Two Konmaris: How Cleanliness Guru’s Marketed in the West

Two different YouTube channels for Kondo Marie fans highlight fundamental differences in Western vs. Japanese marketing.

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Turn on any Japanese variety show, and you’ll be treated to colorful globs of text in various fonts, quirky sound effects, and production sets jam-packed with ostentatious, eye-catching designs. Commercials and Japanese YouTube videos are no exception.

But what if you’re in Japan marketing to two vastly different audiences? A recent tweet comparing the video thumbnails on tidying expert Kondo Marie’s YouTube channels showcases how expertly she caters to both Japanese and Western tastes.

User @aomuro2nd tweeted screenshots of Kondo Marie’s video thumbnails with the caption: “On KonMari’s YouTube channels, the colors for Japanese audiences and overseas audiences are totally different. It blows my mind how strategically the videos are made.”

焚き火 on X (formerly Twitter): “こんまり先生のYOU TUBEチャンネル、海外向けと日本向けで色が全然違う。戦略的に動画を作っててすごい pic.twitter.com/greallmq6j / X”

こんまり先生のYOU TUBEチャンネル、海外向けと日本向けで色が全然違う。戦略的に動画を作っててすごい pic.twitter.com/greallmq6j

The original tweet by @aomuro2nd discussing the contrast in KonMari’s video thumbnails.

It’s actually quite a brilliant marketing move on Kondo Marie’s part. Kondo and her team have tapped into the Zen ambiance Westerners just love to eat up. And it shows; her overseas channel boasts 565,000 subscribers, while her Japanese channel has 59,200 subscribers. (This could also just be a popularity factor: as Krys Suzuki wrote last year, Kondo is not as renowned or idolized in her home country.)

Users commented on other noticeable differences, including Kondo’s makeup and facial expressions. Kondo is much more exuberant in her Japanese videos. Meanwhile, she adopts a calm, almost reverent persona in her Western-style videos.

Togetter user @pokkaripon made an astute observation on how Kondo Marie is perceived: “In Japan, she’s the lady who’s good at tidying up; in America, she’s the spiritualist from the East come to organize your life” (日本ではお片付けのうまいおねえちゃん、アメリカでは東洋から来た人生を整えるスピリチュアリスト).

Some even said they preferred the Western aesthetic over the Japanese one. It’s not hard to understand why. Even some Japanese people are annoyed with this overdone design trend. A few days prior to the viral KonMari tweet, Twitter user @minsan_cosme posted a similar design comparison with the caption “Please stop using the rom-com and pink font filters when designing the Japanese releases of Korean dramas and movies.”

Minさん | 韓国コスメと色々 on X (formerly Twitter): “韓国ドラマと韓国映画の日本発売デザインの際ラブコメ&ピンクフィルターをやめてください。。。😭 pic.twitter.com/BgSahg2Ima / X”

韓国ドラマと韓国映画の日本発売デザインの際ラブコメ&ピンクフィルターをやめてください。。。😭 pic.twitter.com/BgSahg2Ima

I’m no rhetoric and media studies expert, but I’m assuming the target audience here is young Japanese women.

An Image-Driven Strategy

Eguchi Natsuki, writing for Gentosha Media Consulting Inc.[1], notes that Japan employs an “image” strategy, often by hiring popular idols and actors to showcase the appeal of their product or message. This is a contrast to the often aggressive and hard fact-spewing so prevalent in Western advertising. This isn’t to say the U.S. doesn’t employ a similar strategy — think of the Old Spice commercials. But it’s an approach most Japanese companies have relied on for decades with measuring degrees of success.

Yet even this kind of approach can be hit and miss, Both the Red Cross poster controversy featuring Uzaki-chan and the fake McDonald’s ads are examples of this. It’s also inevitable for some of these advertisements to fall into the “Weird Japan” black hole. However, this emphasis on creating a story has led to some of the most memorable advertisements. There’s the Sakeru Gummy “Long Man” commercials[2], for instance, and the recent JSPCA campaign bringing awareness to animal abandonment.

So, what if you want your company or startup to be successful in Japan, or at least get your name out there? It’s probably best to not import a Western aesthetic and rely on its “foreignness” to get you clicks. The boastful “hard sell” approach so common in the U.S. probably won’t fly with Japanese audiences. Knowing what platforms are trending is key to ensuring success. Digital advertising and online video consumption are on the rise in Japan[3] due to the current pandemic. The popular app TikTok hit 20 billion downloads in Japan in April 2020.

Learning to tell a story in a way that doesn’t seem like pandering to Japanese audiences may be difficult. But perhaps, like Kondo Marie, your product or services might ultimately “spark joy” for multiple audiences.

What to Read Next

Why Subway is Dying in Japan – and Why Starbucks Keeps Growing

Sources

[1] 外国人には理解できない日本の広告 ~“イメージ戦略”の次の手を考える~. Gentosha

[2] YouTube video

[3] Top 3 digital marketing trends in Japan. DMFA

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