Manga has long been a staple of Japanese culture, but did you know it’s now making waves in the business world?

Once seen purely as entertainment, cartoons are increasingly being used in marketing—especially in social media campaigns and video advertisements—thanks to its clarity, accessibility, and ability to engage audiences in a way traditional marketing often can’t.

In this article, we’ll explore the power of manga marketing, breaking down its advantages, potential drawbacks, and why more brands are embracing it as a compelling storytelling tool.

What is Manga Marketing?

Manga marketing refers to the use of cartoons by companies to advertise their products and services.

Cartoons are not often thought of as a marketing tool. Most people will associate cartoons more with Superman than shampoo. In reality, cartoons can allow businesses to break down complex information and difficult concepts into an easy-to-understand format.

Unlike traditional, text-heavy marketing, manga marketing combines colorful visuals, storytelling, and characters to create a more immersive experience. This approach is instantly memorable, emotionally engaging, and capable of reaching a wide range of demographics that traditional marketing often fails to.

Cartoons have a wide appeal, resonating with audiences across different age groups. English language comics have been around since 1940, with comic books remaining popular with younger generations, even as their format has evolved from print to television.

This familiarity creates connection with audiences, making marketing content more engaging and accessible. By lowering the psychological barrier to purchase, cartoons can drive higher engagement, boost sales, and ultimately improve ROI for businesses investing in this creative approach.

In short, manga as entertainment has been a mainstay of Japanese and Western cultures for generations, but the effectiveness of manga as marketing is gaining attention internationally as more and more businesses harness the power of this format to strategically communicate their value.

Manga Marketing: 5 Key Benefits

1. Establishing a Clear Persona

As mentioned earlier, manga marketing can reach a wide range of target audiences. It also allows for the clear definition of personas representing "ideal customers."

While businesses may find it easy to identify their target demographic, narrowing it down to a specific persona and envisioning their characteristics can be challenging. Even when a persona is defined, expressing it solely through words can make the advertisement feel abstract or difficult to grasp. However, in comic book marketing, the persona becomes the protagonist, directly connecting them to the "ideal customer."

By establishing the protagonist as their brand’s persona, businesses can foster empathy among users, making it easier for them to relate to and ultimately purchase the product or service.

2. Communicating Complex Content, Simply

The greatest strength of manga marketing lies in its ability to communicate effectively.

Text-only explanations can often be dull and difficult for users to understand. However, comic-style storytelling introduces products in a more engaging way, using visuals to convey complex information clearly and concisely.

When defining a marketing strategy, it's essential to consider specific situations potential customers may face. Explaining these scenarios through text alone can become lengthy and redundant, causing users to lose interest before finishing the ad.

Manga, on the other hand, illustrates these situations through pictures and character movements, making it easier for audiences to grasp difficult concepts.

Additionally, by depicting characters interacting with the product or service, users can better visualize its functionality and benefits. This helps bridge any gaps in expectations, ensuring a smoother experience once the product or service is delivered.

3. Creating a Lasting Impression

Manga marketing engages the ‘right brain’ by delivering information through visuals, making it easier for users to retain as images and memories.

Additionally, storytelling—one of the core elements of comics—is believed to stimulate the release of trust-building hormones like oxytocin and dopamine. This enhances comprehension and recall, making the content more memorable.

Manga also utilizes unique panel layouts to control the pacing of the story, allowing information to be presented gradually and effectively. Techniques such as "pulling" and "flipping" ensure that the most impactful scenes leave a strong, lasting impression on the audience.

4. Reaching New Audiences

Manga is a widely recognized and beloved medium, not only in Japan but across the world. This makes manga marketing a powerful tool for reaching potential customers who may not have been accessible through traditional advertising.

Cartoons are especially effective in engaging younger audiences, as they are naturally more appealing and easily accepted by them.

For these reasons, cartoon-based advertisements have become increasingly popular on platforms like Instagram and YouTube in recent years.

Additionally, cartoons are more visually striking than other forms of advertising. They can capture the attention of users who may not have initially been interested in the product by drawing them in with an engaging story.

As a result, cartoon marketing plays a significant role in increasing product awareness and expanding audience reach.

5. Reducing Information Overload

Manga marketing is particularly effective when communicating large amounts of information.

To encourage purchases, it’s crucial to deepen users’ understanding of a product or service. In traditional advertising, presenting too much information at once can overwhelm users, causing key details to become lost. This can lead to fatigue or make the content feel overly forceful.

