[Opinion] Why Japanese Commercials Are So Damn Good!!
I think its fair to say that its a universal truth that Japan has the best commercials in the world! This is an especially amazing feat considering how many of these commercials are universally loved even though they are only shown in Japanese.
With friends in the industry and watching over a 1000 of these masterpieces, I know a thing or two about their secret.
In this article I have boiled down the Japanese commercials’ success into two uniquely Japanese features:
Mascots
As many of you know, Japanese people are obsessed with mascots. This obsession has its roots in Japan’s main religion, Shintoism. The core of Shintoism is that everything has a soul or spirit. Hence, everything can be anthropomorphized into a character that can walk, talk, sing or dance.
This engrained belief explains why Japanese people so wholeheartedly embrace a mascot representation of practically everything; from an orange to the wastewater from the Fukushima Nuclear power plant.
Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world.
To air commercials in Japan is a complicated ordeal. The competition is fierce, the amount of middlemen are likely more than fingers on your hands, and the length of the commercial contracts can stretch for years.
This forces many companies in Japan to think long term about their promotional aspirations. If you have bought air time for the next 10 years, you need something more than a banner and a jingle… Hence, Japanese companies have created whole universes with sometimes an insane complexity.
Take “Alien Jones” for example: Its a canned coffee commercial series starring Tommy Lee Jones as an alien observing human life. For 15 years straight, Japanese TV-viewers could watch Alien Jones trying out different human jobs while making money to fuel his addiction to a drink known as “coffee”:
This is just one of countless crazy worldbuilding examples. If you have some spare time, also check out:
Best Commercials Right Now
This article would not be complete without me showing my favorite SUPER FRESH, SUPER NEW commercials in Japan:
IKEA Tiny Homes (with subtitles)
This commercial series is about a Tiny Shark who is aroused by tiny homes!
First, I love it because it is weirdly satisfying to see a shark mascot being so agile in a 10m2 apartment.
Secondly, I just love how much time the creators must have spent coming up with a shark who moved from Sweden to Toyko, started a real estate agent, all to be exposed to tiny homes! Who comes up with this stuff!?
Thirdly, it is a clear testament that even foreign companies that are in Japan long enough will develop the amazing Japanese commercial building skill!
Yahoo Marketing (for the advanced weebs - NO SUBTITLES)
This is a perfect example how Japanese commercials use mascots and worldbuilding to turn a product as boring as a software solution into an amazing visual masterpiece! If American software giants would take note, I’m sure we’d be a hell of a lot more excited for the next Office 365!