Like the movie, first-time visitors to the Tokyo area of Shibuya are often momentarily lost in translation. Japan’s claustrophobic billboard culture is a curious spectacle: glowing cut-outs of Western celebrities peddle whiskey, ducks sell insurance and talking dinosaurs promote…. well, something.

Welcome to Japan – scenic inspiration for futuristic sci-fi flick Blade Runner and land where the billboard is king.

These flashing billboards have become symbolic of ‘modern Japan’, but what may surprise is the vibrant area of marketing that has developed right under your feet. Let me lead you on a lesser-known marking journey that takes us below the streets of Tokyo into the world of Japanese subway marketing.

Like many Japanese cities, Tokyo’s complex rail network is the circulatory system of this sprawling megalopolis. Most Tokyoites invariably start and end their day on a subway train. To give you some idea of the sheer numbers involved with this system, Tokyo’s two subway companies, the Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway network, haul a staggering 8.3 million passengers around the city on a daily basis. Combine this with the 3.65 million on the competing Japan Rail Yamanote loop line and you have the equivalent to half the population of Australia commuting daily in just one city.

Japan Rail now lists ‘station space utilization’ as an income category in its financial reports and has established brand extensions in a wide array of businesses that explicitly target the time travelers are spending in stations. Commuters have long grown accustomed to grabbing a snack at a network of 500 Japan Rail convenience stores, paying for their purchases using futuristic touch-card rail passes, and shopping at fashion retailers in leased station space before they have even reached the platform.

Subway operators have successfully redefined commuters as shoppers and the results are nothing short of amazing. In 2008, Japan Rail derived over 30 percent of its 2.7 trillion Yen (AUD$37.2 billion) in operating revenue from sources outside of traditional ticket fares. Which begs the question, can state governments pad their transport budgets by replicating a similar transit revenue model here in Australia?

Dentsu, Japan’s largest ad agency, valued this niche market at around 250 billion Yen in 2008 (AUD$3.5 billion), or approximately 3.7 percent of Japan’s total advertising expenditure – not a bad part of the pie in an advertising market worth AUD $92 billion. Transit advertising growth has been tempered by the impact of the global financial crisis, which has led to a fairly hefty cut in marketing budgets for most organizations. Regardless of this, the growth potential in this sector remains enormous.

Tokyo’s train stations enjoy a consistent audience of over 50 million workers during the working week, not to mention a considerable passenger haul on weekends. While Shinjuku Station is the world’s busiest station, with 3.6 million users per day, the wealth is also quite evenly spread across the network. Over 80 stations draw a daily patronage exceeding 100,000 and 36 stations draw more than 200,000 a day. In terms of demographics, Jonahthan-Llloyd Owen writes in Japan Marketing Data, “Over half the users of the Tokyo Metro network are in their 20s or 30s, and have higher than average disposable income.”

I’d gladly eat my kimono if you can list another outdoor marketing network than can consistently bring in this volume of potential impressions.

The transit advertising jackpot, though, is the busy rush hour period. In a standing-only train crammed beyond capacity with office workers, I can vouch from experience that there is precious little to do in the dark subway tunnels but stare above the crowd at the advertisements hanging from the ceiling. Do this for even half of your commute and I guarantee those advertisements are likely to leave a mental impact. Far removed from the simple paper advertisements on buses or trains in Australia, the Japanese form of transit marketing is also an exciting and innovative industry.

Unique Japanese ideas that were born on the rails include special ‘theme-carriages’, in-train video monitors and interactive advertisements with in-build headphone plugs for iPod listeners. Micahel Fiorella, author of Japanmarktingnews.com, has also blogged on the interesting invention of electronic paper, which made its debut in Japan on the subway – electronic paper hangs from the ceiling in the middle of Japanese subway trains and amazingly is able to change image repeatedly throughout the journey.

But Japan’s eagerness for transit advertising raises some age-old questions: Where does one draw the line? Whatever the answer, Australia’s rail operators should be furiously taking notes – there’s gold in them thar’ stations!

