Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

candyjapan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 263 posts

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#181

Post by Mithaldu »

Symbiote wrote: post #162
shagie wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "what is Japanese candy like" can be answered by going to ITSUGAR and getting some... well... Japanese candy ( https://itsugar.com/crave-japan-blind-box.html )... or Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-assortment-dagashi-TONOSAMA-... - its even prime - I can get it tomorrow!). After I clicked that link, I've got on the order of 50 different Japanese candy boxes showing up in the "related to items you've view…

> Haribo candy berries). Yes, its a corn syrup base, Are you sure? As far as I can see, Haribo's European products at least are made with sugar. The EU sets a maximum production quota on high fructose corn syrup, I doubt there would be enough for Haribo to use it. (300,000 tonnes per year is the quota.)

The basic gold bears do contain corn syrup, under the name Glukosesirup: http://das-ist-drin.de/Haribo-Goldbaeren-200-g--1256/

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#183

Post by DownGoat »

hackathonguy wrote: post #182

I love Candy Japan and the articles are always fantastic. However, I can't help but wonder what about CJ is so captivating to the Hacker News audience - the posts seem to always end up on the front page.

They usually contains real world business cases from point-of-view of a technical person. Thats fits well with a large portion of HN users.

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#184

Post by Mithaldu »

shagie wrote: post #107
Mithaldu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand you mainly asked the questions to provide feedback, but as a subscriber i can give you some info that might help you decide: A lot of the sweets are made with cane sugar, which tastes distinctly different from the typical american fare. Beyond that they also have some taste combinations that you usually don't encounter in the us. Savoury snacks with sea weed tastes are pretty nice.

The "what is Japanese candy like" can be answered by going to ITSUGAR and getting some... well... Japanese candy ( https://itsugar.com/crave-japan-blind-box.html )... or Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-assortment-dagashi-TONOSAMA-... - its even prime - I can get it tomorrow!). After I clicked that link, I've got on the order of 50 different Japanese candy boxes showing up in the "related to items you've view…

> So why Candy Japan rather than another one?

That is a very good question. I don't know if there are comparison review sites, or how reliable they would be.

> I dread the prospect of opening it up and getting a box of sea weed

It sounds like you're not the type of adventurous person who'd care for this in the first place? Your mind went, in a leap of fear, from "tastes of sea weed" to "box of sea weed", which are wildly different concepts.

> different traditions in making candy for a different pallet will change the flavor profile

I'm a german and i've tasted, well, most german candies. And a bunch of american stuff when i visited (lol candy corn). The cane sugar stuff is wildly different even to my palate.

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#185

Post by Mithaldu »

mikekchar wrote: post #122
shagie wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "what is Japanese candy like" can be answered by going to ITSUGAR and getting some... well... Japanese candy ( https://itsugar.com/crave-japan-blind-box.html )... or Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-assortment-dagashi-TONOSAMA-... - its even prime - I can get it tomorrow!). After I clicked that link, I've got on the order of 50 different Japanese candy boxes showing up in the "related to items you've view…

You may be disappointed if you choose the amazon link. I had a hard time finding any candy in that box. It seems to be made up of mostly senbei (rice crackers) and Umaibou (think Cheetos in a stick). The seaweed makes a lot more sense when you realise that it's savoury, not sweet. For some reason, quite a lot of Japanese children do not like sweets. I don't think any of my friends kids like sweets. Korean style flavo…

The Dagashi point is very good. I was a candyjapan subscriber for a while, and their box contents usually felt like they were high quality products, or at least above average. Never "cheap".

I've even used some of them as gifts for other people based on their quality and taste matches.

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#187

Post by joecool1029 »

Symbiote wrote: post #162
shagie wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "what is Japanese candy like" can be answered by going to ITSUGAR and getting some... well... Japanese candy ( https://itsugar.com/crave-japan-blind-box.html )... or Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-assortment-dagashi-TONOSAMA-... - its even prime - I can get it tomorrow!). After I clicked that link, I've got on the order of 50 different Japanese candy boxes showing up in the "related to items you've view…

> Haribo candy berries). Yes, its a corn syrup base, Are you sure? As far as I can see, Haribo's European products at least are made with sugar. The EU sets a maximum production quota on high fructose corn syrup, I doubt there would be enough for Haribo to use it. (300,000 tonnes per year is the quota.)

>The EU sets a maximum production quota on high fructose corn syrup

Corn syrup != high fructose corn syrup. Way less sweet and mostly dextrose/glucose. Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_syrup

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#188

Post by technofiend »

jhou2 wrote: post #29

The ad was terrible. It explained how Candy Japan works. I don't care how Candy Japan works. I want the why should I buy Candy Japan. It should have focused instead on the candies that you can get. Delicious, weird, unique candies only available through this service.

That and the voice over actress sounded like someone from the Bronx trying to sound like a child. Her accent was jarring and bled through. Should have had professional ad copy written and voiced by someone who sounds either neutral or Japanese.

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#189

Post by raverbashing »

avree wrote: post #120
jhou2 wrote: post #29

The ad was terrible. It explained how Candy Japan works. I don't care how Candy Japan works. I want the why should I buy Candy Japan. It should have focused instead on the candies that you can get. Delicious, weird, unique candies only available through this service.

Additionally, just because someone is interested in Japanese candies, doesn't mean they like anime. The high-pitched annoying cartoon voice really turned me off right away, and it's not immediately obvious in the first 10 seconds (which is how long you have to watch before you can skip on YouTube) what it's for (after all, CrunchyRoll is a service for watching anime online, not ordering crunchy rolls.)

I think people are being a bit overly critical of the ad

Yes, it could have been better, yes maybe there could have been an "adult" version of it. (I don't think the narration is bad, but I'm not used to hearing native Japanese speakers, so that might be it)

What I think they should have done is have a copywriter script it.

However the phrase "would you like to try some Japanese candy" ends at 0:04 (and "Candy Japan sends you unique surprises 2x a month" ends at 0:08) so I do think they got to the point as quickly as possible

Re: What I Learned Burning $14k on YouTube Ads for Candy Japan

#190

Post by fwdpropaganda »

RichardHeart wrote: post #30

tldr: "In conclusion, did you break even? Nope. I lost money." " I too have lost money on adwords, and have a feeling it is more the rule than exception.

Sure, Google's $100bn/yr revenue is all just charity from people losing money /s
Post reply on HN