Japan's Unique Tissue-pack Marketing Method

For a business to be successful, it needs to employ some great marketing strategies and methods to attract potential customers. However, one needs to be careful when selecting which marketing method to use since some methods work better for certain niches than others. Marketing process is not easy and requires creativity and imagination. Most companies need a market research consultant to help them out.

Recently I found out about an interesting type of marketing method called Tissue-pack marketing. It is a common and very successful type of guerrilla marketing method used in Japan. Basically, Japanese companies hire some people to stand outside crowded places such as subway stations and hand out tissue-paper packets for free with a small advertisement inside. It is said that approximately 4 billion tissue packets are give for free annually and around ¥75 billion are generated by companies through sales.


Benefits
Tissue-pack marketing has a bunch of benefits compared to other forms of marketing such as handing out flyers. While flyers are commonly discarded and ignored by people, tissue-packs are easily accepted because they can be used for personal use.

Some benefits of this marketing method are:

1. Ads go directly to consumer - Instead of having a poster on a wall, you are directly giving the advertisement to the consumers.
   


2. Prompts consumers to look at the ad - Since most people are going to use the tissues, they will also end up reading the advertisement.
   


3. The ad has a long time effect - People will not use all the tissues in few minutes and thus will keep the packet for a long time. Thus, they will be looking at the ad everytime they use those tissues.
   

Influence
Now tissue-pack marketing method is not only used in Japan but also in other countries such as America. A company introduced this method in US in 2005. Another company started using this method in Paris this year (2008).

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