During the 2022 Men's World Football Championship, when the Japanese team unexpectedly defeated Germany, it quickly became the focus of discussion in Japan. Immediately, advertisers jumped on the craze and actively mentioned this historic victory when promoting their products, regardless of whether their brands or products were directly related to football. For game developers, if they want to inject realism and affinity into their advertisements, they must closely track current events and implement localization in a timely manner.
Another key factor in making advertising more authentic and approachable is having a clear understanding of which creative assets will appeal to local audiences. After running hundreds of campaigns, Appier's advertising managers found that Japanese audiences preferred bright colors and rich text messages, but had no particular preference for English letters, which is consistent with other Asian countries' preference for English letters in advertising creatives. There is a big difference.
This is very different from the image of Japan in Western australia phone number data countries, which is dominated by the minimalist style advocated by Marie Kondo, but it is also the true face of Japan. Some designers have written articles to provide insights into Japan’s contradictory Japanese design aesthetics at home and abroad . To reach a domestic audience in Japan, game developers must have a deep understanding of what works within Japan, rather than just focusing on what they push out to international markets.
In certain cases, localized creatives achieved click-through rates 1.3x to 2.8x higher than non-localized creatives, and video ads outperformed banner ads.
Find high value players
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Japanese game market is indeed very unique, and it can even be said that it has raised games to unprecedented heights. This is good news for game developers, as loyal gamers are often their main source of income.
According to Appier's observation and analysis, high-value players usually get information about new games not through websites, but through apps. Especially local game forum apps or social apps that provide comics/game content or life information.