This article appeared as a feature story in the 2010 Media Survival Guide edition of Marketing Magazine (www.marketingmag.com.au)

Another interesting aspect of Japanese marketing is the widespread usage of corporate mascots. While cute character mascots in the west tend to be targeted almost exclusively at kids (the Frosty Flakes cereal tiger for example), it is common to find corporate mascots in almost any industry in the Japanese market.

The usage of character mascots in Japan moves far beyond the realms of an obligatory PR trick in Japan, and the power of corporate mascots in endearing themselves to the Japanese public should not be underestimated. Take for example Hikone Castle in Shiga Prefecture, which registered a 61 percent jump in tourist visits after the introduction of a cute white cat character by the name of Hikonyan as a mascot. In a similar vein, profits for Wakayama Electric’s profits increased 10% after a real-life cat by the name of Tama was given the title of stationmaster at a little-known station in rural Kinokawa.

While both the real and hand-drawn variety of these cats have proven popular, the usage of hand-drawn, animation-style mascots appear to be more common in Japan. These characters often take the form of something related to nature, history or a unique facet of the area, and can be seen emblazoned on everything from  train tickets to drug stores to even giving blood. The popularity and commonplace usage of these mascots is something of an enigma, but blogger Yongfook at Zygote raises some excellent points on the advantages of a mascot; namely they help to give the company an external face, and can help make the company seem less intimidating to outsiders. He even highlights that each of Japan’s 47 prefectural police departments also use a different mascot – again to create a face and to make the police seem less intimidating to the general public.

I’d add to the above by bringing up the widespread readership of manga (or comics) in Japan – regardless of age. The manga industry in Japan reaps in over 400 billion Yen per year, and this I think helps to make the usage of an imaginary character more acceptable to most Japanese. This point is best supported by a recent research study in Japan, which found that over 87% of all Japanese have a product with a character design on it. Also, the timelessness of a character is also an advantage, and allows the company the flexibility to make small modifications over a very long time if necessary. Check out confectionery manufacturer’s Peko-chan in the previous hyperlink, for example. The character is one of the most recognised Japanese corporate mascots, and has changed subtly over time. Interestingly, the mascot has also been the subject of mass theft from a Yakuza mobster, and recently was even withdrawn temporarily from fujiya stores following a food contamination scandal.

Most important of all, though, is the aspect of cuteness in Japanese culture, which helps to fuel interest in anything animated or ‘kawaii’ (cute). Interestingly, a few Japanese mascots have caught on in markets outside of Japan: Take Domo-kun, the mascot of national television broadcaster NHK for example, which can now be seen gracing the slurpee cups of convenience store chain 7/11 in America, for a limited time only. Further, the ever-excellent What Japan Thinks blog has translated a list of the top 30 most popular characters in Japan – with animal cuteness being most popular amongst the Japanese it seems. Most baffling of all though has to be the mascot for Tokyo Tower – it doesn’t take much of an imagination to look beyond towers with that…..

While those from the west are most likely accustomed to reading only from left to right, the Japanese writing system is far more flexible – allowing for a combination of writing styles in advertisements that simply are not possible with the Western alphabet.

The Japanese language system was introduced in the 4th century AD when the written Chinese language was introduced to Japan. Traditionally, Japanese was written in a style called tategaki (translated to top/column writing), with characters written from top to bottom, right to left. This style mirrors the traditional Chinese style of writing. The tategaki style often initially confuses many foreigners new to Japan: A novel in tategaki style will start from “the  back cover / the last page” of the book, and finish on the first. However modern Japanese also uses another format called Yokogaki (roughly translated to side writing), which instead is horizontal and reads from left to right – just like a book written in English. This style is often used in software and mobile phone messages, and arguably is the most common out of both writing formats.

