Found in Translation: Examining Japan's Adland

Good design crosses borders and Japan has long been known for excellence in design in disciplines ranging from typography to technology. But until recently, its communications have sometimes caused cultural confusion. Now, increasing global influences and improvements in craft are seeing Japanese advertising getting its messages across, finds Selena Schleh.

From futuristic neon-lit cityscapes to ancient shrines, pachinko parlours to traditional tea ceremonies, Japan is a fascinating study in contrasts. And nowhere is this variety more apparent than in the country’s advertising: at one end of the spectrum is Seem, a pioneering app developed by Dentsu Y&R and Recruit Lifestyle, which enables men to take a home fertility test using only their smartphones. At the other we find Hakuhodo’s jaw-droppingly intricate poster designs for underwear company Ricca, featuring lingerie cut from traditional Japanese washi paper, and the exquisite paintings of fish and vegetables created by Ogilvy Japan for soy sauce brand Sagawa Shoyu, printed using just the right amount of condiment needed to enhance a dish’s flavour [below]. 

 Sagawa Shoyu Flounder, by Ogilvy & Mather Japan

These two extremes perfectly illustrate the perfectionism and dedication to craft that has helped the land of the rising sun build such an enviable global reputation for design across books, posters, installations and technological innovations alike.

When you also consider that Japan is the third largest advertising market in the world after the US and China, it’s perhaps surprising the country doesn’t sweep the boards at every creative awards show. This year saw a healthy haul of 38 Lions, but aside from the Mobile Grand Prix, there were no big wins in Cyber or Design, two categories Japan traditionally dominates. So was it just a disappointing year creatively, or is it a case of lost in translation? Honda Masaki, ECD of BBDO Japan, reckons there’s a certain amount of truth to the cliché: “With its innate high-context cultures, our advertising can be hard for the outside world to understand.”

 “Creativity [in Japan] has always been very strong, but there hasn’t been the vehicle to communicate that to the world. Craft is the vehicle” - Peter Grasse, Dictionary Films

A good example is mobile phone company AU’s Three Taros series, based on traditional Japanese folk tales. Now in its second year, the campaign scooped the Grand Prix at Japan’s 2017 ACC (domestic awards) show and is wildly popular with Japanese audiences, yet remains virtually unknown outside of its home country. “Work that wins international awards and work that is well regarded in Japan is not necessarily the same,” agrees Yuya Furukawa, CCO, Dentsu Inc. “In contrast to Western-style ads, which are logical and need to make sense, in Japan many of the highly praised ads are those which reflect Japan’s distinctive cultural context.”

Yet well crafted work will always transcend cultural boundaries, as Kentaro Kimura, ECD of Hakuhodo’s boutique agency, Kettle, and co-CCO, APAC, Hakuhodo points out: “It’s easy [for this type of work] to cross borders. The idea of beautiful craft is universal.” Speaking to insiders, it seems the challenge for Japan is translating its craftsmanship in design into other communication channels.

Film is one area where Japan is starting to make strides, if the success of Gravity Cat, an epic four-minute film created by Hakuhodo and production company Tohokushinsha Film Corp for Sony PlayStation, is anything to go by. The story of two young women trying to capture a wayward gravity-defying kitten as their apartment turns upside down (vertigo sufferers, view with caution) has stormed awards shows this year, picking up a gold Lion for Film Craft.

Gravity Cat is a far cry from most Japanese commercials, which are typically 15 seconds long – short, sharp, celebrity-fronted sucker-punches extolling the virtues of a new beer/mouthwash/cleaning product. “You use a celebrity to catch people’s eye really quickly, and they explain the product. In 15 seconds, that’s all you can really say,” explains Sosuke Koyama, executive planning director at Beacon Communications.

