How Japanese mayo brand Kewpie is making inroads stateside

At Japanese brand Kewpie, the juice mayo is worth the squeeze.

Over the last three years, Kewpie Americas’ small, in-house marketing team has been building out a brand strategy following the mayo’s surge in popularity that first began five years ago, Jeremy Stoddard, assistant general manager of marketing at Kewpie Americas, told us. One of the brand’s earliest breakthroughs came courtesy of creator Emily Mariko, who featured the product in her viral salmon-bowl post in 2021. In September, Mariko officially partnered with the brand, he said.

While the brand runs a multichannel approach, social has been a large focus area in targeting its key demographic of 20- to 30-year-olds, Stoddard said. The brand also kicked off its first major tour in the US, the I Love Kewpie tour, in Southern California this month with its Kewpie doll mascot front and center. Based on early results, Stoddard said IRL touchpoints will be a major focus of the brand’s community-building strategy next year.

We spoke with Stoddard about the ways Kewpie is looking to break through with American audiences on- and offline.

Spread the word

To date, Kewpie USA has amassed nearly 200,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok. Stoddard said his team views TikTok as a discovery channel, posting shorter recipes, as well as creator and mascot content, while Instagram is for fostering community with giveaways and brand updates. When it comes to measuring success online, the Kewpie team isn’t necessarily going by likes.

“Engagement is the name of the game, and for us, it’s specifically saves and shares,” he said. “Save means, when it comes to a recipe, for example, they want to cook it, and that’s a step towards buying and retention.”

After seeing the success of Mariko’s organic posts about its products, the Kewpie marketing team has made a concerted effort to work with various chef creators to show the ways Kewpie can be subbed in for traditional American mayonnaise, like in the brand’s sandwich series from earlier this year, as well as less common applications like on vegetables, a use inspired by the brand’s Japanese roots.

“Someone who cooks for a living, [are they] reaching for Kewpie?” Stoddard said. “That carries more weight than anything we can say ourselves.”

The goal next year is to continue growing the brand’s network of creators, which has included Mariko, Sam the Cooking Guy, and Easy Peasy Jordan, through an ambassador program. Ambassadors are considered on the basis of their organic love for (and posts about) the brand, Stoddard said.

As more people cook with Kewpie mayo, Stoddard said the brand aims to encourage other people to replicate the recipes and post their own experiences as part of its UGC strategy. The I Love Kewpie tour is also meant to generate UGC through merch and photo ops, including with the mascot, Stoddard said.

The Kewpie mascot, which was originally designed by an American illustrator in 1909, is on a homecoming tour of sorts, Stoddard said, and telling the mascot’s origin story is one way the brand hopes to make inroads with American consumers.

“It’s kind of become synonymous with the Kewpie brand, having the doll on there,” Stoddard said. “So bringing it to the United States, we wanted to have fun with it.”

Some brands have used mascots as part of an “unhinged” social strategy, but Stoddard said Kewpie aims to be conservative with its stunts and keep with the standards set by HQ in Japan. Staying true to the brand’s roots while standing apart in the US market is a “fine balance,” he added, but the team isn’t concerned with virality for virality’s sake.

“Our goal is not necessarily to create a trend,” Stoddard said. “If anything, it’s just to create a moment, be true to ourselves, and storytell as much as possible.”