A launch in Japan gets built by several suppliers. A production company, a venue, a translator, a PR agency, a fabricator. Each one is briefed, contracted, and delivers what the contract describes. Then the parts arrive, and they do not sit together. We have written elsewhere about
A campaign is shot in Japan for a global launch. It runs everywhere, and it works — the imagery is beautiful, the references are recognizable, the response across its launch markets is what the team hoped for. In Japan the same images land differently. Nothing about
A brand arrives in Japan with a guideline that works. The positioning is clear, the visual system is disciplined, the copy has been signed off in three markets already. Nothing in the document is wrong. Then the launch happens, and it does not land. The usual
A booth that worked in Frankfurt or Chicago gets redrawn for Tokyo. The explanation usually offered is design — something about Japanese taste, or restraint, or attention to finish. The paperwork says something else. We read five exhibitor manuals published by Japanese trade show organizers. They