From Ryuta Hamamoto at TIMEWELL
This is Ryuta Hamamoto from TIMEWELL Corporation.
Today I want to address a question that comes up constantly: why do well-made products fail to sell? The breakout cases of 2024–2025 offer a clear answer — and it points toward an approach that starts not with technology or features, but with context and story.
Key Points in This Article
- "Product → promotion" is outdated. "Context → product" is the shortest path to winning
- HANA and Sakanaction — every 2024–2025 hit began with empathy for a narrative
- yutori designs the "context that spreads on social media" before building the product
- For startups, invisibility is the real enemy. Break through it with volume × story
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2024–2025: The Narratives Behind the Hits
No No Girls / HANA: An Explosive Debut
The most talked-about music story of 2025 was HANA — a seven-member girl group born from the audition program No No Girls.
Their debut single "ROSE" entered the Billboard JAPAN HOT 100 at number one. First-week streaming on the Oricon chart hit 11.63 million plays — a new all-time record for a female artist. Five songs surpassed 100 million cumulative streams, marking the first achievement of its kind for a domestic female dance and vocal group. HANA received the Grand Prix for Best New Artist at the 67th Japan Record Awards, and made their first appearance on the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen.
How did they achieve all of this in their debut year?
The answer is the story that built during the audition process.
The "Three No's" — An Audition That Showed the Struggle
No No Girls was a collaboration between BMSG and producer Chanmina. Chanmina herself had been told "no" about her appearance and voice, had aspired to join a girl group, and never got the chance to debut. Her audition criteria reflected that experience directly.
The three criteria:
| Standard | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No FAKE | Be authentic (self-expression) |
| No LAZE | Work harder than anyone (self-understanding) |
| No HATE | Don't give yourself the finger (self-affirmation) |
Throughout the audition, participants' struggles — the anxiety between sessions, harsh feedback from judges, the tension of waiting for results — were documented and shared openly. Every member's vulnerabilities and efforts played out in front of the audience.
The documentary No No Girls THE MEMORY went further, revealing the untold stories behind the tears: what walls each member had to climb, and what it took to finally reach debut.
Fans Were Already Filling an Arena Before They Debuted
On January 11, 2025, the final audition — No No Girls THE FINAL — was held at K-Arena Yokohama. Ticket applications exceeded 50,000; general tickets sold out in three minutes. YouTube simultaneous viewership peaked at over 560,000. The hashtag #ノノガファイナル (NoNoGirls Final) trended at number one on X.
When HANA officially debuted, around 20,000 fans were already there to fill the arena.
This happened because the audition process had built a community of people who genuinely wanted these women to succeed. Their fans, called "HONEYs," actively spread awareness through social media — not because they were asked to, but because they felt part of the story.
Producer Chanmina said of the Kohaku appearance:
"When I set up HANA and started moving forward, I built a roadmap and shared it before debut. Kohaku was a target from the beginning — we got there faster than I expected."
None of this would have happened for a group that was simply "good singers." The empathy for a shared narrative produced a level of enthusiasm that upended normal marketing logic.
Sakanaction's Ichiro Yamaguchi — A Story of Returning from Depression
Another major story of 2024–2025 was the comeback of Sakanaction.
Lead vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi had paused live activities in 2022 due to health issues. In January 2024, at the final night of a solo tour, he publicly disclosed that he had been dealing with depression.
"The illness I've been fighting is depression. I've been struggling and pushing through it for these two years... it was really hard."
Sharing the Fight Through YouTube
During his recovery, Yamaguchi started regular live streams on YouTube.
The early broadcasts drew a few hundred viewers. But by sharing his ongoing experience with depression openly — the hard days, the small progress, the uncertainty — he gradually deepened his connection with fans.
NHK broadcast the documentary "Ichiro Yamaguchi: Living with Depression" three times, following his recovery and the path back to music.
"Precisely because I have depression, I should be able to create a new world through music."
From that conviction, after two years of work, came his new song "Kaibutsu" (Monster).
"Kaibutsu" — 130,000 Viewers Watched the Comeback
On February 19, 2025, Yamaguchi streamed a YouTube release event for "Kaibutsu."
The audience that had once numbered a few hundred reached over 130,000 simultaneous viewers. As midnight arrived and the song became available to stream, Yamaguchi performed it live for the first time while listeners joined him in marking the moment.
"Kaibutsu" became a long-running chart hit — reaching 100 million cumulative streams faster than any previous Sakanaction song, and ultimately crossing 320 million plays, the highest in the band's history. Sakanaction appeared on Kohaku for the first time in 12 years.
Yamaguchi said:
"On the Kohaku stage, I want to reach people suffering from the same illness, or people who are just going through something hard right now — I hope we can deliver some of Sakanaction's music to them."
The reason "Kaibutsu" connected so widely was not just the quality of the song. It was the story of Yamaguchi's struggle and return, shared consistently over YouTube, that gave people a reason to feel personally invested in what he created.
yutori's Inversion — "Context → Product" as a Business Model
The Fastest IPO in Japanese Apparel History
The same logic applies outside entertainment.
In December 2023, yutori listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market. Founded just five years and eight months earlier, its CEO was the youngest apparel company founder and the fastest to reach IPO in Japan.
Revenue grew from roughly ¥141 million in fiscal year 2020 to ¥8.306 billion in fiscal year 2025 — approximately 60x in five years.
