5 Marketing Lessons from Jiro Dreams of Sushi

If you haven’t seen the beautifully shot documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb, I highly suggest you set aside some Netflix time in the near future to do so. The movie is touching, gorgeous and inspiring.

That being said, I also found myself thinking about the documentary for days afterwards – and applying the lessons from the film to a variety of different pursuits – including marketing.

A little background:

The film follows Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi master who has spent his life perfecting his craft at his deceptively modest 3-star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo. Jiro is supremely dedicated to the art of sushi (some would say obsessed) – and has earned a reputation for serving the best sushi in the world.

So, what does sushi have to do with marketing? The more I thought about Jiro’s story, the more I realized the parallels between his life’s work and success and great marketing. Here are a few lessons we can take from the movie and apply to the marketing world:

Focus On What You Do Best

Perhaps what’s given Jiro the reputation he has today was his desire to only serve sushi at his restaurant. There are no appetizers and no menu. Guests are served the sushi Jiro has prepared that day, in the order he has decided. This allows Jiro to focus entirely on a single menu of sushi every day – and ensuring the perfection of each piece.

This same principle can be applied to marketing. Stop focusing on the things that don’t matter (i.e. the fluff). When marketing your product and/or services, focus on the narrow message you want to deliver. Don’t make an audience think too much about what you are offering. Too many choices leads to paralyzation. Provide an experience that focuses on exactly what you are trying to communicate and limit anything that distracts from this core message.

Much like Jiro found appetizers filled diners up too much to truly enjoy the sushi, you don’t want bloated marketing to fill your audience up too much to understand your message.

What does your business/product/client do exceptionally well? What message or benefit are you trying to communicate? Focus in on these elements and the resulting marketing efforts will be tight, easily digestible and often very effective.

The Details Matter

Jiro thinks about every single detail that goes into his sushi. From the seating arrangements to the ingredients to the temperature of the rice – absolutely nothing is overlooked.

In marketing, the same attention to detail can make the difference between a mediocre campaign and a great one.

I was recently part of a team that helped with the redesign of the Virgin America website. What resonated with audiences about the new site was not only the overall look, feel and function, but also the attention to all of the small details. Instead of standard (and boring) copy to alert passengers they had completed a step in booking a flight, we wrote cheeky, on-brand and fun messaging that made the experience feel completely Virgin.

It was a little detail that went a long ways in creating a holistic experience. Which brings us to….

It’s All About a Holistic Experience

Jiro thinks about EVERYTHING when it comes to his guests’ experience. He serves one piece of sushi at a time to every customer that sits in his tiny, 11-seat restaurant. He’s focused on ensuring all patrons finish eating at the same time, so he makes bigger sushi for bigger people and smaller sushi for smaller people, adjusting on the fly.

He also notices which hand people use to eat their sushi, and then places each piece on the plate accordingly to make it easier to pick up. Everything from seating arrangement to portion size is handled in the background by Jiro and his staff so customers can focus on the one thing they came to do: eat the best sushi in the world. Jiro understands that it’s all of these components that contribute to the experience – not just the output (the sushi).

In marketing, we may not be able to sit and closely observe the way an audience is consuming our efforts, but with today’s technology, we do have powerful analytics and data that can help inform you of an audience’s interaction with your marketing and their experience. Smart marketers will use these insights to adjust tactics on the fly in order to create the best, most effective experience.

Simplicity Leads to Purity

All of Jiro’s sushi is extremely simple. This not only allows the ingredients to shine through, but makes the end result pure (and delicious. and beautiful). Essentially, Jiro edits his sushi down to only the most crucial elements – and then makes sure those elements are perfect.

Do the same with your marketing: Edit. Remove. Repeat.

Reduce your marketing and messaging down to its most essential and important elements. Allow the “ingredients” of your marketing shine through. Focus on making each piece of marketing boil down to only the most essential elements. This will help drive a clear, easily digestible and effective marketing messaging and strategy.

Never Stop Improving

At 85 years old Jiro is the best sushi chef in the world. And yet, he proudly states that he is not perfect and there is always room for improvement. Jiro was nine years old when he left his home, and he has only done one thing since then: keep improving. Even after he received an award from Japan declaring him a national treasure, he returned to work the same day to further improve his skills.

You can apply this same attitude towards your marketing. So what if you ran a great campaign last month? Even if your CTR is great, or your impressions have gone through the roof, or you are driving tremendous inbound leads, there is always room for improvement. You can always look at what’s working and find a way to improve and expand upon it. Your job as a marketer is never “done.”