a ring for a fresh start

Up until the '60s, the Japanese followed the shinto-style wedding ceremony, with the groom and bride wearing traditional kimonos.
Then starting in the late '60s, De Beers introduced the idea of the diamond ring as an engagement gift, a romantic ritual practiced in the west. The campaign was so successful that within a generation most Japanese adopted this costume and Japan soon became the second-largest diamond market in the world, only after the US. In the present days many couples, while still preserving the shinto ceremony, have adopted the western ceremony as well, white wedding dresses and all.
The Japanese baby-boom generation however is starting to retire this year, and in a society that is getting increasingly old, marketers have to redirect the focus of their activities. It's therefore time for another ritual to be promoted.
There's currently a campaign called "Thanks Days", starring musician and actor Akira Terao (most people outside Japan will recognize him from his role in Kurosawa's Ran), depicting a salaryman who is retiring from work. The commercial starts when he gets the flower bouquet from colleagues (a tradition for retiring people here). He then goes home, in a reflective mood, and all the while we listen to his thoughts (roughly translated):
For only thinking about work, forgive me...
For the days I got home drunk, forgive me...
For that time I lied, forgive me...
For everything...forgive me...
When he gets home his wife is preparing dinner and waiting for him. He gives her the flowers. Then, to her surprise, he produces a small box from his pocket, places it in her hands, and sheepishly looking away, says a short "thank you".
See the sequence below. You can watch the entire commercial here (click on the second link from the right).







Romantic movies usually have two types of ending. They either end in tragedy (one of the lovebirds die, sometimes both of them) or in happiness, when the couple finally meets at the end. In the latter case, the end marks their reunion but it is also the promise of a new beginning, in which they'll live happily ever after.
Well, the "Thanks Days" commercial catches this particular couple after they've been through their "happily ever after" years, revealing to us that perhaps they were not so happy after all.
This shouldn't be a surprise at all (as any couple would attest), but the problems are magnified especially considering the well-documented burden Japanese workers have to endure (presenteeism, long working hours, late-night drinking binges with co-workers).
But nothing is lost, people shouldn't despair. There's a renewed hope now.
The commercial shows that the husband, after more than 30 years of devotion to work (evidenced by the inscription "12075 days" in the internal part of the ring), is willing to start a new life.
As they celebrate over dinner, the voice-over says "propose again".
And finally, the wife toasts to a new start, a new hope, "korekara mo yoroshiku" (a bit hard to translate, but in a romantic way, it could be "from now on, let's take care of each other").
What remains to be seen, as millions of Japanese wives prepare to have their husbands at home again, is whether they'll really get their platinum rings or not.
And more importantly perhaps, will the couple live happily ever after this time around?

"creative bushido" viral campaign

This is one of the top viral campaigns in Japan, according to The Viral Chart.
It's a campaign for Yomiko Advertising. It's a bit of kabuki-style narrative, a Kurosawa epic, and guerrilla marketing all in one.
I liked that they've even put a Planner Samurai among the generals, ha!Pretty funny, and the art direction is great. Watch it here.

ana airplanes to have hi-tech toilet seats

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) will be the first airline to have Toto washlets in its airplanes. They'll be standard equipment in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliners ANA starts flying next year. The novelty is part of a larger battle, as airlines scramble to win customers, but it also corroborates what I wrote in a previous post, as this must be part of Toto's strategy to expand its customer base.
In-flight washlets will certainly bring more comfort for passengers. It will require some time for new users to get used to operating them though, but as ANA's chief executive well said (and borrowing from Heineken's classic slogan), the new equipment "will refresh the parts other airlines can't reach". (via Reuters)

to buy local or not to buy local

I've been hearing more and more about 'buy local' and 'food miles' (or 'food kilometers'). At first I thought this preoccupation with the distance covered by the transported food, from farms to supermarket shelves, made a lot of sense.
Recently however, I read "Food miles. Green good sense, ill-considered hype, or naked protectionism?", by Ethan Zuckerman, in worldchanging, and learned that the environmental impact of the food we eat should not be measured only by the distance it travels.
And in case you're a New York Times Select subscriber, you can also read "Don't buy local", by Richard Conniff, for another balanced view on the subject.
This debate is far from over and will certainly shape the way we buy our food from now on.
PS: I have truly enjoyed reading Richard Conniff's blog in the New York Times (unfortunately for subscribers only, sorry). Apart from learning a couple of German words - schadenfreude (pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune) and gluckschmerz (luck-pain, or sorrow at someone else's luck or happiness) - his writings offered an insightful look at human nature that were a delight to read.

