Did you know that manga, which is very familiar to Japanese people, is now expanding its activities in the business world?
The cartoon “format” is now frequently used in marketing in recent years for social networking and video advertisements due to its clarity and communicative power.
In this article, we will show you how effective cartoon marketing, which is composed of pictures, text, characters, and stories, is and what advantages and disadvantages it has.
What is cartoon marketing?
Cartoon marketing refers to the use of cartoons by companies to advertise their products and services.
The use of cartoons as a marketing tool makes it possible to present complex information and difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand manner, smoothly communicating product and service descriptions through stories and characters.
In addition, the manga itself is accepted by a wide range of age groups, making it appealing to a large number of targets, lowering the psychological hurdle to purchase and easily leading directly to improved ROI (return on investment) for the client.
Although manga is perceived as entertainment and not many people think of it in direct connection with business, many companies are now using manga not as an entertainment product but as a means of doing business, and this trend is rapidly accelerating.
Unlike conventional marketing that uses words and numbers, manga marketing is composed of pictures, words, characters, and stories. It has various advantages, such as being memorable at first glance, appealing to emotions by simulating the user’s experience through the story, and reaching an age group that could not be reached before.
In addition, manga is in demand not only domestically but also internationally, and the effectiveness of manga marketing in overseas expansion is attracting attention.
5 Expected Benefits of Marketing with Cartoons
1. to be able to set up a clear persona
As mentioned above, cartoon marketing can reach a wide range of target audiences. It is also possible to clearly define personas that are “ideal customers.
While it may be easy for a company to narrow down its target demographic, it is not easy to get down to a specific persona from there and envision a persona.
And even if you can assume a persona, if you try to express it only in words, the ad itself can become esoteric.
In comic book marketing, however, the persona is the protagonist, and the protagonist is equally connected to the “ideal customer.
By establishing the protagonist as a persona, you can create empathy among users and make it easier for them to accept your product or service.
2. communicate difficult content in an easy-to-understand manner
The greatest appeal of cartoon marketing lies in its high communicative power. Text-only explanations are often boring and difficult for users to understand.
However, a comic book can tell a story to introduce a product and visually convey difficult content through pictures and text.
When setting the direction of marketing, it is sometimes necessary to assume the specific situation of potential customers at the stage of narrowing down the target group. If you try to explain the specific situation using only text, it will become redundant, and users may not see the ad until the end.
However, with manga, specific situations can be expressed through pictures and character movement, making it possible to convey difficult content in an easy-to-understand manner.
In addition, by having the characters simulate the product or service, users can have an image of the product or service in use, thereby alleviating any gaps after the service or product has been provided.
3. easy to leave a lasting impression
Cartoon marketing stimulates the right brain by providing users with information through graphics and pictures, which are easily impressed as images and memories.
Furthermore, stories, one of the most important concepts in comics, are believed to release the trust hormones oxytocin and dopamine, which make it easier to get the content into your head and remember it.
In addition, the technique of panel layout in manga allows the story to be told in a slow and steady manner, and the techniques known as “pulling” and “flipping” allow the most telling information to be conveyed in scenes with the greatest impact, making it easy to leave a lasting impression on the reader.
4. reach people you couldn’t reach before
Since the manga medium itself is well known and popular not only in Japan but throughout the world, advertising through manga marketing has the advantage of reaching potential customers that have not been reached before.
Cartoons are also a good approach for young people, as they are easily accepted by younger audiences.
Because of the above reasons, cartoon ads have increased on Instagram and YouTube in recent years.
In addition, cartoons are more eye-catching than other types of advertising, and can attract users who are not interested in the product itself with a story.
Therefore, cartoon marketing can contribute greatly to increasing product awareness.
5. can convey a lot of information
Cartoon marketing is also effective when you want to convey a lot of information. This is because it is essential to deepen users’ understanding of products and services in order to motivate them to buy.
In normal advertising, if you try to convey a lot of information at once, the important information conveyed will be scattered, and the user may become fatigued or feel that they are being pushed around.
On the other hand, cartoons allow users to understand products and services while enjoying the information conveyed by putting it into a story.
As a result, they tend to be more likely to read the ad all the way through without feeling fatigue.
In addition, the character’s reactions can be used to express comparisons with other companies and other aspects of the product, allowing the user to directly convey the feel and benefits of using the product.