As a result, the average Japanese spot isn’t exactly the epitome of creativity. Luckily, the advent of the internet and the explosion in digital broadcasting platforms opened the door for longer-form, narrative-driven content. Although Japan’s transition to digital ad spend has been slow compared with other markets, it’s now estimated at 20.8 per cent (versus 31.3 per cent for TV) according to figures released for 2016 by Dentsu. “With the rise of digital media reaching bigger audiences, more narrative work is being produced, admired and delivering great results for the brands that are more forward-thinking,” notes Ajab Samrai, Ogilvy Japan’s CCO.    

Spots such as Nissin Ramen Instant Buzz, a madcap mash-up of pop-culture references – samurai schoolgirls, drones, sumo wrestlers and zombies – and Marukome Definition of Japanese Kawaii show the benefits of pushing the creative envelope. But, points out Peter Grasse, EP at Dictionary Films Tokyo and 2017 Cannes Film Craft juror, there’s still a gap between creativity and craft. “At the moment, the majority of Japanese content is overly long, unfocussed, boring stuff. There’s so many crazy, wild, inventive, surprising, poetic ideas in Japan which just aren’t being well crafted.”  

“The level of craft [with Japanese directors] is a lot lower than international directors,” agrees Julie Thomas-Toda, creative producer of creative culture and communications at AOI Pro Inc, the production company behind AIG’s globally lauded spot, #TackleTheRisk. That’s partly down to the fact many directors start their careers as agency planners, developing storyboards and creative content – “as a result, the advertising can look a bit two-dimensional” – and partly to the vogue for freelance, rather than represented, directors, which means producers have less of a vested interest in nurturing directing talent.

On the flipside, says Grasse, the relationship between production companies and agencies in the Japanese market is “very special. They [agencies] rely on us much more for ideation than elsewhere. And we get involved much earlier in the process, which is a good thing.” Grasse hopes that eventually, through “a process of education” and global influences, Japan can finally achieve its filmic potential. “Creativity [in Japan] has always been very strong, but there hasn’t been the vehicle to communicate that to the world. Craft is the vehicle. If Japan can up its game in craft, it will really smash it.”

Although online ad spend will certainly continue to increase exponentially, it’s unlikely to supersede television, thanks to Japan’s rapidly ageing population. According to a recent study by PwC, the TV ad market is actually predicted to grow from US$11.62 billion to US$14 billion by 2020, fuelled by the Tokyo Olympics – so the 15-second spot is certainly not dead.

When it comes to reaching Japan’s tech-savvy smartphone-wielding younger generation, however, brands and agencies have shifted away from ‘top-down’ advertising – bombarding and controlling the ‘target’ with messages – in favour of a more collaborative, tailored and interactive approach. It’s a trend Hakuhodo first anticipated back in the 1980s, with its founding philosophy of sei-katsu-sha (literally ‘living person’), which sees consumers as individuals with separate lifestyles, dreams and aspirations. Advertising is “becoming more about developing platforms that people want to interact with”, states Hakuhodo’s Kimura. 

Those platforms include the likes of Line, Japan’s top social media app, whose 60 million-strong user base dwarfs its rivals Instagram and Twitter. Having started life as a simple messaging app, it has grown into an advertising powerhouse with its own creative department. “It’s a unique platform where brands can engage with consumers in different ways,” says Ogilvy’s Samrai. As Line is so different from all the other media channels, reports Jon King, Beacon Communications' ECD, it has sparked some interesting and innovative approaches to advertising. 

Looking at the agency landscape in Japan, outsiders are often struck by the dominance of the three domestic giants: Dentsu (which leads the pack with a quarter of the market share and whose advertising revenue reportedly equates to that of the UK as a whole), Hakuhodo and ADK, which are not only full-service agencies encompassing branding, PR and tech, but media owners too.

