’s not just restaurants and small businesses that are being hit by effects of COVID-19, many small businesses in the food industry have helped to do their part.
A Cake Life: Essential Workers Giveaway
In addition to giving out cupcakes to healthcare workers and first responders, they also let others participate for giveaways.
People were invited to nominate friends and family working in essential roles, and those being put at risk at work. Posts for jobs in healthcare, restaurants, hotels, first responders and supermarkets were done, and free bags of cake cups were given to winning nominations.
Asato Family: Community Thank You
To show their gratitude to those in the community working in healthcare during this pandemic, family-owned and popular local sherbert shop delivered bags of individually cupped sherbert to hospitals.
https://www.asatofamilyshop.com
I’ve come across Stories being shared of other businesses helping out as well.
Watanabe Floral: Bouquets for Healthcare
Bouquets were given to healthcare workers to help brighten up their day. Watanabe Floral is also posting videos on DIY tips as well as their brand story on Instagram.
Enjoy Snacks: Snack Bags for Healthcare
Gift bags of favorite local snacks were given to healthcare workers .
Other brands and musical artists are providing content to entertain people while they stay at home.
Salvage Public: Artist Showcase
Fashion brand Salvage Public is showcasing local artists through Instagram’s IGTV as well as letting artists do account takeovers.
Jack Johnson: Together At Home
Musical artist Jack Johnson is a goodwill ambassador for the UN Environment Programme, and in collaboration in collaboration with Global Citizen in support of the World Health Organization (WHO), put on a #TogetherAtHome livestream concert from his living room.
I should have expected Hawaii, a place with a strong culture of community, to react this way. It’s great to see, and after all, we’re all in this together.
I’m sure there are many other campaigns and stories of positivity, so tell me if there’s one I should know about!
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Japanese Celebrities to YouTube Stars: Haruna Kawaguchi
Haruna Kawaguchi is the latest Japanese celebrity to become a YouTuber.
Bloggers, artists and others who’ve gained fame through social media have been moving into the mainstream for a while now, and over the past few years as social networks became our primary communication channels, it’s gone the other way as well.
Celebrities, athletes, business people and more have been increasing efforts in building a presence on social networks and YouTube.
Will Smith is a prime example.
In Japan, celebrities becoming social media stars is just beginning.
Enter Haruna Kawaguchi.
The actress/model already has the 33rd most popular Instagram account in Japan (as of April 1, 2020) with 2.5 million followers.
Rather than put out a highly curated feed, which can be expected at times in Japan especially due to overly controlling agencies, some of her posts are almost questionable (photographer’s bias!).
It’s clear that she’s providing the value of access.
She often provides relatively honest, inside looks at her life - where she talks about things from dealing with emotions to the pain of a pimple.
And now that access is being provided on YouTube.
In February 2020, Haruna Kawaguchi became Japan’s latest celebrity to become a YouTuber.
Posting around a video per week so far, she’s been vlogging about things like grocery shopping with her mom, spending time at her parents’ house on a small island off of Nagasaki, and trying to learn English.
This authentic, real life approach seems to be working.
In about 2 months, she’s put out 10 vlogs and has grown her channel to over 882k subscribers, adding as many as 15k subscribers each day in the past 30 days, according to TubeBuddy.
This YouTube audience places her well inside Japan’s top 300 biggest channels.
She’s also gotten a total of 23.5 million views. For reference, it would be typical that these views have earned her tens of thousands of US dollars each month from ads so far.
Her latest video got over 1 million views in the first 24 hours.
The more celebrities dip into vlogging, the more will follow.
For actors like Haruna Kawaguchi and Will Smith, YouTube in particular provides entertainment in a format (video) that people are already used to seeing them in and want to see them in.
The increased exposure through these vlogs provides fans increased access, and it allows them to be relevant them during the times they’re not on TV or in theaters.
This also helps strengthen existing connections, giving them more leverage in the future than they’d likely have just relying on traditional media.
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Japanese Consumers and Media Attention in 2020
About Japanese consumer attention in media in 2020, what channels they use, where they shop, and how they pay.
Media attention in mobile accounts for 36% of all media attention in Japan
Japanese have media contact for 411.6 minutes/day, the highest ever
Amazon is the biggest e-commerce platform in Japan, and Amazon Prime Video is the biggest subscription video service
Japan is often seen as a difficult market with consumer mindsets and behaviors that are very different from the West. This is true, and the ability to understand is made more difficult by the fact that there’s not a whole lot of information available in English.