Most interestingly though is that both styles are commonly accepted in Japan today. The Yomiuri Newspaper for example, which is Japan’s highest-circulation newspaper, writes in the yokogaki / left-to-right style. The competing Asahi Newspaper, however, continues to print in the traditional tategaki style. From an outsider-look at Japan’s advertising market though, it is critical to understand that the combination of both tategaki and yokogaki is also a perfectly acceptable way of writing. This creates a unique way for marketers to design messages in print media that is impossible with a Western writing format. Take a look at the advertisement below to see what I mean.

In the ad above for a popular comic book series at a prominent Tokyo train station, I’ve numbered 1, 2 and 3 to chronicle how the advertisement is read. The reader will start out at 1. on the right-hand side of the advertisement, reading from the top character in the row to the bottom character, and then from right to left. The reader’s eyes will then ‘jump’ over the to the left hand side of the image to 2., which again is written in a traditional tategaki style. The bottom of the message is completed at 3, below, but this time in a modern yokogaki style. Aside from giving the designer more ‘space’ with which to design their print media, the use of both styles allows for a convenient method of ‘breaking up’ the content in the advertisement.

Parts 1 and 2 of the ad appear to be a quote from the animation itself – these form the ‘bait’ to get people into the advertisement after the picture itself. The 3rd part of the text differs in nature to parts 1 and 2: Instead part three is the ‘hook’, which explains the title of the animation in question, and also more information on the publisher and availability. Interestingly, aside from tategaki and yokogaki, the advertisement also uses English – again perfectly acceptable to combine so long as the English is easy to understand for a wide audience.

The combination of these forms is something that may be completely unique to Japanese advertising, and the ways in which these forms are used creates some really creative types of advertisements. Take a look at the annual Yomiuri advertising awards page (Japanese only, but the pictures are universal) for inspiration. Keen to learn more? Check out the Advertising Museum in Tokyo for a look at the history of Japanese advertising if you get the chance!

Japan’s political environment has been a reliable column-filler for journalists as of late, with this month’s elections likely to result in an unprecedented political power shift in the land of the rising sun. The fanfare of historic elections notwithstanding, though, Japan also finds itself in the throes of another revolutionary transition – namely the internet and how people are accessing it.

The internet itself is old hat in Japan (however Yahoo’s ranking as the most accessed website in Japan may revive heady memories of the pre-Google days for some), with nationwide net penetration rates of 74% amongst the World’s highest. While impressive, the numbers alone are hardly newsworthy – Australia surpassed internet participation rates of 80% in 2008. But what is telling is the dramatic shift in how the Japanese are accessing the internet: Since 2006, the number of Japanese accessing the internet from their mobile phone (69.2 million) has surpassed the number of people accessing the internet from a computer (66 million).

The strong growth in mobile internet usage can be attributed to the unique cellular infrastructure environment that has developed in Japan. As Japan blogger Seron writes on his site, What Japan Thinks, “one of the biggest differences in standard mobile phone usage between Japan and the West is that almost every [Japanese] phone supports full internet email by default… On the other hand, the West is still wedded to SMS.” From a technology viewpoint, this is because Japan’s mobile network evolved without integration with the GSM international standards, and forged ahead with the creation of proprietary networks instead.

A stubborn insistence on proprietary platforms tends to revive memories of Sony’s ATRAC format debacle, and the lack of GSM-ready phones has likely robbed Japan of a healthy export market for their hi-tech devices – much to the relief of Nokia no doubt. Irrespective of this, Japan bet the bank on future integration of phone and internet well before anyone else, and looks to have come up trumps as global adoption slowly starts to pick up. As a sign of intent, the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry aims to increase the value of the digital content market to 50 trillion yen within the next 10 years.

Japanese advertising agencies, distracted by the intense fight for market share in Japan’s traditional ad market, were slow to react to new marketing opportunities on mobile phones. Only now is mobile internet advertising really catching up: Last year advertising expenditure in this realm grew dramatically by over 40% to JPY 91.3 billion. These figures are only the tip of the wireless iceberg, however, as the growing adoption of 3G mobile phones in Japan will allow more users to see the internet as they would on a desktop computer. Marketers take note: You lose a massive audience if your Japanese website is not mobile-internet compatible.

