I have worked for an internet advertising agency in Tokyo for more than 14 years. I’m in charge of Influencer Marketing business in a present company. I thought that the trend in Japan is always behind, or very different from the global market like the US and European countries. My impression is that many industry players believe that the worldwide market is bigger and ahead of Japan. However, my opinion about the situation has changed after I started to search for many pieces of information and attended an international marketing conference recently. You might not believe it, but I think that Japan might be ahead of the global market.
As you know, Influencer Marketing depends on human being. Some industry players say, “Influencer Marketing is a Human Marketing.” I can understand what they said. So-called right Influencer is different according to their region. In addition to that, we can’t ignore the language barrier in the Influencer Marketing field. The advertisers who are based on English speaking country have to choose English speaking Influencers. Since Asian countries have an original language usually, the Influencers which are based on their own country can’t expand their influence to the rest of the world. For the reasons set forth above, I thought that such a situation was very different between Japan and other countries. However, I noticed there were few differences there. No matter which countries marketers are, they have the same challenge and problem in the same industry. Though we have the same difficulties, I felt there were temperature differences among marketers. They have a different attitude against Influencer Marketing.
In my opinion, many marketers in Japan stick to subtle tactics. For example, finding right influencer out or measuring the effect of performance are a severe theme in Japan. As a result of that, there are many seminars which treat of such issues. I think that Japanese marketers are involved in these themes very well. Notably, many brands are worried about how to measure the effect of their influencer campaign. Only a few brands started to take advantage of influencers so far because there were few methods to estimate the impact of influencer campaign yet. This kind of theme is essential in a global market as well, but I don’t feel brands are worried about it as seriously as Japanese marketers do. I think that we have different priority about this marketing method. I felt that brands in the global market were concerned about influencer fraud and fake influencer more than these subtle tactics.
The reason why I said Japan might be ahead of the global market is that many marketers in Japan already stick to study subtle tactics. Of course, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Japanese marketers are greater than others. If they had a massive challenge without pursuing an essential quality, they would not continue to work as before. Unlike such a trend in Japan, I felt that global marketers like the US and Europe focused on dealing with essential quality like obliterating fake and fraud in this field. In my opinion, all markers and the industry players in Japan have to deal with this kind of crucial issues positively.
After noticing the gap between Japan and other countries, I had a question. Why don’t Japanese marketers try to seek an essential challenge like fake and fraud in the Influencer Marketing business? Maybe, they might think that this kind of trend in Japan is just a fad. Therefore, they might be crazy about dealing with work in hand. In my opinion, the responsibility of marketers is to not only seek ROI but also develop the market by the mid-long stance. I think that current timing in the Influencer Marketing is very critical. If industry players can’t obliterate every fake and fraud in this field, Influencer Marketing method will be a fad as some Japanese marketers think. The most important thing for every marketer is to solve some challenges and develop this new marketing method, Influencer Marketing more than ever.
There was a massive gap between Japan and the global market, especially the US market before. There might be the same in some market like traditional or old-fashioned region even now. However, I believe that there is no gap in the internet field. There is no border on the net unless government or authority cracks down on it. Fortunately, Japan adopts a democratic system, unlike China, North Korea, and some Middle East countries. Though there is no gap, there is some difference about stance and attitude against something. I can understand there are differences in my home country, but I think we have to adopt a long-term position in developing a new market. When it comes to Influencer Marketing, industry players should deal with any solution against fake and fraud in this field right now. We have to keep or get back the trust from every client. If we can’t ensure them, so-called Influencer Marketing will become just a fad soon.
Daisuke Kobayashi
I have worked for OPT, the digital marketing agency in Tokyo for more than 14 years. OPT has played an active role in this industry, and we have many clients who are brands companies in the Japanese market. I started to deal with “word of mouth” service on a Twitter platform in 2010. I’m in charge of Influencer Marketing business now. Primarily, I have focused on the reach for so-called Influencer Marketing in the global market recently.
