Saren Sakurai

Verified

Digital Japan 2010 - By the Numbers

As we watch the first ten years of the 21st century fade into memory, and we turn our attention to the brand new decade ahead, the embedded presentation above is an opportunity to place a bookmark between the two decades and illustrate exactly where Japan digital culture stands at the beginning of 2010.

I have collected 27 pages of facts and statistics which I think most clearly define the immediate landscape of digital in Japan. Some of these figures will be recognizable to some of you, and some might be surprising and new, but over the next few weeks and months, I will refer to them as I continue to highlight some of the crucial trends developing in Japanese digital culture - particularly as it influences Japanese digital marketing.

Please subscribe to this Posterous for occasional updates in somewhat longer form, or, for more regular links to Japanese digital articles and research, you can follow either delicious.com/saren or twitter.com/saren.

As always, please leave a comment or post a question.

Presentation Sources and Credits

1. Image by heiwa4126
2. Reference: Forrester, July 2009 "Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 To 2013" ; Image by pacificit (Flickr)
3. Reference:eMarketer.com; Image by marufish (Flickr)
4. Reference: Google Ad Planner, November 2009; Image by heiwa4126 (Flickr)
5. Image by kirainet (Flickr)
6. Reference: emarketer.com "Japan Mobile Brief" 10/07/2009; Image by cocoarmani (Flickr)
7. Reference: emarketer.com “Japan Mobile Brief” 10/07/2009; Image by toyohara (Flickr)
8. Reference: emarketer.com Graph #105687; Image by kengz (Flickr)
9. Reference: emarketer.com ; Image by Beckii Cruel (YouTube screenshot)
10. Reference: emarketer.com; Image by Saren (screenshot)
11. Reference: mobikyo; Image by y4rd1n4 (Flickr)
12. Reference: Kei Shimada of Infinita as quoted in Contagious Magazine; Image by cloneofsnake (Flickr)
13. Reference: Kei Shimada of Infinita as quoted in Contagious Magazine; Image by stephencannon (Flickr)
14. Reference: techcrunchies.com; Image by dlisbona (Flickr)
15. References: MMD Labs/WirelessWatchJapan; Image by cavorite (Flickr)
16. Reference: Google Japan (via blog.gaijinpot.com); Image by kamoda (Flickr)
17. Reference: Kei Shimada of Infinita as quoted in Contagious Magazine; Image by jfchenier (Flickr)
18. Reference: Fortune.com and 9to5mac.com; Image by moojie (Flickr)
19. Image from Mixi.jp
20. Reference: Google Ad Manager, December 2009
21. Reference: Goo Research (via What Japan Thinks); Image by gyazickr (Flickr)
22. Reference: emarketer.com Graph #107876; Image by spilt-milk (Flickr)
23. Reference: Kei Shimada of Infinita as quoted in Contagious Magazine; Image from Gree.jp
24. Reference: CNET Japan; Image from mbga.jp
25. Reference: Asiajin.com; Image from Pixiv.net
26. Reference: Google Ad Planner, November 2009 ; Image by ottonassar (Flickr)
27. Image by yamagatacamille (Flickr)
28. Image by heiwa4126

Additional thanks for the following individuals for writing me thoughts and comments: Oliver Reichenstein, InformationArchitects.jp, Lawrence Cosh-Ishii, Mobkyo; Jim O'Connell; Manny Santiago, HESO Magazine; Michael Keferl, CScout Japan; Alan AKA shibuya246; Hawken King; David Scripps, Appliya.com; and Alan Yu, ngmoco.com

Portfolio: Miracle Whip "Zingr" 2009

via vimeo.com

Client: Kraft Foods
Brand: Miracle Whip
Agency: AKQA

AKQA was tasked to reintroduce Miracle Whip, a flavor like no other, to a younger demographic who loved the brand as children, but haven't bought the product since leaving home.

Zingr, a branded browser plug-in for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, is a unique brand engagement, reintroducing the Miracle Whip brand to digital savvy, social networked, 18-35 year-old consumers through an entertaining digital utility. Zingr is a way to tag a specific part of a webpage with a 140 character comment. Zingr works through Facebook Connect, so whenever you leave a Zing on a web page, a link is shared with your friends via the your public newsfeed.

Zingr was promoted through targeted Facebook placements, seeded on tech-savvy influencer blogs, via non-traditional badge placements in the Federated Media Network, as well as innovative text links in Social Network bookmarking sites like Digg.com and Reddit.com. In June, the online media expanded to include rich media placements on entertainment and youth content sites.

The Problem: Young adults do not purchase Miracle Whip once they leave thier parent's home. They need to be reintroduced to the new formula, and Miracle Whip needs to update itself for the digital age.

The Insight: 18-35 year-olds are digitally savvy and independent minded; they want to actively customize their content; they’re native to digital sharing but resistant to branding.

The Solution: Establish MW in the Social Media space and provide a lightly branded utility for consumers to engage with the brand and one another.

The Results: New Facebook Page went from 0 to 18,000 fan in six weeks. Videos on YouTube have generated 90,000 views in two months. Buzz tweet reach peaked at 41,000 views during the three week seeding period. Plugin BETA seeding produced 2,000 core users ahead of a national launch. Full launch generated 50,000 downloads in Q3-Q4. Digital campaign was covered in AdWeek, BrandWeek, AdFreak and AdRants.