toto is happiness

Toto, Japan's maker of hi-tech toilet seats (known as washlets) is trying to enter the American market. To me, it's a mystery why this hasn't happened before.
Whoever tries this comfy toilet seat will never forget the experience. Interesting to see how they're trying to sell a 'higher order' of cleanliness, if you will, and ultimately 'happiness'.
Check out their cheeky web page below.
And here, a shot of the control buttons. These icons always make me smile.

(link via cityofsound)

and while at ad age...

A couple of other interesting articles in Advertising Age:
- CNN the TV channel is no match for CNN the website (the chart below tells the whole story)- McDonald's recruits moms to be the ultimate influencers: gatekeepers to go on field trips and hopefully return as evangelists.

say it again? a dell store?

Dell's Founder and CEO Michael Dell has recently said that "the direct (sales) model has been a revolution, but it's not a religion".
Dell already opened a showroom in Dallas (only to display the models, not to sell them just yet).
All signs seem to indicate that we'll soon see a "Dell Store" out in the street.
This will be an interesting story to watch.

Reference:
Darlin, Damon (2007). Dell's Founder Is Rethinking Direct Sales. The New York Times. April 28, 2007 (here)

diderot and the cute nissan pino

Grant McCracken, in his book “Culture and Consumption”, recalls an essay by French philosopher Francis Diderot. In his essay, “On Partying with my Old Dressing Gown”, Diderot described the transformation caused in his life by a beautiful new dressing gown he received as a gift. He loved the gift, but soon thereafter however, he notices that, compared to the new gown, the decoration in his room, the rug, the curtains, the desk, all looked shabby. He proceeds to replace them one by one, so that they match the new gown. McCracken describes this process as the “Diderot effect”, the way people create a lifestyle by trying to find cultural consistency in the things they buy, so that they “match”.
I just mention this idea because I came across the new Nissan Pino, recently launched (last January) in Japan, targeted at young women. Looking it as it is, it seems like just another small car.However, a visit to Pino’s website quickly tells a different story. To start with, you're welcomed by this "lovely loading" sign.Then you get it. Pino is a kawaii (cute) car. But the interesting thing about the Pino is not the car in itself, but how the cuteness meaning is created. Look at the picture below.
The car is not the center of the action. It’s more of a complement to the whole scene. And it’s the surrounding, with all its cuteness, that "contaminates" the car with meaning. Normally, as Wired’s Mark Durhan well noted, “...using cutesey fluffy pinkness to sell cars to 20-year-old women would be beyond the pale - too narrow, too sexist, too ludicrous. Not so in Japan”.
The Pino, much as Diderot’s gown, helps the girls define a lifestyle. Like Diderot’s gown, it’s not the only item, but a complementary object that, along with her keitai (mobile), her favorite pair of jeans, her pair of sneakers, her handbag, her nail polisher, and all her other possessions (all “lovely” of course, see below), creates her lifestyle and will accompany her “365 days a year, 24 hours a day”.And then comes the fun part, accessories. Girls can choose a heart-shaped cushion, a stuffed dog called “Pino Dog”, a flower-patterned upholstery, and a dozen other matching items, to help them create the desired effect.Accessorizing and personalization are not new ideas, but I hardly remember seeing them so tightly-knit behind the creation of specific lifestyles.
And if you thought the concept of “cuteness” defined only one lifestyle, you haven’t really started in this world. Pino’s campaign shows a group of three fashionable friends who strut around their different "cute styles". They portray three different types of cuteness: the “feminine cute” Yumi-chan, who is a model and loves dancing and snowboarding;......the “casual cute” Kimi-chan who wears a pair of jeans shorts and practices yoga;......and the “beautiful cute” Tamami-chan, who wears a plaid skirt and is into classic ballet. Each one of them brings her own matching accessories; a stuffed pink dog and flower-themed upholstery for Yumi-chan; an apple-shaped CD holder and a green dog for Kimi-chan, and so on. One does not have to worry about which is the best match. Pino does it for her (but of course, people are free to try their own creativity).
I don't know if this "cute strategy" would translate well outside Japan, maybe this is too much of a Japanese thing, but the concept behind it is great. Diderot would've certainly endorsed it.