Designing the Social Context First
yutori CEO Kataishi Takaaki's strategy runs opposite to how most companies work.
The typical sequence: build a product, then figure out how to promote it.
yutori's sequence:
- What is being talked about on social media right now?
- What moments and scenes resonate with young people?
They identify the social context first, then build a product that fits perfectly into it.
Why "Context-First" Works
Today's consumers don't pay for features — they pay for scenes and stories.
| Approach | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Feature-led | "This fabric is premium" | Doesn't spread |
| Context-led | "I wore this and made my ex regret it" | Goes viral |
yutori builds the justification for sharing — the story that makes someone want to post — directly into the product.
Finding the Right Answer Through Volume
The other engine behind yutori's success is a data-driven, high-volume content system.
| Metric | Number |
|---|---|
| Videos produced per month | 446 |
| Ad videos among those | 238 |
| High-efficiency videos (CTR 3.5%+) | 84 |
The process runs in four steps:
- Post: Volume over perfection. Publish many variations based on hypotheses
- Data: Analyze views, saves, and CTR rigorously
- Decide: Identify which formats consistently perform
- Amplify: Put ad spend only behind what already works
This "don't lose" model — rather than chasing viral hits — is part of what turned yutori from a social media success into a public company.
Three-Layer Account Strategy
yutori's account approach is also distinctive.
| Layer | Function |
|---|---|
| Brand official account | Build brand world; catalog function |
| Staff individual accounts | Emotional connection through human faces |
| Influencer accounts | External credibility and reach |
Three directions of contact maximize the mere-exposure effect.
The most powerful layer is the founder's personal account. A brand official saying "please buy this" reads as advertising. The founder saying "I rebuilt the button three times over a few millimeters" reads as a story worth following.
Why Story Matters for Startups
The Biggest Enemy: Being Unknown
For startups, the central challenge is invisibility. A great product that no one knows about doesn't sell. Limited budgets, limited time, limited team. How do you break through?
The answer is volume × story.
Volume: Get More At-Bats
As yutori demonstrates, putting out 60 pieces of content at a decent level beats spending weeks perfecting one piece. The more at-bats, the higher the chance of finding what actually resonates. Then amplify only what works.
Ichiro Yamaguchi started with a few hundred viewers and kept showing up. Regular, sustained output eventually brought 130,000 people to watch his comeback. Consistent presence creates the opening.
For startups, the story is "the narrative that bridges where we are now and where we're trying to go." Finding that story requires publishing enough to see what gets a reaction.
Story: Build Empathy-First Narratives
Gen Z purchasing behavior tilts toward emotional resonance over functional specs.
"If I think something is genuinely good, I'll pay a premium for it."
Flip that and it means: without a story, you don't get chosen.
HANA showed it clearly — by documenting the audition process, they built a fan community before debut. Those fans weren't just consumers; they were co-participants in the narrative.
Narrative marketing works because the customer becomes invested. They don't just buy — they spread the word because they feel part of something.
How TIMEWELL Puts This Into Practice
We apply the same logic at TIMEWELL.
ZEROCK's Story
Our AI agent ZEROCK isn't just "a useful AI tool."
"Making the knowledge that sits dormant inside organizations accessible to everyone."
A new employee getting instant access to thirty years of institutional knowledge. That's a story about the democratization of knowledge — ZEROCK is one part of it.
TRAFEED's Story (formerly ZEROCK ExCHECK)
Our export control AI agent TRAFEED carries the story of "giving researchers their time back."
A researcher spending 1,000 hours a year on compliance work getting to return to actual research — that connects to a larger story about scientific and technological advancement.
TIMEWELL BASE's Story
Our community platform TIMEWELL BASE carries the story of "supporting people who take on challenges."
Event organizers being able to build fan communities without friction. That's part of a larger story about lowering the cost of attempting something new.
Summary: Start with Story, Not Technology
Looking back at what succeeded in 2024–2025, the common thread is that empathy for a story came first.
| Case | Story | Result |
|---|---|---|
| HANA | Living authentically beyond lookism | 20,000 fans at K-Arena before debut; Kohaku |
| Sakanaction | Returning to music after depression | 100s → 130,000 simultaneous viewers; 320M plays |
| yutori | Capturing what young people feel right now | Revenue 60x in 5 years; fastest apparel IPO |
For startups, building a great product is necessary but not sufficient.
Publishing the story of why you're building it — consistently, at volume — and finding the people who connect with it. Then building the next part of the story together.
Technology and feature competition eventually commoditizes. A story can't be copied.
What is your company's story?
References
- Learning from yutori: SNS Marketing for Apparel Brands Targeting Gen Z
- The Extraordinary Growth Strategy of "yutori," Japan's Fastest Apparel IPO
- HANA's Momentum: The Real Value of a Girl Group That Read the Times
- Why Audition Programs Resonate Even with Adults
- Sakanaction's Ichiro Yamaguchi: Behind the Scenes of a Comeback After Depression
- Ichiro Yamaguchi YouTube Live: First Live Performance of New Sakanaction Song "Kaibutsu"
- What the "No No Girls" Audition Showed Us
- HANA First Kohaku Appearance: Historic Achievement in Debut Year
- The Appeal and Effect of Narrative Marketing
- Branding Strategy to Precisely Stimulate Gen Z "Empathy"