This year's Mobile Grand Prix winner, the Seem app, co-developed by Dentsu Y&R

While this may seem strange, even unhealthy, to Western eyes, Dentsu’s Furukawa maintains these sweeping agency-client relationships, which go back decades, have enabled agencies to “go beyond advertising and seamlessly enter the areas of innovation and business solutions”. The Seem app is a case in point, as is Dentsu’s constantly pioneering work for Honda (see creative profile, page 62). Certainly, Japanese agencies embrace a different style of collaboration with their clients, says Hakuhodo’s Kimura. “We often start projects before being given a brief, and sometimes there’s no brief at all. That’s an advantage we have in Japan – that we can be involved from the service development stage.” 

Outside of the Dentsu-Hakuhodo-ADK triumvirate, the Japanese market is large and healthy enough to sustain a whole other layer of gaishikei (foreign) agencies. The biggest Japanese accounts – the likes of Honda, Nissan and Toyota – might be locked down, but “the morsels which fall from the giants’ table are substantive enough,” says Ogilvy’s Samrai. 

For agencies such as Beacon Communications, which started life as a joint venture between Leo Burnett and Dentsu, there are benefits in being a “David against the Goliaths”, attracting like-minded global clients. “[In Japan], BMW Mini, SK-II and even McDonald’s are tiny. They’re the challengers,” explains Beacon’s Koyama. “We as an advertising agency have that same challenger spirit, and I think that’s what attracts global brands trying to take on the big manufacturers here in Japan. Often those clients are seeking a different way of working, of bringing this global DNA into the local market, and not expecting the media and production budgets that the local brands have.”

“It’s not easy, but it’s interesting,” agrees Mike Farr, ECD of W+K Tokyo, another gaishikei agency that has successfully carved out a niche in Japan, thanks to campaigns such as the 2016 Nike spot Minohodoshirazu, which put a local twist on the ‘Just Do It’ tagline, with athletes questioning accepted notions of behaviour ('minohodoshirazu' translates as don’t know your place). 

Increasingly, as Japan’s population continues to shrink, local brands are turning their gaze to overseas markets. That’s good news for international agencies, says Ogilvy’s Samrai, “because it’s crucial to have a partner that’s truly an international network”. Ogilvy’s Tokyo office, which originally opened to service the network’s key clients IBM, Coca-Cola and American Express in Japan, now splits its business 50/50 between promoting international brands in Japan and Japanese brands internationally.

“A lot of Japanese companies are realising that they don’t have the brand voice to communicate with audiences in Europe and the US,” says Tota Hasegawa, co-ECD at W+K Tokyo. That’s where international agencies, which are often more strategically minded and experienced than their Japanese rivals, come in. “We really see a value in branding, and a brand having a point of view on the world,” adds Farr. It’s no surprise, then, that when Shiseido, one of Japan’s most iconic cosmetics brands, brought out a new skincare line, WASO, it hired W+K Tokyo to create the global launch campaign. All Things Beautiful Come From Nature ripped up the rulebook for beauty sector advertising, with a mesmerising “living garden” installation, promoting the brand’s natural botanical credentials. 

But Japan’s agencies are also meeting the challenges of globalisation head-on via aggressive overseas expansion: earlier this year Hakuhodo, which already has offices in 18 countries, bolstered its international portfolio of marketing services companies when it acquired Sid Lee and Digital Kitchen among others. The agency also appointed two CCOs for the APAC region – Kimura, who will be based in Tokyo, and Yang Yeo, who will cover China from Singapore – in a bid to strengthen its grasp on the lucrative Asian market. As Samrai points out, this has a knock-on effect on creative standards, as agencies send their best talent to work abroad, the talent later returning to nurture local teams with the benefit of overseas experience.

Overall, with 2017 forecasts suggesting Japan’s tepid economy is finally heating up again, and the Tokyo Olympics set to boost its global profile, the future is looking bright for the land of the rising sun. “Clients have been getting braver, with a more courageous, optimistic attitude,” says Beacon’s King. If both craft and creativity continue to absorb global influences, flourish and evolve, we’re bound to be hearing a lot more from this country of contrasts.