September 27, 2010
Japan As a Post-Branding Society?
By Dominic Carter
In a 1988 work entitled Postmodernism and Japan,i the authors
make the interesting hypothesis that what is “postmodern” in the
West has existed in Japan in a number of manifestations extending
back to what European and American historians term the ‘early
modern period’. Scholar and critic David Pollack nicely
encapsulates the book’s basic premise:
…..what they have discovered of late is not so much that Japan has
been catching up with the latest Western ideas as that the West, only
belatedly begun to come around to a ‘postmodern’ position that has
existed in Japan ever since the seventeenth century.ii
The essays in the book probe the issue from a number of angles but
most interesting for the purposes of this article is Marilyn Ivy’s
section on the “consumption of knowledge in Japan”. With a frame
of reference derived from the pseudo-Marxist postmodernism of
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Ivy analyses a series of television
commercials which have apparently no relationship to the products
that they are attempting to sell. Her conclusion is that far from being
subversive, as some postmodernists would have it, these ads make
power “fun” and “entertaining” and use self-ridicule as a tool to
enhance brand image. Replace the word power with products and
you are left with a very useful insight into how advertising works in
Japan. If Japan is the original postmodern society what does this
mean for modern advertising and branding?
Because the target audience of such work as cited above is essentially
a rather narrow slice of academia falling loosely within the field of
“cultural studies”, such insights and debates have cut little ice with
Western brand strategists and marketing managers in the Japanese
market. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and expand the
observation Japan has always been postmodern and to look at the
implications of this for those attempting to do business here. Twenty
years on, a case can be made that global market trends seem to
increasingly suit a Japanese style of marketing and brand
management. This paper considers two differences in the Japanese
mindset and consumer culture that have wide implications for
branding and marketing for those interested in both Japanese and
consumer behaviour.
First, it is argued that the way brands are run in Japan anticipates
a global trend in terms of consumers craving constant innovation
and new sensory experiences. Online communities and internet
marketing is used in illustration of such a trend. It offers Japan as a
model for strategies aimed at the global consumer.
Secondly, Japanese advertising is scrutinised in greater depth.
Building on the well established, but not always well explained,
conclusion that Japanese advertising is more “emotional” than that
in the West, a case is made that this is indeed an example of where
culture still matters but that here too, Japan may be a step a head of
the West. It also notes that the relationship between the universal
and the particular is in a state of constant flux and that this is a
key variable to consider in relation to marketing.
Ultimately a view of Japan as a “post-branding society” is suggested,
the implication being that to get a good sense of the future, it is well
worth taking a good look at Japan.
Innovation & Experience: the world as we don’t know it
The modus operandi of Japanese consumer product companies, with
their traditional use of “disposable branding” strategies, holds
valuable lessons for western marketers in their home markets
searching for growth in increasingly fragmented, experience-seeking
markets. Western brands spend vast amounts of money on research
and launch relatively few new products in a year
but they know
these products will have a good chance of success. Surprisingly, for a
society that places such emphasis on safety, when it comes to new
product launches, Japanese brands are notable for the high risks
that they take. Partly this is because the consumer mindset in Japan
has always been one that seeks new experiences and views
ideological concepts and symbols as much more of an aesthetic
choice than as a set of meaningful cultural referents, as they tend to
be viewed in the West. This is very visible in some of the products on
sale at convenience stores (which also have remarkably high
turnovers of products available). For example, curry doughnuts, or
sandwiches filled with strawberries and cream only seem weird to
outsiders because they appear to be subverting the ideas that
‘doughnut = sweet’ and ‘sandwich = savoury’. As non-native products
in Japan they merely become aesthetic choices, a way of decorating,
what is without any doubt when the ingredients are analysed, a
perfectly logical sweet or savoury snack. “How postmodern!”
“How
hilariously ironic! “, exclaims the outsider but rather, How
Japanese!
A look at online communities and internet related consumer
phenomena reveals that Japan might not be so “weird” after all. The
Google Generation has a much lower boredom threshold. When faced
with new products, brand names or images, within seconds the
consumer can research, review and understand. This seems to bring
up a potential problem for brand strategies that focus on only a few
products. As Apple have had to continually update the ipod in order
to maintain an interest in it, and are now struggling to do so, it is
fair to wonder if it might not be increasingly difficult to create
products that have more than a one-click shelf life. The success of
YouTube reflects a desire for authenticity, a need to bypass official
media and keep up with peer consumers. In Japan the success of
Mixi, Splume and other internet community sites manifest the local
affinity for peer confirmation and keeping up with what everyone
else is perceived as doing or buying. This gets to the heart of the
contradiction in Japan between consumer homogeneity and
relentless demand for originality and innovation: the group instinct
is strong but the group is autonomous – it leads rather than is lead.
The Japanese consumer society has long demanded that its brands
are unpredictable. This doesn’t mean that brands should
fundamentally change or that being a highly reputable, long
established brand isn’t a key part of being a success in Japan. It is
that, dressed in their respected and familiar clothes, brands must
constantly strive to surprise and entertain the consumer. Postmodern
consumer communities across the globe appear to be moving in this
direction, and this is indeed the drive behind much internet
marketing. In Japan, stores and websites have long been offering
product rankings that change on a weekly or even daily basis,iii
again confirming a need for peer confirmation in tandem with a
need for innovation.