I put together a report that gives some insight on what Japanese consumers are doing now - where they’re in contact with media and what channels and platforms they’re using. I decided to share some of that here.
Breakdown of Japanese consumer attention in media in 2019
Media attention in mobile channels continues to grow at the expense of every other channel. Linear TV is still the biggest single channel, and that can be expected due to Japan’s population skewing towards the older demographic. It has shrunk though - in 2006, TV accounted for 51% of the total.
Japanese consumer attention in media in 2020 broken down by age and gender
Generally, mobile phone use is more prominent in younger age demographics and TV use is more prominent in older age demographics, but there is some discrepancy between males and females.
15-19 year old females consume the most mobile media, and the age group that consumes the most linear TV media are females in their 60s.
The average time per day Japanese are in contact with media
Japanese continue to be in contact with media more and more. In 2019, that number reached 411.6 minutes per day, a new record.
Mobile phone use saw the biggest increase with people spending 14.5 minutes more per day (117.6 min/day total) than they did in 2018.
Survey results asking whether or not people feel they overuse their mobile phones
Despite media consumption in mobile devices increasing, Japanese generally don’t feel they’re overusing them compared to consumers in other countries.
While 30% of Japanese consumers reported over-usage of their mobile devices, 46% of Koreans and 65% of Chinese consumers responded in the same way.
The same survey showed that Japanese make little effort to curb usage compared to others.
A survey showing which device Japanese consumers use
The percentage of Japanese consumers who use smartphones is still relatively low (74%).
In China for example, that number is 96%, in South Korea 92%, in India 93%, the UK 88%, Australia 91%, Canada 83%. This shows Japan lags in speed of adoption but may suggest that there’s still much growth to be seen as feature phones are being phased out, phone service plans change and 5G service begins.
The amount of time Japanese spend doing each activity on their mobile device. Weekdays (left), Weekends (right).
While mobile device use increases, there’s a lot of activities that are being done with the device. The above chart breaks down exactly what people are doing.
Work-related activities such as email have high usage rates during the weekdays while video sites and social media see boosts during the weekends.
Social media use is the highest overall activity, and the discrepancy between male and female social media use is considerable (a difference of 12.9 min on weekdays, 15.2 min on weekends)
Japanese juniorr high school and high school app/site usage in 2016 vs 2019
The biggest social media channels in Japan are Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The messenger LINE continues to have an incredibly high usage rate, especially since Japanese typically don’t use text messaging or iMessage.
To get a sense of where things are trending, we can look at junior high school and high school student usage in 2016 vs 2019. While there’s no significant shift, it does show that even apps like LINE, which has an 86% daily active user rate in Japan, isn’t invincible.
For reference, 37.3% of junior high students had a smartphone in 2016 versus 60.9% in 2019, and 85.5% of high school students had one in 2016 versus 94.5% today.
Streaming video on demand (SVOD) usage in Japan
Streaming video services are still relatively new for mainstream Japan, and only started to take off within the last two years or so.
Amazon Prime Video has the biggest marketshare largely due to its tie in with Amazon Prime. Hulu is second and Netflix third.
The most popular e-commerce platforms in Japan in 2019
Amazon also is the owner of the most popular e-commerce platform in Japan, although Rakuten is right behind it. Shoppers using the two platforms are increasingly becoming mobile-only.
Amazon grew 10% while Rakuten grew 8% over the last year.
CtoC services Mercari and Rakuma grew 33% and 34% respectively.
Payments of choice for Japanese consumers broken down by age
Japan is famous for being a cash-based society, and it still very much is. 2019 showed that things are slowly changing, however, and the Japanese government is aggressively pushing for Japan to be less cash-dependent.
48.4% of consumers surveyed said cash was their most used payment of choice. Credit cards came in second at 34%.
Males are bigger users of mobile and contactless payments, accounting for an average of 65.5% of the transactions.
Users of the most popular mobile payment services in Japan
A lot of companies are looking to gain majority marketshare in Japanese mobile payments. The biggest marketshare holder as of right now is PayPay, part of the Softbank/Yahoo Japan group.
There’s more to the actual report, such as the breakdown of social media channels in Japan. If you’d like the report, feel free to contact me and I’ll send it to you.