However, cartoons integrate information into an engaging story, allowing users to absorb details naturally while enjoying the narrative. This makes them more likely to stay engaged and read through the entire ad without feeling overwhelmed.

Additionally, character reactions can be used to highlight product comparisons, unique features, and benefits. This allows users to intuitively grasp the value of the product, making the information more relatable and impactful.

How to Use Manga Marketing

Content Marketing

Cartoon-based content marketing often involves transforming owned media articles into engaging comics. These can take various forms, including original articles, current news, interview pieces, and Q&A-style columns.

When presented as a serialized format, this approach can convey more information than traditional ads. If the storyline follows a character’s growth or the resolution of a problem, the impact can be even greater.

A key advantage of content marketing is that it first builds awareness around the content itself, which then naturally increases awareness of the product or service.

Additionally, because these comics are perceived as entertainment rather than direct advertisements, they engage users without making them feel like they are being marketed to.

SNS Marketing

The use of cartoons in social media (SNS) marketing is expected to grow.

With regulations on stealth marketing set to take effect in October 2023, influencer-based marketing will become more challenging. As a result, investing in cartoon-based ads instead of influencer fees can be a more cost-effective and brand-safe strategy.

Instagram and Twitter are the primary platforms for SNS marketing, both offering high engagement and strong ROI potential. However, since these platforms have distinct user demographics, strategies should be tailored accordingly:

• Instagram: With a high percentage of female users in their teens and 20s, romance and essay manga genres are particularly effective.

• Twitter: Since the platform has a broader age range and a mix of male and female users, content should be more universally appealing.

Understanding these differences allows for more targeted and effective SNS marketing campaigns.

Advertising

Cartoon-based advertising primarily involves using well-known cartoon characters or commissioning original advertising comics from famous manga artists.

This approach significantly boosts brand awareness by leveraging the popularity of established characters and artists.

A particularly common technique is modifying the dialogue of a well-known comic so that its characters explain the product or service. This method offers a major time advantage over commissioning a brand-new comic. This approach also leverages the nostalgia and awareness of the original comic and characters, driving stronger engagement.

Creating an original comic for advertising can be time-consuming, but repurposing an existing comic by simply adjusting the dialogue streamlines the process, allowing the ad to be released more quickly.What to Consider When Using Cartoons for Marketing

Points to Consider When Using Manga for Marketing

Ensure Compatibility Between the Manga and Your Product

An ironclad rule of cartoon marketing is ensuring that the cartoon’s style aligns with the company’s products or services.

For example, using a children’s cartoon to promote a product aimed at adults may create a disconnect, potentially harming the brand’s image. Therefore, it’s crucial to match the readership of the cartoon with the target audience of the product.

When creating original advertising cartoons, it’s also important to consider the appropriate artistic style. Misjudging the preferred aesthetics of the target audience can lead to a lack of engagement.

For instance, when marketing children’s products, styles commonly seen on teen novel covers often attract more interest than rounded, soft illustrations. Think less Garfield, more The Hunger Games.

In short, successful advertising cartoons are created by understanding both the target audience’s preferences and the visual styles that resonate with them.

Allow Ample Time for Production

Manga creation involves multiple steps, including plotting, naming, drafting, and inking.

If major changes to the storyline or characters are required during production, the entire process may need to be restarted, leading to significant delays. The more revisions made, the longer the production timeline becomes.

To avoid quality issues caused by rushed deadlines, it’s essential to allocate sufficient time for cartoon marketing projects. If a cartoon is released with subpar quality due to time constraints, it can negatively impact the brand’s image.

Additionally, unexpected rewrites can lead to even more delays. Therefore, success in cartoon marketing depends on setting realistic production timelines while considering the availability of the manga artist.

Avoid Overloading Panels with Information

One of the key advantages of cartoon marketing is its ability to convey more information than traditional advertising.

However, since comics must balance storytelling with commercial messaging, cramming too much information into a single panel can make the content overwhelming and difficult to read, potentially causing users to disengage.

Each panel is valuable real estate in a comic strip, but maintaining some visual breathing room is just as important. Rather than overloading panels with excessive details, focus on making the comic engaging and easy to follow. Prioritizing readability over immediate comprehension of every detail encourages users to read through the entire manga, increasing its effectiveness.

Create Manga Ads with KABUKI CREATIVES!

KABUKI CREATIVES specializes in creating manga-based ads and landing pages (LPs). One study revealed that conversion rates (CVRs) doubled after switching to manga-based ads, demonstrating their remarkable effectiveness.

If you're interested in learning more about marketing techniques using cartoons, click the button below to request more information.