If you are as amazed with the new Pepsi product released in Japan as I am, or how odd Angelina Jolie (she’s French) looks in the new Shiseido ad- you would be surprised to see how the advertising has changed. It turns out that search boxes seem to be the latest thing in advertising all over the little island, and have been for the past few months. Not only do they list the URL, but they also place a search box in the ad, with the keywords already placed.

You may be asking yourself “Why is this?” Could it be that dot coms are starting to run out? Could searching be THAT much more fun? In a way it makes sense. If I am telling someone to visit my portfolio I can tell them “Google my name and the word: portfolio” instead of saying “Double you double you double you dot” saying it, then spelling it, then having to write it down for them because it’s not a common word.

We also have the tendency to forget, and sometimes company URLs don’t really follow along with what they are producing. Keywords are common though; people remember them, AND by associating them with a product, people will think of that product when they see those words. Genius!

The image above is for an ad for a contact lens company called Ace Contacts. Their url is www.goace.jp and the search is “e-su kontakuto” = ace contacts.

Also, mobile web browsing in Japan is very common. Typing in just the keyword is faster than having to type “www” and “.com” even if there is a button for them on your phone. It’s also just easier to load a search engine and tap in a keyword.

I feel that AOL used to do something very similar to this on a lot of their advertising. Throwing in “AOL Keyword thigh master” or some other random subject/topic/thing at the very end. That’s the closest I have seen anything similar to in America.

I feel that if this catches on elsewhere, this could create a war in adwords; and who will be on top of searches? First fighting over dot coms, then this? How are you to fight using your words when you don’t even have any!?

American cuisine = Mcdonalds homepage?