Trezor LINE Ads in Japan
Client Details
Project type:
| Industry | Crypto security hardware. |
| Product | Trezor hardware wallets (Safe 5, Safe 7, and more). |
| Audience | Japanese crypto holders and savers with an asset-protection mindset. |
| Objective | Build the hardware wallet category and Trezor’s brand in Japan, then convert that demand, using LINE display ads supported by localization and CRO. |
Trezor is the world’s first hardware wallet, a small physical device that keeps crypto safe by storing the user’s keys offline.
The problem our client had in Japan was that most people had never heard of a hardware wallet and did not know they even needed one, so brand awareness and education around the product category were absolutely crucial but had to be built from scratch.
What We Achieved
We evaluated the success of our LINE brand awareness campaigns in Japan by determining whether the target audience actually engaged, the brand grew, and purchase intent started to build:
- Branded search reached its highest on record. Search interest in “Trezor” in Japan hit its highest level recorded on Google Trends, and at that point was well above the generic term “hardware wallet.” Both rose over the project period.
- Purchase intent compounded. Add-to-carts jumped drastically in a single month, then kept compounding for the rest of the project.
- LINE became the biggest source of traffic to the Japanese site, ahead of every other channel.
Project Details
The hardware wallet product category had little awareness in Japan, so the real challenge was the existing convenience of leaving crypto on exchanges vs convincing the target audience to consider and adapt the Trezor product – requiring a major shift in consumer habits and overcoming risk aversion.
With the above in mind, we knew a platform with a strong nationwide reach was required. This made us recommend LINE, which is the messaging app nearly everyone in Japan opens every day, one of the few places perfectly positioned to reach a national audience at the top of the funnel and build lasting awareness.
We ran display ads through the LINE Yahoo network with one goal: to educate the market and make Trezor familiar. We framed the message around protecting what you have built, crypto as the top of a savings ladder of stocks, NISA, and property, and positioned Trezor as the safe place to store it.
Here is an example of a core value proposition we developed with our trademarked TrueVP® framework: manage multiple crypto assets in one secure, self-controlled place without relying on an exchange.
Humble Bunny’s Creative System for LINE Ads in Japan
- Creative testing. Each LINE ad rollout used one responsive ad with 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, and up to 15 images, varying and testing everything from background colors and value hooks to calls to action and social proof elements.
- One concept across every placement. Each winning idea was produced in 600×400, 1080×1080, and 1200×628 size sets for optimal LINE placement coverage. With special focus on the prime Talk List placement.
- We brought back proven winners under new optimized targeting and placements. One of the campaign’s highest click-through rates came from an older ad we unpaused with enhanced targeting and placement settings, not a brand-new one.
- We recombined winning elements. Dark backgrounds, an open risk-focused question, a social-proof footer with a local media logo, a big product image, and less text, all stacked into fresh ad batches.
LINE ADS CREATIVE TESTING
LINE ad creatives we ran for Trezor in Japan: risk and education, product launches, social proof, promotions, seasonal offers, and referrals, in a variety of formats.
This relentless, tested variety is what kept the click-through rate climbing:
Our reporting and the 3/2/1 Analysis: every month, we shared an in-depth visual report including both ad performance and GA4 traffic and conversion data, as well as data analysis including three performance highlights, two anomalies, and one learning, each written as a clear “what happened, why, and what we do next.”
The Turning Point
In a single optimisation month*, with no new creatives and no budget increase, we narrowed the ad targeting to the premium LINE Chat List placement, cleaned up the audience (removing under-18s and low-intent traffic, focusing on investment, electronic money, NISA, gold, and exchange segments), and raised bids toward the older, big-city, investment-minded users who were actually responding.
That optimisation-only month lifted click-through rate by +71.6% and pushed active users above target.
The month after, the rate climbed again by +141.8%, its strongest month of the campaign.
*That month also coincided with Trezor’s global Safe 7 launch and a rising crypto market, so the optimisation was not the only force at work, but the performance direction was clear.
- Purchase intent compounded: Add-to-carts from LINE grew month after month from a small starting base, roughly eight times higher in the last two months than in the first two.
- New users grew the fastest: Brand-new users climbed every month from December to May, outpacing returning visitors, which was important as we aimed to build a new audience for Trezor and widen the top of the funnel.
The Search Data
As our LINE campaign matured, search demand for the Trezor brand in Japan climbed to its highest level on record, and at that point sat well above the generic product category trend. Both branded and category searches rose over the project period.
Across the last 3 months, compared to the first 3 months, the data was mixed:
- “Trezor wallet” keyword rank went up sharply,
- “Trezor” went up modestly,
- “hardware wallet” went slightly down,
- and “cold wallet” was up on a one-off spike.
People were not searching for “hardware wallet” and then finding Trezor. They are searching for Trezor by its brand or specific product model name. Rising branded comparison searches like “Trezor vs Ledger” (up 250%) and “Trezor Safe 5” (up 200%) show the same buyers moving toward a purchase decision.
What LINE Ads Creative Testing Taught Us
Trust beats promotion
While the Black Friday discount ads underperformed, the winning ads were reassurance- and risk-focused. In one month, a calm, trust-led ad more than doubled the month’s average click-through rate. In this category, fear of loss and proof of safety moved people more.
One punchy line stops the scroll
The Chat List placement clips long copy, so oftentimes short copy wins. The campaign’s highest-ever creative click-through rate came from a short-copy ad. We always made sure to match the message length to the placement, and even for longer copy prioritized the main hook or value proposition to be placed in the very front, which never gets clipped.
Removing The Friction With Localization & CRO
Great ads cannot fix a broken landing page.
As the LINE traffic grew, we audited the Japanese site and checkout and shared concrete fixes. In March, add-to-carts jumped more than 1,300%, but purchases stayed flat. The likely cause was US-dollar checkout pricing, which we had also flagged in our localization review.
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| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Prices shown in US dollars across the site. | Prices localized to JPY to reduce hesitation at checkout. |
| Blunt, literal Japanese copy. | Natural, softer, more trustworthy Japanese copy. |
| English product details and color names on /ja pages. | Fully translated copy and color names with consistent terminology. |
| Checkout in Western field order, alphabet-only input | Japanese field order and Japanese character support. |
Since the 55 and over audience was our strongest, we recommended a dedicated landing page for them, focused on safety and peace of mind rather than technical specs, with a matching ad set.
What Else Was At Play
Marketing rarely happens in a vacuum, and several forces beyond the LINE ads have influenced these numbers over the project period:
- A rising crypto market. When prices climb, search, interest, and buying rise across the whole category, lifting branded and non-branded demand alike.
- Japan’s 2026 tax and regulation changes. Reform of how crypto is treated puts self-custody and security in the public conversation, independent of advertising.
- Trezor’s global product launch. The worldwide Trezor Safe 7 launch and its PR could have driven branded interest everywhere, including Japan, on top of our local activity.
- Seasonality and promotions. Black Friday, year-end, and sale periods move both attention and purchases.
The LINE channel delivered a steadily rising click-through rate, became the largest single source of traffic to the Japanese site, and coincided with the brand reaching its highest search interest on record.
How We Work
- TrueVP®. Our value proposition extraction framework.
- TrueTrack® Signals showing momentum, core KPIs presenting the channel-level data, and a success metric showing the core business metric – all benchmarked and with specific KPIs set.
- The 3/2/1 Analysis. Three highlights, two anomalies, one real learning, analyzed and delivered every month with a deep-dive into what happened, why, and what the specific next steps are to achieve the business goals.
- Localization-first growth, so the funnel does not block the ad performance.
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