Cartoon (Manga) Advertisement in Japan – Effectiveness, and Examples
There is a cartoon (manga) advertisement in Japan, a unique advertising content culture. In recent years, many companies in Japan have used social media advertising in particular.
Therefore, in this article, we will introduce the definitions, effects, and examples of manga advertisements actually performed. If you are thinking about marketing with manga, please take a look.
What is Cartoon (Manga) advertisement?
Manga advertising is, as the name implies, an advertising method that uses cartoon or manga.
When the Japanese use familiar manga from their childhood for advertising, the psychology of “read it if it’s manga” works. Manga advertising has achieved high results by using this psychology.
Many people say they don’t want to see ads. However, if it is a manga advertisement where the manga is lined up, you will read it unexpectedly. In recent years, cartoon (manga) has been used in Japan as social media advertisements such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Example of Japan Organ Transplant Network cartoon (manga) advertisement on Twitter
Cartoon (Manga) is more effective than normal text advertisement
Advertising material is everywhere in our homes and businesses like a flood. Many of them have complex product descriptions and numbers.
If you were the customer, how would you see this? Sometimes it is hard to understand. Do you think these ads are effective? Do you think your message will reach your customers? Is it clear?
Manga is now recognized worldwide as Japanese culture. Manga is a familiar thing for those in their 60s or younger, most people who actually work in society, especially for the younger generation. Since Japanese people have been interacting with “manga = entertainment” since their childhood, the psychology of reading even cartoon (manga) even if they are advertising works.
Manga has visual effects that can not be conveyed only by sentences, simulated experiences by having a story, and effects that lower the psychological hurdle at the beginning of the reading.
By using the powerful appeal of manga, such as motivation, interest generation, storytelling, and easy-to-understand various messages sent by companies, it is possible to create highly effective advertisements.
5 effects of Cartoon (Manga) advertisement
Easy to share
Manga has the advantage that it is easier to share on social media than text and images.
Looking at Twitter’s annual retweet ranking in Japan, manga tweets received 4th place in 2016, 1st place in 2017, and 2nd place in 2018.
Also, in the case of manga, the interests of viewers are concentrated on the content, not the poster. Therefore, in cartoon (manga) promotion, you can expect responses such as comments that are compatible with the content you want to appeal.
Easy to remember
When reading cartoon (manga), the brain recognizes information not only in sentences but also in images. At this time, information is recognized by both character recognition processing using the left brain and image analysis processing using the right brain.
For this reason, it is said that manga that combines characters and images can retain information for a long period of time, compared to text that use only characters.
Convey more information in a short time
Reading the same content in manga takes less time than reading text only. As a result, manga consumes more information over time than text-only text.
Therefore, it is compatible with social media such as Twitter, where information contact time is relatively short.
Easy-to-understand to simulate usability
Manga is easier to understand even with difficult content because it is explained by illustrations, compared to text only.
Manga also encourages a simulated experience. Most advertisements explain the merits and features of a product, but cartoon (manga) can describe the effects of using the product. Therefore, readers can imagine products and services more specifically.
Able to display unrealistic expressions with affordable budget
With manga, it is possible to produce unrealistic visual effects or expression that would cost enormous costs when visualized, because you would not need any real persons or sets.
The ability to easily make fantastic productions that are likely to remain impressive is one of the major merits of manga advertising that is as competitive as video.
How to use Cartoon (Manga) advertisement
Banner and display advertisement to gain awareness
In manga advertising, there are many cases where manga marketing is used for display advertisements such as banners in the phase of attention and interest. By maximizing the visual effects of the manga and contributing to the continuity of the manga, it contributes to improving CTR. The following is an image.
Explanation advertisement
Manga is very good at telling things that are difficult to understand. Maybe the manga is more motivated to “read” than text alone.
In addition, the manga is very good at promoting simulated experiences. In general advertisements, explanations of the merits and functions of the product are often centered, but in the case of manga, the use of the product can be used to draw up to the future.
BtoB advertisement and Cartoon (Manga) advertisement
At first, there was a voice saying that manga is not suitable for BtoB. However, as of 2020, more and more companies are adopting manga marketing in the B2B business scene, such as security software, software sales, server management systems, attendance management systems, logistics management systems, production management systems, and mail distribution systems.
The person who actually makes the decision to purchase a product or service is the “people” as in BtoC and the people who read manga are not companies but “people”.
The higher the level of expertise in describing BtoB products and services, the more text tends to be written and the more jargon is used. Many of you may have experienced that the text was stuck in the web page or explanatory brochure and you did not want to read it.
The feature of manga marketing is that BtoC and BtoB are effective regardless of whether BtoC or BtoB is used because it is still “people”’ who make decisions.
Of course, some of them can damage your company’s brand image, so you may not want to use manga.
Samples of Cartoon (Manga) advertisement
Here are some of the cartoon (manga) advertisement that is actually on Twitter.
Online Book Store – BookOnline
【PR】ブックオフオンラインさんの漫画描きました！https://t.co/o3aEB1wpps pic.twitter.com/jg7xa6wYXs
— 吉川景都 (@keitoyo) July 14, 2018
Dating App – Pairs
ペアーズさんのPRで、趣味の合う同志を見つける男のまんがを描きました
— 凸ノ高秀 (@totsuno) December 26, 2018
最近は同じ趣味嗜好の人を見つけやすい「コミュニティ機能」が充実しているそうです
僕は「オリジナルすごろくを作って遊ぶ」コミュがあったら入りたいです よろしくお願いしますhttps://t.co/z25CtegbdQ #ペアーズ #PR pic.twitter.com/Yg554i6MVM
Movie – PLANET OF THE APES
10/13(金)に「猿の惑星：聖戦記」公開ということで、猿の惑星未見の人にストーリーをわかりやすく理解してもらう漫画を好き放題に描きました。多分間違ってません。多分。予告編をチェックしてくれ！https://t.co/HExuc7ppG1#猿の惑星 #PR pic.twitter.com/0hYoustakj
— やしろあずき (@yashi09) October 3, 2017
Karaoke – KaraokeCube
ハピネット様の依頼で家庭用カラオケマシンの体験レポ漫画を描かせて頂きました！
— ヤマモト＠電子書籍出たよ (@ymmtkid) December 7, 2018
カラオケ好きには超楽しいのでおすすめです…！ pic.twitter.com/SAXo0Z645r
Conclusion
As social media spread over time, manga ads are receiving more attention than ever. Did you understand what manga marketing is like?
Related article: Most used social media ranking in Japan
With the above assumptions, using manga marketing can lead to better results. Please use it to improve communication with customers in your business.
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