How to Use Cartoon Marketing
content marketing
Content marketing using cartoons often involves turning owned media articles into cartoons, which can take a wide variety of forms, including original articles, current news, interview articles, and question-and-answer type columns.
When done in a serialized format, the amount of information can be even greater than in a regular ad, and if the story depicts the growth of a character or the resolution of a case, the results can be even greater than usual.
Content marketing is characterized by the fact that the awareness of the content created ahead of the awareness of the product or service increases, and the awareness of the product or service increases in proportion to the content created ahead of the awareness of the product or service.
One of the attractions of this service is that it does not burden users with the perception that they are watching an advertisement, because the cartoons created are not seen as advertisements, but rather as entertaining cartoons.
SNS Marketing
SNS marketing using cartoons is expected to continue to increase.
This is because stealth marketing will be regulated starting October 2023, making it harder to market using influencers.
It is more cost-effective to put the commission fee paid to the influencer into creating the advertising cartoon, and there is less chance of damaging the brand image.
The main tools used in social network marketing are Instagram and Twitter. Both tools have a large number of active users and can be expected to provide a high level of ROI.
However, since both tools have different characteristics, it is necessary to distinguish between them in consideration of the product and target audience when utilizing SNS marketing.
For example, since Instagram has a high percentage of female users in their teens and 20s, it is often drawn in the romance and essay manga genres.
Because Twitter has a high average age and a large number of both male and female users, cartoons are often drawn with content that can be accepted by all.
advertising
Advertising using cartoons is primarily the use of well-known cartoon characters or original advertising cartoons by well-known cartoonists.
These advertising campaigns are expected to significantly increase awareness due to the popularity of the original cartoon and cartoonist.
Particularly common are advertising cartoons in which only the dialogue of a well-known cartoon is changed and the character is asked to explain the product or service.
This form of advertising is characterized by a higher time performance than having a cartoonist draw an original cartoon.
Typically, creating an original cartoon for an advertisement requires a lot of time.
In comparison, the method of converting an original cartoon into an advertising cartoon by changing only the dialogue can eliminate the process of drawing the cartoon, making it possible to get the advertisement out into the world in a short time.
What to Consider When Using Cartoons for Marketing
Determine the compatibility of your products with theirs.
The ironclad rule for cartoon marketing is that the elements of the cartoon must be compatible with the company’s products and services.
For example, if a cartoon for children is used to introduce a product aimed at adults, there may be a gap between the cartoon and the product or service, which may lead to a deterioration of the brand image.
Therefore, it is necessary to keep in mind the match between the readership of the cartoon and the target audience of the merchandise.
In addition, when creating original advertising cartoons, there are cases where the creator misunderstands the drawing style (picture touch) that will be popular with users.
For example, when creating advertising cartoons for children’s products, there are many cases where the boys’ or girls’ cartoon style depicted on the covers of light novels and the like attract users’ interest and lead to purchases, rather than the rounded, soft style.
Advertising cartoons should be created based on an understanding of the target audience’s purchasing preferences and compatibility.
Allow a certain amount of time for production.
Manga is usually completed through a number of processes, including plotting, naming, drafting, and penning.
Whenever a storyline or character is changed during the creation process, everything must be rewritten from scratch, and the more changes that are made, the more delays there are in the delivery date.
Therefore, it is important to allow a certain amount of time for deadlines when conducting cartoon marketing. If a cartoon is delivered and released with insufficient quality because of a deadline, the brand image may be damaged.
It may also lead to more project delays if it becomes a rewrite.
Therefore, the key to success in cartoon marketing lies in setting an appropriate production period while taking into account the cartoonist’s schedule.
Don’t cram too much information into one panel.
As mentioned earlier, the advantage of cartoon marketing is that it gives users more information than regular advertising.
However, because a comic must contain a story in addition to the commercial information, if too much information is packed into a single panel, the comic itself becomes difficult to read, and users may stop reading.
A single panel is valuable space for a comic strip, but margins are also necessary. It is better to prioritize recognition over understanding of the merchandise, and to encourage the reader to read the manga to the end first.
Cartoon Marketing Case Study
Case Studies in Japan
Here are some examples of manga marketing in Japan.
Please click on the link below for more information.
Overseas Case Studies
Here are some examples of manga marketing in other countries.
Please refer to the respective links below for detailed information on each country.
Create Manga Ads with MangaAds Japan!
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