Uchikura & Co., LLC

When an International Brand Created a Character Just for Japan

Global brands usually try to keep the same image everywhere. But sometimes succeeding in Japan means creating something uniquely Japanese.

 

A great example is Pepsiman.

 

Pepsiman was created in the 1990s as a superhero-style character to promote Pepsi in Japan. With his silver-and-blue body, featureless face, and exaggerated movements, he looked more like a Japanese tokusatsu hero than a traditional American advertising mascot.

 

What made Pepsiman interesting was that he was not simply an American commercial translated into Japanese. The character was designed around Japanese entertainment culture. His commercials were short, strange, funny, and memorable. Pepsiman would appear when someone desperately needed a Pepsi—then usually cause some kind of disaster along the way.

 

He became popular enough to appear in merchandise and even his own PlayStation game.

 

Pepsiman is a good example of localization beyond language.

 

Sometimes an international company should not simply ask, “How do we sell our global brand in Japan?”

 

A better question may be:

 

“How would Japan reinvent our brand?”