Hi, I’m Sissi, the marketing manager at SIGONO, the studio behind OPUS: Echo of Starsong. While there’s no shortage of advice on pitching to Western media, insight into working with Japanese media remains scarce. Media exposure is crucial for games venturing into overseas markets, and Japan’s gaming industry is no exception. With many Japanese media organizations boasting thriving Twitter communities, getting published by them opens the door to millions of gamers on Twitter — an opportunity no savvy marketer should miss!
However, the insular nature of Japanese society makes proper localization and a deep understanding of their customs essential. In this article, I’ll share a comprehensive account of our media outreach efforts, detailing how we tailored engaging marketing materials that resonated with the Japanese market. I’ll also highlight what I think we did right from a marketer’s perspective, using OPUS: Prism Peak as a case study. So buckle up and let’s dive into the fascinating world of Japanese media outreach! I hope you find it helpful!
Diverse Japanese media coverage of OPUS: Prism Peak
Successful media outreach is all about the details, but before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s discuss a basic principle for approaching the media:
You must drive traffic to the media.
Think from their perspective, and communicate in their language.
With that in mind, let’s explore the primary materials, supplementary materials, and key considerations for effective Japanese media outreach:
Primary Material 1: Image Assets
Image asset creation is all about one thing: driving traffic to media. All commercial media, regardless of location, share the common goal of increasing views, clicks and engagement on their platforms and within their communities.
So how do we help drive traffic to media? By providing materials that will pique the interest of their readers — otherwise known as traffic-generating assets. When pitching to media, make sure the materials you provide meet both of these criteria for media sites and communities:
Ease of Use:
Familiarize yourself with common image requirements for major media outlets and deliver material that doesn’t require cropping, is easy for journalists to use, and shows the full impact of the image.
Attention-grabbing:
Keep your team motivated by celebrating their artistic talents and maintaining a positive attitude. Before launching your marketing efforts, create mockups of your artist’s images on the target outlets to gauge their attention-grabbing potential. If they don’t quite hit the mark, go back to the artist with your mockup and ask for help.
The definitions of “ease of use” and “attention-grabbing” may vary depending on the country and media you’re targeting, so do your research before pitching!
caption: Stunning Feature Art for OPUS: Prism Peak, ready for journalist use!
In my emails to media contacts, I typically attach the following two types of image assets:
Static Assets:
Feature art — Deliver in both vertical (1417 x 1984, < 1MB) and horizontal (1920 x 1080, < 1MB) formats. Due to the variety of media layouts, providing both orientations gives media the flexibility to utilize them, ensuring that the full appeal of the visual assets is showcased.
Animated Assets:
GIF (< 1MB) — With many Japanese media outlets having a strong Twitter presence, creating engaging animated images is key, as Twitter users love GIFs. Creating a compelling GIF can help you tap into this huge audience. For example, one of our GIFs received 380K views from a single post on Denfaminicogamer (電ファミニコゲーマー). Achieving similar reach through paid advertising would require a substantial budget, making GIFs a cost-effective marketing strategy.
So, start creating eye-catching static and animated image assets that resonate with Japanese media and gamers, and watch your outreach efforts soar!
For tips on how to make a great GIF, I recommend this classic talk by fellow PR expert Thomas Reisenegger:
Once you’ve created your marketing materials, there are two critical tasks you need to complete to ensure your assets are well-prepared:
Optimize the file size:
Keep in mind that many journalists prefer to check email on their phones. Ideally, your entire email should be under 5MB to ensure that content is displayed immediately upon opening. Imagine if an email took over 5 seconds to load, surely you’d grow impatient and want to close it as well? Also, if a journalist is using an iPhone app to check email, GIFs larger than 1MB will require a click to view. Keep your GIFs under 1MB so they show up automatically.
Pay attention to file naming:
Before your email is opened, the attachment filename appears below the subject line in the recipient’s inbox. If the filename is too random, your email may look like spam or a commercial message. It’s best to use the filename to make the contents of the attachment clear. Although it’s often overlooked, the filename carries as much weight as the email subject and should never be underestimated.
By optimizing file sizes and naming conventions, you can create a polished and professional impression with your marketing materials, increasing the chances of capturing the attention of Japanese media.
Primary Material 2: Letter
When writing a letter to the Japanese media, your content should accomplish three goals:
Pique journalists’ interest
Convey game information accurately
Lower the barrier for journalists to cover the game
Be sure to include the following key points in your letter:
Elevator pitch
Craft a powerful sentence that highlights your game’s unique selling point. There are many resources on GDC Talks about creating an elevator pitch. Personally, I recommend these two videos:
In this talk, Mike Rose breaks down elevator pitches into the “Hook” and the “Kicker” and shares his thought process.
This video explores how “This War of Mine” found their positioning, appeal and created their elevator pitch.
Game Introduction
An eye-catching, accurate, and concise description of the game, about the length of a Steam description. Ideally, it should be written so that journalists can copy and paste it directly. We know journalists are busy. Making their lives easier, reducing their workload, and lowering the threshold for coverage can increase your game’s chances of being covered.
Endorsements
If your game lacks popularity or unique news angles, celebrity endorsements, awards, or attention in certain markets can give journalists more incentive to cover your game.
Japanese letter etiquette/format
When submitting to Japanese media, try to use a formal tone that is different from Western media. Below is the structure I often use:
caption: Masterfully illustrated by me!
You can easily find professional explanations for greetings, closings, cushion words (クッション言葉), you can easily find professional explanations through Google, so I won’t elaborate here.
As for the placement of the GIFs, I sometimes place them before or after the main content, and sometimes sprinkle them throughout, depending on the specific GIF content or current needs.
Signature
Japanese emails typically include the company name, signature, email, and address. My emails include the company name, signature, official company website, and one or two links to the company’s social media. Including your company’s official website shows professionalism, and including one or two social media links that are active in the Japanese market can demonstrate your company’s presence and popularity in Japan, increasing the recipient’s confidence in covering your game.
By crafting a compelling letter that addresses these key points, you can effectively engage with Japanese media and increase the chances of your game being noticed.
Primary Material 3: Trailer
When you receive a trailer for marketing purposes, your first task is to give it an appropriate name. Label them in media-speak to effectively say, “Hey, here’s something to cover. Derek Lieu’s “Game Trailer Types and When to Make Them” summarizes several common trailer types and their content:
Announce Trailer
Gameplay Trailer
