Branding in Japan – How to Impress Your New Audience

Branding in Japan - How to Impress Your New Audience Hero Image

Each country has its own cultural preferences and norms, and to succeed commercially, international brands must often be adapted to the local context.

The way you choose to reflect yourself through your branding in Japan does more than just help you stand out, it also helps you conquer the many challenges foreign companies face when entering the Japanese market. This includes overcoming the lack of trust consumers have for non-domestic brands they’re not familiar with.

By tailoring your brand to cater to local trends, expectations, styles, and themes, you can make yourself appear more reliable, appealing, and trustworthy to your new target market.

If nothing else, Japanese customers can be extremely demanding and running your brand through a diligent vetting and localization process will help identify potential weaknesses that could prevent you from gaining traction in Japan with your products and services.

How Important Is Branding in Japan?

Assuming you already understand the general importance of having a strong brand, a few reasons why branding in Japan requires some extra attention include:

  • Without a brand, it’s impossible to builds trust with customers in Japan who are naturally risk-averse and relationship-oriented
  • Price and product quality are not enough to win over Japanese customers. A more holistic brand experience is necessary
  • In Japan’s most competitive markets, strong brands are needed to stand out and remain memorable in the minds of potential customers
  • A localized brand will show consumers you’re not just another generic global company and are committed to providing unique value to Japanese users
  • Strong branding makes partnerships with Japanese companies, investors, or other such parties much easier
  • Good branding makes the rest of your marketing and advertising efforts much easier when trying to connect with
  • Japanese consumers who have unique preferences and expectations

HB Pro Tip: Your audience isn’t going to magically discover your products or become loyal patrons just because you put out a few PPC campaigns. While this might be enough to gather some initial traction, Japan is a highly relationship-oriented culture where even customers and brands are engaged in dynamic interactions and communication over several years. Poor or ineffective branding in Japan will put you at a serious disadvantage.

Upholding Japanese Customer Service Expectations

Shop owner displays products and example of effective branding in Japan

Serving customers with an extremely high level of respect is standard practice in Japan. The hierarchy between vendors and customers is rooted in tradition, and this system carries through to many aspects of the commercial world.

The same global principles apply in that good customer experiences are created by making products and services that are easy-to-use, innovatively designed, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. However, the average Japanese consumer is more likely to scrutinize small aspects of quality and brands are therefore forced to go above and beyond.

For foreign brands, with a natural disadvantage, the pressure is even greater for you to deliver experiences that can rival your Japanese competitors — especially if you’re offering similar products and services.

Quality applies not only to your product but to everything you do. All customer-facing aspects of your brand should be flawless in their presentation, consistency, and quality.

Building a Japanese Website?

As a cornerstone of your digital market efforts, your website should obviously be appropriately tailored to the Japanese market. Several significant differences between website designs in Western countries and those that are popular in Japan include:

  • Less white space
  • Several contrasting colors and design elements are often used within small spaces
  • Usage of multiple CTAs
  • More data and text information
  • Multiple scripts are sometimes used as well (and both vertical and horizontal text lines)
  • Smaller and more frequent graphics are common rather than fewer high-resolution images
  • Data, testimonials, and statistics are given more priority on landing pages to build trust with the user
  • Accurate and realistic images of products are given prominence, often with real people using real products

HB Pro Tip: Website development or localization is always best done with the support of Japanese native speakers and web development professionals. This will help you adapt your brand to retain your important values and principles while portraying yourself in the best light to your new market.

Get in Touch for Help with Your Next Web Design Project

BMW Japan

Looking at how huge international brands have adapted their content to the Japanese market is a great exercise to perform. You’ll find them balancing the need to keep things consistent with their Western branding while doing what they can to cater more local tastes and preferences.

Primary screenshot of BMW website as example of Western branding in Japan

The German car brand BMW’s website, for instance, is a good example of this “balance” in action. It offers the same overall motifs, colours and messages as you’ll find on its US, UK or German websites, as well as several elements specific to Japan.

This includes generally more elements presented within a smaller space, more contrast in shapes and colour, multiple CTAs, clashing artistic styles, and plenty of real life photography to complement more “finished” visual assets. There’s also a little bit of manga artwork thrown in for good measure!

Secondary-screenshot of BMW website as example of Western branding in Japan

Akashi Sake

We had the pleasure of contributing to the website refresh of Japanese brand Akashi Sake in 2020 and believe it’s the perfect example of how brand adaptation goes two ways.

While the company has substantial brand credibility in Japan, which they wanted to protect, they also wanted to appeal to a growing market of Western buyers, both within its borders and beyond. Ultimately, their approach to rebranding needed to juggle these two things.

Primary screenshot of Akashi Sake website showing branding in Japan

When browsing their new website, you’ll find a combination of truly Japanese visual cues such as calligraphy, iconography and scenes from Japan. This is flanked by descriptions of the brand and production process that, while eloquent, leave out no small detail for the discerning Japanese who’s hungry for information.

Admittedly, most casual visitors are likely to skim over this dense text, but when it all looks this good on-page (more like an editorial piece than a website landing page) it doesn’t really matter.

Secondary screenshot of Akashi Sake website showing branding in Japan

In places, you’ll also see a more minimal and stripped back style dominating — something that’s typically a more Western approach to web design.

All in all, it comes back to balance. There are conscious efforts to retain both its core Japanese aesthetic while opening up itself to new audiences abroad.

Branding Checklist for Japan

Company owner working on branding checklist for Japan

Finally, take a step back and ask yourself a few key questions about your overall branding and how it may (or may not) be suitable for the Japanese consumer.

Does your brand seem believable and credible in the eyes of discerning Japanese consumers?
Is it timeless enough to allow for growth and long-term success in a rapidly changing market?
Does it differentiate you from others, without making yourself too different?
Is your brand name, logo and core identity easy to understand and remember?
Does it highlight the unique value of your products and services?
Does it meet the expectations of your specific target demographics in Japan?
Can your branding be consistently carried through to all your digital marketing activities?
Is it the best you can do?

Steal Our Best Ideas

Actionable insights straight from our data

Here are a couple quick discoveries we’ve pulled from the data of our latest projects. Why? To help you make the changes you need to gain traction in the Japanese market! As an agency, we are always digging deeper and searching for those little yet significant tweaks that will push our clients to the next level of success. If you need a partner to help you identify and implement changes like these on a monthly basis, let us know!

Need help gaining traction for your business in Japan? Let’s chat on how we can help.