Mascots in Japan

III. Use mascots to communicate with Japanese audiences

As we saw in our studies, mascots are truly integrated in Japanese's culture whatever it is a cellphone company or the Tokyo Fire Department. In the survey I conducted, 79% of respondents answered that foreign organizations should use mascots to promote themselves in the country⁵⁴. As a matter of fact it is not only reserved for Japanese companies.

Tom, the US Embassy's Mascot

On April 2014, The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo has created videos to promote studies in America amongst young Japanese students.⁵⁵

We can see a girl arguing with her parents who do not want her to spend a year abroad. Then comes Tom⁵⁶, the U.S. Embassy Tokyo Social Media Friendship Ambassador who has the appearance of a bean. He helps her to find appropriate words to talk with her parents to convince them about her idea, he promotes

the America Expo⁵⁷ and explains how to get a visa. He is also the image of the US Embassy Tokyo's Facebook page⁵⁸ that has more than 26.000 fans.

Through this America-friendly but Japanese look-like mascot, the U.S Embassy Tokyo found the way and the words to reassure Japanese people regarding topics they basically don't know.

Here are many reasons why western companies should use mascots and the commitments to respect to succeed for a proper use of mascots.

54 Cf. appendix 2 : Survey - Japanese Organizations's Communications - 2015

55 Cf. appendix 7 : U.S. Embassy Tokyo's Mascot - Tom - Video screenshots

56 U.S. Embassy Tokyo - http://connectusa.jp/index.html

57 Annual study abroad fair sponsored by the U.S Embassy Tokyo

58 https://www.facebook.com/ConnectUSA

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3.1 Choosing mascots instead of humans?

Endorsement is really important in Japan. To represent a brand or a product, companies often make contract with celebrities (i.e., Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Reno or Céline Dion). SOFTBANK, which uses a white dog as its mascot, signed a contract for a commercial with Tommy Lee Jones. In this promotional video we see the American actor meeting the SHIRATO Family with the dog as the father (as explained is the part 2). But again, the dog was the main character and the presence of Tommy Lee Jones was just for one commercial.⁵⁹

As Takuya TEJIMA said⁶⁰, « The characters may unconsciously make people remind the company». It helps people identify a brand, a product, a company or even a service much quicker than if just a `name' or a logo is thrown at them.

As explained in the part 1.2 about the culture of cuteness in Japan, kawaii is often a better choice than sexy, beautiful or strong image. In some countries, a half-naked female or a strong and sexy man can be obvious choices for attracting consumers, but in the eyes of Japanese, it will be hard to find a human person as cute as a character can be.⁶¹

Also, using mascots allows to target everybody from office ladies to salary men. As explained in the first part and as observed in the survey, almost all the Japanese like cute things and characters.

But Japan is a market where females (20 - 50) are usually the strongest audience that every company targets. As German SAA, expert in Public Relation in Japan explains⁶², « They are usually the ones with the income, the time and the willingness to become the shopping trend setters ». Then it makes sense to come up with those cutesy mascot characters to familiarize the target audiences to whatever a company is trying to push into the market.

Finally, choosing a mascot instead of a real person is cost-effective and can also avoid image issues. In 2013, ROLA, who is the most famous and influential model

59 Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXL5slQUmY

60 Cf. appendix 3: Interview of Takuya TEJIMA - LINE's Application Developer

61 BASEEL, Casey. (January 6, 2014) «Why does Japan love fictional characters so much?» in Japan Today.

62 Cf. appendix 8: Interview of German SAA - Kyodo PR Deputy Director of International Operations

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and TV personality in Japan, faced images issues because of her father. He was accused to defraud the national health and ROLA had to publicly apologized on her blog for the troubles caused. TV channels have decided to reduce her appearances as a guest on TV shows that lead to a decrease of the popularity of the model who is currently the Japanese celebrity with the more contracts for brands.

People are more willing to forgive mascots' behavior as they are cute and sometimes out of control. On February 2014, during a show in front of hundred of media, the dog of SOFTBANK acted badly and uncontrollable⁶³, but as it is not a human, its behavior has been forgiven quickly as soon as the conference was done. And it didn't impact the brand image as it could have been if it was a human muse.

Finally, human celebrities and tend setters become out of fashion after few years and are replaced by someone else more fashionable whereas a mascot can last longer, such as the SOFTBANK's dog which is their official mascot in every single commercial or print advertising for more than 8 years.

