SoftBank, Hard Money (pt. I)

There's probably no better way to start showcasing a series of "only in Japan" (OIJ) ad campaigns than with Cameron Diaz and her ridiculously lucrative commercials for SoftBank Mobile, one of Japan's Big Three cellphone carriers.

Diaz fronted the brand since Oct. 2006, and has since filmed four television spots for the company. Brad Pitt is another Hollywood A-lister to feature in SoftBank commercials, but it's Diaz's campaign that seemed to blanket Tokyo when I was in town a few months ago. Here's her heavily played TV spot from summer 2007.



And another from 2006:


She looks gorgeous, but the ads are pretty ridiculous. For all we know, she's not even holding a SoftBank phone. There's hardly any focus or mention at all of the phone or the services. Rumor has it she was paid $3 million for 6 hours of work on these commercials. I believe these were even filmed in LA, despite being an OIJ feature.

Aside from her uneventful TV spots, SoftBank also paid to have Cameron's pretty mug plastered all over Tokyo. Lovely as she is, I'm not a big fan of Ms. Diaz. Yet every time I passed by one of those ads, I, like many around me, couldn't help but stare back at her mesmerizing, super-Photoshopped eyes. I suppose that's good art direction for ya.




(Below, Cameron stares out from the stylish SoftBank store in Omotesandou, one of Tokyo's fashionable districts, reminiscent of a mixture of Fifth Avenue and Soho.)

The Japanese have always had the tendency to fawn over anything Western or Hollywood-imported. The fact that SoftBank chose Cameron Diaz as their spokeswoman, and that her ads show nothing substantial, clearly makes this particular campaign more about brand-building instead of selling phone services. While this campaign isn't the only source of advertising for SoftBank (more on that in an upcoming post), having a beautiful, blonde Hollywood actress was enough to create huge buzz among Japanese customers.

And Softbank's millions paid off. According to the Japanese Telecommunications Carriers Association, Softbank currently leads its competitors with the greatest increase in subscribers for the past six months and counting. Ka-ching!