This culture of innovation, authenticity and ruthless ranking by
consumers is one that global consumers are growing familiar with.
Emotional marketing; the universal and the particular.
Another feature of the Japanese market is that advertising in Japan
has a much greater focus on the emotional. Dr. Carolyn. A. Lin
explained in the early 1990s in her comparative study of Japanese
and US TV commercials:
The emphasis on using emotional rather than informational appeals
is also apparent in Japanese television commercials. Though these
commercials can be relatively informative….they clearly avoid
mentioning product benefits and guarantees……This is because the
latter approach can be perceived as an “insult” to the consumer’s
intelligence concerning their ability to make a sound judgement
about their company preference.iv
The situation has changed little in this respect. One of the most
common reactions that western marketers have when witnessing
Japanese advertising campaigns and product strategies is a barely
concealed “what the..?”.
Take this recent ad for Pocky, the chocolate coated biscuit straws:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmyb_MYWmLY&NR=1
It may look “bizarre” and leave Western viewers confused but the
message is a very simple emotional equation. Pocky = Happy.
Unfortunately, the temptation has been for Western brand “experts”
to take a view of the Japanese market as simplistic in its emphasis
on emotion. But as stated above, bypassing the intellect is done at
least in part to avoid insulting it. Consider the opinion of Elly
Miller, general manager of a major Western advertising agency
working in Japan. In answer to the question “How does the concept
of branding in Japan compare to the West?” she states:
In the West, branding is very well developed as a concept. Clients are
pretty well educated as to the benefits of branding. In Asia, the
whole field of strategy and branding is in development and the
clients don’t fully understand yet just how vital that branding
element is to their success. Branding and design companies here are
doing too much design and not enough branding.v
Firstly notice the slippage in the answer between Japan and Asia;
this immediately alerts us to a mindset that is missing the point
about the uniqueness of the Japanese market. Secondly it mistakes
different for wrong. Yes, there is more emphasis on design rather
than branding in the Western sense and Western strategies can work
very well in Japan but the Japanese emphasis on design is really all
about emotion. Miller is of course an advocate of “emotional
branding”, but it is the argument here that such branding must to
be put deep into context. Too much information, or over-planning
could alienate the Japanese consumer.
Another look at online advertising media shows where this insight
really bites. A recent study of internet marketing in Japan notes
that in a world where the more products and brands are universal
and the more and more there is a demand for the particular,
cultural differences still matter. Shintaro Okazaki researched
difference between US and Japanese online marketing strategies, he
concludes:
The analysis of creative strategies produced the most striking
differences between the two market samples The American market
sample indulges in providing more complex or sophisticated online
appeals, while mixing rational, entertaining and emotional
appeals…the Japanese market uses more symbolic and metaphorical
appeals.vi
Okazaki seems surprised that his research didn’t confirm an
emotional bias in Japanese strategies but blames this in part on the
sample and questions his methodology. Perhaps however the
“metaphorical and symbolic” are of greater prominence because
these are indeed related to emotional response. Creatives in Japan
often concentrate on creating the intended emotion in their ads
through whatever creative means necessary whereas western
advertisers tend to concentrate on creating the “right” thought. They
use aligned creative ideas and treat emotion as a tool to lodge
thoughts into the memory. The Japanese are much more concerned
about lodging the right emotion and linking it to what they are
selling, than the right thought. This collapses the view of emotion as
a consequence of cognition; it is in fact a much more dynamic,
synergetic relationship.
As global consumers grow more and more impatient, and access to
hard information about products becomes easier, it seems a fair
prediction that a bias towards emotional advertising, perhaps via
symbolism and metaphorical creative strategies through the medium
of websites, will strike a greater chord with consumers worldwide.
This is what is meant by a post-branding world: where product
launches are more frequent and success is determined by the
dictatorship of the consumers. Getting the balance between the
universal and the particular right requires a high sensitivity to
context but it is time for Western brand managers to learn something
from Japan.
Conclusion
By looking at how brands work in Japan, and the significance of
the thirst for new experiences in terms of postmodernity, it was
shown that brands may have to learn to be more unpredictable and
take greater risks.
It was then argued that emotional advertising is a postmodern, or
post branding phenomenon and likely to have more of a place in the
online society of the here and now.
This article has been necessarily brief but nudges towards a research
programme that analyses how and why Japanese branding methods
are successful in the Japanese market, and how the Japanese
experience might serve as model for other markets worldwide.
Analysis of online marketing and the evolution of consumer
appetites requires reform if not revolution in methods and may be
even objectives. Because Japan was postmodern before such a label
was even invented it makes it a compelling and educational
consumer society to study.
i
Miyoshi, Misao & H, D. Harootunian (eds.) Postmodernism and Japan
(Duke University Press; 1988)
ii
Pollack, David, “Modernism Minceur, or is Japan Postmodern?”
Monumenta Nipponica 44:1 (Spring, 1989) p.76
iii
See for examples http://www.webranking.net/, http://ranking.goo.ne.jp/
iv
Lin, Carolyn A., “American and Japanese TV Commercials” Journal of
Advertising Research (July/August; 1993) p.42
v
Miller Elly, Interview entitled “Emotional Branding” in Metropolis
magazine (August; 2005)
vi
Okazaki, Shintaro “Does Culture Matter?: Identifying Cross-national
Dimensions in Japanese Multinationals’ Product Based Websites Electronic
Markets 14:1 p.67