Mascots are an efficient way to represent a brand. It is also more reliable than a human celebrity in terms of image control and a better value for money as it is created by the company itself.

3.2 Creating a Mascot : what kind of mascots should be created in order to avoid failure?

As we saw before, mascots can be an effective communications tool to promote a brand's image in Japan and build a better relationship with customers and clients but companies have to be careful regarding certain aspects.

Ed Harrison, co-author of Idle Idol: The Japanese Mascot, explains some tricks to design appropriate mascot for your company.⁶⁴

63 CLEGG, Cara (February 8, 2014) «SoftBank's mascot dog behaving badly at bizarre press conference » in Rocket News 24.

64 HARRISON, Edward & John, Idle Idol, New-York, 2010, Jake Davis

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« The traditional approach, which is tried and tested, is basically to take an element from your company or product, or to play on the words of the company name to help you generate your mascot's form, and slap on some cute features. »

In almost every cases, mascots are a metaphor of something; so it is important to find the good inspiration from something meaningful (i.e, the place where the company is from, or its personality etc.)⁶⁵

Docomodake

As suggested in the book Idle Idol, you can name your mascot according to your business. For example, the mobile company DOCOMO created a mascot, which looks like a mushroom, called Docomodake. The name is a mix between the name of the brand « Docomo » and « dake » that means « only » but it also sounds a bit like « take » which means « mushroom ». 66

Also, as the discussed in part 2.2, TEPCO's mascot Denko-chan's name was a reference to TEPCO's business: «den» means electrical power and «ko»means child.

Also, NHK, the first Japan's national public broadcasting organization has its own mascot called Domo-kun.⁶⁷ It has been created on a reference to the NHK's announcer who was always saying «Domo» which has several meanings like « thank you », « hello » or even « goodbye ». As explained before « Kun » is an honorific suffix often used with young males.

Domo-kun

But the problem can be that people don't make the connection between your company and its mascot. For instance, NHK's Domo-kun has been used by Seven Eleven in the USA but not with the NHK's logo on it.

Companies should not believe that mascots are for children, they have to think that adults will also be concerned by it. So it can be childish but meaningful for both adults and children, such as Cony and Brown from Line. They are cute characters

65 SEAMAN, Amy. (November 2, 2011). «How to create a Japanese Mascot» in Ehmii.

66 NTT Docomodake Official Website - http://docomodake.net/

67 DEROME, Jean, «Goda Tsuneo's lucky star », in Zoom Japan, 23, July-August 2014, pages 7-9

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but who are also in couple, which means that they « act » like adults: romantic diner stamps, jealousy from Cony, hangover , etc.

To reach a Japanese level of expectation in terms of cuteness, western companies have to call upon Japanese design companies or at least Japan experts (A Japanese or foreign person who has background connected with the archipelago).

Companies have to be careful because some characters might not be appreciated by Japanese: as the culture is different, the spokesperson also has to be different. In the conducted survey⁶⁸, people answered that they thought that generally western countries' companies' mascots are not cute enough according to them.

As mentioned by German SAA in its interview⁶⁹, the « yuru » (wobbly/loose) aspect and the « kawaii » (cute/lovable) have to be in the chosen mascot Also its style or behavior can depend of the city the brand is targeting. Osaka is a more humor-loving city and Tokyo is more stylish and colorful. But Japan is essentially homogeneous, lives as a group and often takes on the same way of thinking whatever the place.

So mascots can be an effective communication tool if properly studied, designed and adapted to Japanese's culture and beliefs. If companies don't see mascots as impersonal spokesperson for children it can be a success to reach different goals.

3.3 How use mascots through traditional communication tools to better reach goals?

If designed the right way, mascots can be a cost-effective tool to increase the notoriety, trust and profits of a company when associated to other communication medium.

a) Promote

In order to develop a brand or institution's notoriety, mascots can be used in TV commercials or in printed ads such as the dog of SOFTBANK (Cf. part 2.2)

68 Cf. appendix 2 : Survey - Japanese Organizations's Communications - 2015

69 Cf. appendix 8: Interview of German SAA - Kyodo PR Deputy Director of International Operations

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Japanese press and television have enormous influence on the public opinion. The aggregate daily circulation of the five national dailies is over 27 million copies which is more than half the number of households in Japan (about 46.8 million)⁷⁰. The number of copies of daily newspapers in circulation per 1,000 persons in Japan is 668, close to twice the figure in the U.S. (264), U.K. (409), or Germany (375)⁷¹. Due to distribution system, 5 major daily newspapers (and one local per prefecture) and 6 TV networks are recognized as dominant media.⁷²

Western places might use their own mascot to increase their notoriety amongst Japanese through classic media. For example, we can imagine a city in France or in Italy which face a lake of Japanese tourist despite the numbers in their respective countries, could create a mascot to bring people in their place.