Google, who have found building market share in Japan difficult against the might of Yahoo!, consider the explosive growth in mobile internet users as a golden opportunity to crack the Japanese market. Rather than challenge Yahoo! on their own desktop turf (Yahoo! commands 75% of Japan’s search market), Google have literally taken to the streets – offering seamless integration with google maps and other applications to users of Japan’s largest SNS site, mixi. This is a bold but very interesting strategy – in a market where 85% of the country’s 108 million phone users are subscribed to mobile internet services, this might just be the way to challenge Yahoo’s long-established search engine dominance in Japan.

Tomorrow night, the Socceroos (Australia’s national football team) play Japan in the final round of Asian Confederation qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The socceroos captured the hearts and minds of Australians around the nation (and in Tokyo from my vantage point!) in a stirring penalty shootout to reach the 2006 version of the tournament in Germany, and since then have made significant inroads into a country which long viewed football as a sport for sheilas, wogs and poofters.

Apart from the match tomorrow (which in reality is a dead rubber – with both teams already assured of qualification), what does any of this have to do with Japan? As Australia’s largest trading partner, the world game and the socceroos are creating new opportunities for stronger business and diplomatic ties in the land of the rising sun.

The socceroos are now one of sporting Australia’s most recognized and prized marketing assets. The team’s popularity shows no signs of abating either:  A recent qualifier against far-flung Uzbekistan in April smashed pay television ratings – drawing the biggest audience ever for a  subscription TV program. This sort of audience pull against this ranking of opponent, with all due respect to Uzbekistan, was unimaginable only a few years earlier, and the popularity of the team is now playing a crucial role in building community momentum for a tilt at hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

Up until Australia’s entry into the Asian Football Confederation a few years earlier, major sporting events between Australia and Asian nations were few and far between. Now, the socceroos meet Japan with such regularity that a fierce rivalry is brewing between these proud footballing nations.

Far from handwringing, the Football Federation of Australia and Austrade views the growing rivalry as an opportunity to forge even better business and diplomatic connections with Japan. Following a format made successful in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, Austrade and the FFA organised business meetings between Australian and Japanese companies in February 2009 when the two teams last faced off in a World Cup Qualifier in Yokohama. This comes off successful trade matching events when the Socceroos played in the Middle East in 2008, and no doubt the FFA will be organising similar events in Melbourne for tomorrow night as part of their bigger-picture strategy to engage Asia for the World Cup.

These business matching exchanges, I believe, are only the cherry on top of a very big chocolate cake. Great rivalries bring in great crowds and media coverage: The whole of Australia seems to be talking when Australia play the English for the Ashes series in cricket, much in the same way that fierce baseball rivalries between Osaka’s Hanshin Tigers and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Giants incites chest-beating between these two cities.

As alluded to by Austrade’s Chief Economist (and socceroo fan) Tim Harcourt, great potential lies in forging a tradition of rivalry between Australia and Japan. This is by no means an easy feat to achieve, but tomorrow’s match is one in which both teams are loath to lose – irrespective of the so-called ‘dead rubber status’ of this game.

In my view, the Football Federation of Australia and the Japan Football Association would do well to sit down together and come up with an annual series of matches between the two sides. One suggestion I have would be for an Australia-Japan Friendship Series: Australia would host the Japanese on Australia Day (January 26), before the Japanese reciprocate by hosting Australia for the away leg on Japan’s National Foundation Day (February 11).

Aside from being a great marketing opportunity, the matches would be a great way of fostering business and diplomatic relations between the two countries. From a sports fan’s perspective, the two teams would endure firstly Australia’s summer before Japan’s winter – which would make for interesting conditions. Not to mention that no sporting traditions currently exist on either of these days.

