Brand Narrative Analysis Of Makoto Niitsu Animation Advertising

With the development of media technology,animated advertising plays a huge commercial and artistic value in the advertising industry with its unique brand narrative characteristics.As a major country in the animation industry,Japan’s animation advertising has formed a relatively stable development in the advertising industry and also occupies an important position in the world advertising industry.Makoto Niitsu began producing animation works in 2002,produced his first animated advertisement in 2007,and later became one of the most popular animation directors both domestically and internationally with his cinematic films.On the basis of inheriting and developing Culture of Japan and aesthetics,Makoto Niitsu has formed his own unique creative style.With its poetic narrative characteristics and ultimate aesthetic narrative style,it has produced multiple excellent animated advertising works and has a significant influence in the animation advertising industry.This is inseparable from the strong role played by its brand narrative content in the creation of animated advertising.This article will take 18 animated advertisements from Makoto Niitsu from 2007 to 2020 as the research object,and based on Lawrence Vicente’s research on the four major brand narrative elements as the theoretical framework,analyze and summarize the brand narrative of Makoto Niitsu animated advertisements from four aspects:theme,characters,plot,and aesthetics using text analysis methods,and explore the brand narrative characteristics of Makoto Niitsu’s animated advertisements.Through the analysis of Lawrence Vicente’s four major brand narrative elements:theme,characters,plot,and aesthetics,it is found that the content of Makoto Niitsu’s animated advertising is combined with the core values of the brand,presenting five themes: youthful vitality,growth in difficulties,individual emotions,humanistic care,and animation IP linkage.Characters are the fundamental condition for developing the plot.In terms of the character elements of brand narrative,Makoto Niitsu’s animated advertisements mainly focus on consumers,employees,and animated IPs as the main protagonists.Plot is a means of expressing the theme of a story.In terms of plot elements in brand narrative,it mainly consists of three parts: overcoming narrative conflicts,non-linear narrative structures,and a narrative perspective of character monologues that runs through the entire process.In terms of the aesthetic elements of brand narrative,we mainly start with the aesthetic ideas and brand narrative symbols of Makoto Niitsu.It is found that Makoto Niitsu’s animated advertisements are influenced by the local culture of Japan,and have unique artistic styles and cultural connotations of the Japanese nation,as well as various highly personal narrative symbols.Finally,this paper discusses the enlightenment of Makoto Niitsu animation advertising on the brand narrative of Chinese animation advertising from four aspects:weeding out the old to bring forth the new,advancing with the times,synergy and erudite.