They could make their mascot meet some media, to make them talk about their place. As we saw before it is common to see talking characters on TV shows or in official meetings.

With a powerful mascot, once the media market is penetrated, it is easy to spread a message to a targeted audience. The company's or places' mascot can be featured in the media and increase the notoriety, as we said before mascots are sometimes more efficient than logo to remember a brand or an institution.

b) Create trust and affection

Beyond the promoting aspect, Western organizations can also use mascots as spokesperson to create trust for a brand or affection for a place. As explained before, the archipelago is a homogenous country where companies have to reach the mass to reach the individuals. In one way, it is easier for Western companies as they don't have to adapt their messages as much as they might have to in their own country.

The direct relationship is valued in Japan : Journalists do face-to-face interviews and customers love being reassure by seeing or testing before any decisions. 73

70 Statistics Bureau & Statistics Center

71 World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

72 ABU-FADIL, Magda. (June 12, 2014) «'World Press Trends 2014' Debunks Newspapers' Death» in The Huffington Post Media.

73 Kyodo PR Official Website - http://www.kyodo-pr.co.jp/index.php

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So mascots can be use in consumer events, such as fair or street marketing, to introduce the mascot to the people and to make them discover the represented place, company, service or product.

Once again, mascots can be use as spokesperson to do direct marketing with targets. They can make people test a product but without being as oppressive as a real person can be. For tourism, western mascot can be used to be a direct representation of what a place looks like.

However, in media events, mascots don't have necessarily to be main part of the event, as media is often there for newsworthy information, but they can me a part of the signage and branding. That way, the corporation's name is easily recognizable besides also bringing color to the event itself.

Mascot's image can also be used through online media. Such as Funassyi, brands can launch social media accounts for their mascots to increase people's affection and engagement. One can follow them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. They can see video of them on Youtube, like the U.S Embassy's mascot Tom. All those media are a good way to spread messages and increase the affection for a mascot as if it was a real person.

Mascots can be used to increase people's trust by using them as spokesperson directly with the target audience in a Business To Consumer attitude.

c) Make profits

At last but not least, mascot can be use to increase a company or a place's earnings.

As seen before, tourism's mascot Kumamon and Funassyi have generated together 1.5 billions euro in 3 years. Most of this result comes from the by-products on which their faces appeared such as food product or cuddly toys.

But first of all, before expecting licensed or own self created by-products, a specific campaign has to be launched for the mascot itself to become well-known amongst target audiences. Once a clear and direct link between the mascot and the company or organization, that it supposedly represents, is established, then it can be used in the same way a logo is used for all sorts of promotional activities.

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By-products are not only good for the profits, there are also beneficial for the brand's notoriety. As illustrated before, companies such as SOFTBANK with its dog or prefectures such as Kumamoto with its bear Kumamon create product that are bought by people for different uses : cellphone, bags, etc. So without asking, the brand or place's notoriety is increasing.

It is also possible to reach targets with the mascot's image through LINE. As we saw in the part 2, companies can create stamps branded with the image they want. In 7 months, Line Creator Market has generated 23,4 million euros, so it's a huge opportunity to catch. Even if it is not products' sales it increases its notoriety indirectly bring profits.

To conclude this recommendation, we can say that creating a mascot is a cost-effective choice for western companies to integrate themselves and better communicate with Japanese audiences. Organizations have to deeply think about a mascot that can be understood and appreciated by Japanese people. They also have to make sure that the mascot is used regularly, uniformly and closely linked to what it represents, no matter the platform (TV, online or print).

Finally, the mascot must be protected just like a logo would, about copyrights and making sure it is not overused for other purposes than to promote the company or organization. If the mascot gets involved in other activities, then confusion would reign and its popularity will decrease gradually.

All this precaution allow the brand to increase not only its notoriety and affection but also profits by the sell of by-products.

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