The biggest problem is the availability of senior players, but again this could serve as an opportunity for Australia’s and Japan’s U20 or Olympic teams to play instead – similar to a recent agreement between Turkey and Australia.

See you at tomorrow’s game : )

This legend stretches back to a famous night in Osaka in 1985, when local baseball team and perennial underdogs the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series Pennant – their first and only victory in the series to this day. As one of Japan’s most popular but least successful teams, delirious fans celebrated by having lookalikes of the team’s players jump into the Dotonbori River, which runs through the heart of Osaka city.

There was a conundrum, though, when the fans tried to find a lookalike for the team’s star slugger, foreigner Randy Bass. After searching in vain for a foreign lookalike, a statue of Colonel Saunders from a nearby KFC store was tossed into the river instead. Quickly disappearing under the water, the statue was lost.

After this incident, the Hanshin Tigers quickly returned to their losing ways. They have never won the Japan series since, and many fans were convinced that KFC Mascot Colonel Saunders had placed a curse on the team – angry at the treatment of one of his store statues being thrown in the river.

Known as ‘the curse of the Colonel’, it is rumoured that the team can never win again until the statue is found. Numerous attempts have been made to source the statue, but it was never found.

Until now. Amazingly, after more than 23 years at the bottom of the river, the statue was finally located by construction workers paving the bottom of the river this week.

You might be wondering why this is such a good opportunity for KFC in Japan. Critically though, it is important to understand that the story is well known amongst most Japanese, and the fact that the statue was actually found after 23 painful years is mind-blowing to most fans. Additionally, the story has made national and international headlines, and is a source of great joy for the millions of Hanshin Tigers fans who are hoping that the curse has been broken.

Although nothing has been announced yet, I am very interested to see what KFC do with this chance opportunity. Some things running through my mind that could capture this sentiment could be a burger promotion deal involving the mascot in a Hanshin Tigers uniform,  or publicly displaying the statue at the original store. Or on a simpler level, they could leave the legend as-is and live off the word of mouth from this story.

According to the BBC, KFC is reported to be considering donating the statue to the Tigers in time for the start of the season next month.

Very effective advertising in your home country can be worth next to nothing if it is not tweaked sufficiently for Japan. Of course this is by no means exclusive to the Japanese market, but the same important principles apply: Differences in languages, culture and customs mean that your Japanese target market may respond to your messages in very different ways. Obviously, this could very well distort the product image you are trying so hard to get across.

The best way to overcome this problem is to tap into avenues which do resonate with the Japanese. Sounds tough, right?

A (moving) picture paints a thousand words, so as a way of explaining what I mean, check out the following 30 second advertisement from Apple in the US compared to the ad from Apple Japan:

US Apple Mac Commercial

Japanese Apple Mac Commercial

A Closer Look

At first pass, the commercials come across as almost identical. Like the US version, the Japanese ad has a rather geeky-looking PC actor, and a younger, cooler looking mac. In fact, if you were to translate and compare the dialogue between the two versions, you would find that they are almost identical. Almost.

Language

The crucial differences between the two lie firstly in language nuances. In the Japanese version, Mac introduces himself in a casual form of Japanese, whilst the PC introduces himself in a traditional, formalised, almost rigid way. Whilst just merely a greeting, this makes the Mac guy sounds in touch with the times, and the PC guy sound a little rigid. Hard to believe that there is so much meaning in a few words of hello, isn’t it? This follows on from the different levels of formality or honorific language used in Japanese – and this includes even the most simple of greetings.

In English, we simply would not be aware of these differences as there is no such linguistic comparison when saying hello. Other than that, the dialogue is almost identical, but ignore these differences at your peril.

Cultural Comparisons

The other big differences are cultural considerations, such as the way in which the PC guy is portrayed. In the US, he comes across as a bulky, clumsy 40-something on a fast track to nowhere. The Japanese PC guy is a little different. Firstly, he’s obviously a bit thinner – quite simply the problem of obesity in Japan is almost non-existent, and having such a big character would look out of place.