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Instagram in Japan in 2019
All about Instagram use in Japan in 2019. Information from the Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 event.
Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 was held in Shibuya in October
Instagram has 33 million MAU in Japan that uploads 7 million Stories every day as of March 2019
Mobile usage outdoes TV for Japanese in their 10s-30s
Instagram is one of the largest social networks in the world as of 2019, and arguably the most impactful on modern day pop culture. It has been rapidly growing in Japan as well.
I attended Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 on October 29, 2019 at the Hikarie Building in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The event was open to mainly press, agencies and various companies using the platform. Company speakers from their global, Japan and APAC offices came to talk about the platform’s latest.
Instagram’s VP of Product, Vishal Shah, discuses Instagram’s mission.
The presentation began with some general information about Instagram as a whole:
500 million accounts use Stories every day
Instagram is very focused on furthering online shopping capabilities from in-app checkouts to new product launch methods
AR ads currently being tested will allow potential customers to engage with brands in ways such as “try-on” products (ex: lipstick)
The most used Sticker in Stories in 2018 was the Question Sticker, highlighting a desire to communicate
Shortly after, the talk centered around the Japan market. Here are a few highlights:
Instagram is “loved in Japan”
INSTAGRAM IN JAPAN
Since March 2016, Instagram has been exploding in Japan and has more than tripled its monthly user base. The latest numbers show that there are more than 33 million monthly active users in the country (as of March 2019).
As of March 2019, Instagram has 33 million monthly active users in Japan
Users in Japan upload 7 million Stories each day.
This is related to the overall trend of media usage in Japan.
Media contact between mobile vs TV in Japan for males (L) and females (R) in their 10s-30s
People under 40 in Japan are highly active smartphone users, so media reach is said to be better on mobile than through TV.
For males, mobile outdoes TV 40% to 27%, and 45% to 33% for females.
Instagram users in Japan between the ages of 18-29 spend more than 100 million hours using it each month
People in Japan in their 40s and up have been jumping onto Instagram more recently but it’s still looked at as a “young” platform overall.
Rightfully so, it was said that users in Japan between the ages of 18 and 29 spend more than 100 million hours in the app each month.
That’s an increase of +201% since 2017. The right side of the slide compares Instagram usage to 4 other services, however those services weren’t named.
When 18-29 year old Instagram users in Japan use the app throughout the day
The same demographic uses Instagram throughout their day, and the slide above breaks down their usage during the weekday.
From left to right: Wake up, early morning, breakfast time, late morning, lunch time, afternoon, early evening, dinner, late night, bed time.
83% of users in Japan “took action in the moment”
While the definition of “action” wasn’t clearly defined, according to research, 83% of Instagram users in Japan have taken action right after seeing something on Instagram.
I assume that it can mean anything from “click on website link” all the way to “make a purchase”.
INSTAGRAM IS CONSIDERED A SOURCE OF DISCOVERY
Instagram is widely thought of as a place of discovery, information and inspiration.
It’s said that:
83% of users discover a new product or service on Instagram.
61% of users feel that Instagram keeps them up to date on current trends.
50% of users consider Instagram a source of inspiration.
Elaborating further, the trend of people starting to utilize Instagram as a search engine instead of Google has increased.
While this isn’t for every type of search, there is an increase in exploring Instagram’s tags (location tags, hashtags) rather than Googling.
This theme that Instagram is a “source of discovery” was highlighted in usage by young women in Japan. Compared to other unnamed services, young women in Japan use Instagram as an information source for:
Fashion: 44% (Instagram) to 8% (other service)
Food spot: 36% (Instagram) to 17% (other service)
Leisure spot: 31% (Instagram) to 19% (other service)
In addition to various guest speakers from different companies and agencies, Japanese influencer Yukos was brought out to talk about her experience growing on Instagram.
Influencer Yukos livestreaming as she’s introduced on stage
Former Japanese “idol” from the group HKT48, Yukos (@yukos0520) gave some insight about growing on Instagram.
The influencer/business owner has 456k followers on Instagram with a 3.8% engagement rate as of Nov 2019.
A few key points that she made was how she realized that there’s only so much “influence” one can have by taking nice pictures and cute selfies. Working to consider what her audience cared about, searched, and then being able to address them in a quick manner helped play an important role in her growth.
Here’s a glimpse of the event:
These are some things that I frequently buy in Japan and recommend after living there for a long time.