Marketing Strategies in Japan: Japanese Corporate Mascots

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…..