Other than that, the character screams “Salary Man” – a word typically used to describe your everyday run-of-the-mill Japanese businessman: Lousy tie, a suit that doesn’t fit with a conservative haircut to boot, this guy screams ‘boring’ and ’stuck in yesterday’ to most Japanese.

Most interesting of all is that Apple does not tweak their image of their actual target market. The Japanese mac guy is still what they deem to be the image of a fairly cool, casual type of guy. He appears calm and approachable, just like the character in the American version of the commercial.

Global Message. Localised Resonance

The biggest strength of this set of commercials is that the message is more or less exactly the same. Thus, Apple are delivering a universal, global message, but are tweaking the message ever so slightly to ensure resonance with different markets.

From Nowhere to No Vacancy

Once a rural locality in the throes of serious social and economic decline, today the Japanese ski town of Niseko, situated in northern Hokkaido, is regarded as a world-class skiing destination. Niseko has enjoyed a tenfold increase in the number of foreign skiers over the past five years, and now the area is also home to some of the fastest rising land prices in the land of the rising sun.

With all of the action in Japan’s north however, the traditional ski areas located in mainland Japan; namely Nagano, Yamagata and Niigata, have been largely overlooked by both domestic and foreign investors. Niseko’s success in targeting a foreign ski market, however, is forcing property developers to take another look.

Overcoming Japan’s Ski Bubble

Over the past few years, ski businesses in these prefectures had fallen on hard times following the decline in Japanese skier numbers and the greying population – leading many to believe that ski resort investment in Japan had come and gone with the bubble. The tourist figures for Nagano reflected this grim reality: In 1992, Nozawa-Onsen ski resort in Nagano had a record 1.1 million visitors. By 2004, the number of visitors had plummeted to just 380,000.

New Opportunities in Japan’s Old Ski Areas

As demonstrated so successfully in Niseko though, the slopes of Nagano, Niigata and Yamagata and are primed for a turnaround in their fortunes if they are able to muscle in on the foreign ski market. Japan’s main drawcard is both a geographical and cultural proximity to Asia, giving Japan’s ski areas good exposure to the growing number of skiers in China, Korea and even Australia. Critically though, Nagano, Niigata and Yamagata are close to two of Japan’s major international airports; Chubu International Airport near Nagoya, and Narita International Airport near Tokyo. This adds an element of convenience missing from the ski fields in Japan’s north.

It also will allow visitors the flexibility to combine skiing with sightseeing and other cultural activities. Nagano apples, pickles and noodles for example are famous throughout Japan, as are the prefecture’s hot spring baths. Matsumoto Castle in Nagano is World Heritage listed, and the hustle and bustle of Tokyo is less than two hours away by train. And I should also mention that the snow is pretty good too: Nagano was host of the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Capitalizing on the Opportunities of the International Ski Market

Major international developers have already cottoned onto the potential in the area, and as a sign of the times, the Hakuba Chamber of Commerce has recorded over 35,000 foreign skiers visiting the area in 2007. Japanese ski fields are an unusual Japanese example of a gradual shift in focus from a traditional market to something sign quite new. Expect to hear more about Nagano, Niigata and Yamagata from your travel agent when you look at booking your next snow holiday.

Matsushita. National. Panasonic.

Matsushita. National. Panasonic. What do these have in common? You may be surprised to know that all three are renowned brand names used by the world’s fifth-largest electronics company – the Osaka-based Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co.

The Matsushita Group made USD$79.4 billion last year – larger than that of Sony, who posted revenues of USD$77.9 billion. Interestingly though, Sony ranks as the 25th most recognised brand in the world in Interbrand’s “Best Global Brands” ranking, while Panasonic ranks in at a lowly 78. Clearly, the use of Matsushita, National and Panasonic on similar products has created some confusing brand image problems.

Panational? Natasonic?

As a brief history lesson, the Matsushita name is derived from the company founder, Konosuke Matsushita, who established the company in 1918. He also coined the “National” brand name in 1927, which was originally used for the firm’s range of bicycle lights. The brand name is still widely recognised today, but primarily on household appliances in Japan. Panasonic is the most widely recognised of the group’s brand names, and is used both within Japan, but also on products exported to international markets.

While the three brand names individually enjoy wide recognition, together they create confusion for consumers. National and Panasonic for example are used on electronic appliances in the Japanese market, but Panasonic is widely considered to have a more advanced and innovative brand image. Adding to the muddle, products sold into overseas markets by the group are labeled exclusively with the Panasonic name.

Panasonic Corp: A Major Branding Change

To remedy the situation, earlier this month Matsushita boldly announced that they would drop their National brand name, and change the name of the company to Panasonic Corporation. Given that the Matsushita name is eight decades old, and that the National brand name enjoys high recognition in Japan, this is a very significant move.

However, the consolidation of the three names under a Panasonic umbrella represents the company’s awareness of the need to globalise the company. Better brand recognition is especially important for the group, as last fiscal year overseas markets accounted for around 50% of total sales. Panasonic Corporation is hoping to boost that to 60% this year, and intends to use the Panasonic brand to better target emerging markets.

Hello! Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is also using the name change to break from the past, and forge a brand image of an innovative and environmentally friendly company. The company will soon embark on a major advertising campaign, known as “Hello! Panasonic”. And when I say major, I mean major: The Japan Times reports that TV commercials for Panasonic products will be aired about 100,000 times in Japan alone by the end of this year.

It will be interesting to see what benefits a simple name change will bring to the Matsushita Group in the years to come, but I predict that it will one day highlight the importance of focused branding in the Japanese market.

In my last post, I touched upon the importance of tweaking your promotional message to ensure resonance with the Japanese market. In a similar vein, today we will look at the importance of effectively translating your message from English to Japanese for identical reasons.

The translation of your product slogan, or ‘catch line’, is likely to make or break the effectiveness of your promotion in Japan. Get it right, and so will your target market. Get it wrong, and your message is effectively lost in translation.

A textbook example of getting it wrong is Tourism Australia’s “so where the bloody hell are you?” campaign. Launched internationally in 2006 with a budget of AUD$180 million, the promotion quickly became controversial, and was even banned temporarily on TV in the UK.

In Japan however, the advertisements created no such controversial reaction. In fact, they created no reaction whatsoever. Quite simply, the power and boldness behind “where the bloody hell are you” was lost in translation, with the message being translated into Japanese as “so why don’t you come?“ (Title picture).

As is obvious from the translation, “where the bloody hell are you?” just does not translate smoothly into Japanese. The Japan office of Tourism Australia was acutely aware of this problem, and spent several months with focus groups to try and come up with a suitable Japanese equivalent. The differences in language nuances between Australia and Japan however made the task almost impossible.

Swearing in Japanese

The problems posed by the translation were compounded by the fact that Japanese very rarely use profane or insulting language in everyday conversation. In Australia, the phrase can be used interchangeably in both an angry or funny context, and thus is not necessarily viewed as insulting or offensive.

The Japanese equivalent of “bloody hell”, if one existed, would probably be used only during times of anger, and never for fun – and certainly would never be used as the main message theme in a promotional campaign.

Where the Bloody Hell are they?

With a budget of AUD$21 million in Japan, the “where the bloody hell are you campaign” is widely regarded as a failure. The campaign had little to no impact on July and August inbound Japanese tourist numbers to Australia (Japan’s peak travel period), and Australia lost market share as Japanese chose other travel destinations. The campaign was also quickly replaced by tourism Australia with one focusing on Australia’s world heritage areas.

Ultimately, the success or failure of Tourism Australia’s campaign rested on six words: “Where the bloody hell are you?”. This highlights the paper-thin margin between clarity or confusion in Japan – and the need to make absolutely sure that your translation is an effective one.