apple: america's best retailer

There's a very interesting story about Apple in the latest edition of Fortune magazine. This time about how Apple has transformed itself into America's best retailer, beating the 'sales per square foot a year' of established retailers such as Saks, Best Buy and even Tiffany's (read article here, sub. req.).
According to the article, a research report by Sanford C. Bernstein, shows that the averages of Apple's 174 stores is US$ 4,032 psf/year, against Saks' $362, Best Buy's $ 930, and Tiffany's $ 2,666.
Not so surprising considering the stores' relative small size (compared to other, much bigger department stores) and the number of people who frequent them. See the line outside the Regent St Apple Store, in London, below (2005 Christmas season).

nintendo gets it!

Corporate culture is one of the most important aspects of an organization. For mega corporations with thousands of employees all over the world, that's what holds a company together, their set of values.
There's no amount of micromanaging that can teach how a customer service rep should do his/her job, but tell them what the company values are and somehow they'll figure out what to do.
Take a look at this post from saska, about her surprising experience with Nintendo's customer service.
Now read this article in the "Washington Post" about Nintendo's video game guru Shigeru Miyamoto (photo on the left) keynote speech at last week's "Game Developers Conference", in San Francisco.
Miyamoto, creator of "Mario Brothers" and "Donkey Kong", told the audience, "developers should resist the temptation to create only sequels of established hits and games based only on horror and revenge". Speaking about his own approach he said, "I always want that first reaction to be emotion, to be positive, to give a sense of satisfaction, glee... Certain obstacles may temporarily raise feelings of suspense, competition, even frustration. But we always want that final result, that final emotion, to be a positive one."
If you read both articles, it's clear there's a common thread there, and that's why Nintendo seems poised to take over the gaming world.

Reference:
Konrad, Rachel (2007). Nintendo Guru Wants More Happy Games. The Washington Post. March 8, 2007 (here).

did nintendo copy xavix?

Have you heard of a game console called Xavix? I saw it at the store yesterday and, surprised, I thought to myself "hmm, already a Wii copycat"! Then later I checked on google and to my even bigger surprise I learned that Xavix was actually launched on September 2005, a full year before Nintendo's Wii!
Xavix, made by a Japanese company name SSD, basically has the same principle as the Wii, it's an interactive motion controlled gaming console. There are a few differences though:
- The remotes resemble actual sports equipments (boxing gloves, tennis rackets, golf clubs, etc.) thus rendering a more realistic experience (not sure whether this is necessarily better in terms of pure game enjoyment)
- The view on the screen doesn't show your 'avatar'. The ball comes straight at your face in a tennis game, for example.
- Nintendo's marketing is much more focused and clear. Xavix seems uncertain of what it wants to be: a video-game or a fitness device. From their website: "Xavix is a revolutionary way to interact with your TV. From your favorite sports to high-energy workouts..."
Take a look for yourself at xavixstore.
Also check out this commercial on YouTube.

innocent breaks into uk's top 100 brands

A survey by Check Out magazine (reg. req.) in the UK, shows that while traditional brands such as Coca-Cola and Walkers still dominate the top of the grocery list, healthy brands are enjoying the strongest sales growth.
Remarkably, Innocent Drinks, the smoothie brand (love the 'strawberry & banana' one), is the fastest-growing UK brand, and for the first time breaks into the top 100, at No. 63, with sales of £96m.

Reference:
Smithers, Rebecca (2007). Organic Food Breaks Into Top 100 brands. The Guardian. February 21st, 2007. (here, free, but reg. req.)
Top 100 Grocery Brands Report (download it here, free but reg. req.)

shrewd marketing or spam?

The Chicago Cubs has agreed on a deal with sports apparel maker Under Armour to have ads placed on its legendary ivy-covered walls. The Cubs' Wrigley Park is one of the most traditional ballparks in what is arguably America's most traditional sport. Already some purists are protesting this move.
Reference:
Sullivan, Paul. Cubs Show Tradition The Door With Ad Deal. Chicago Tribune. February 14, 2007. (see here)

marketing + technology

Couple of technology enhanced marketing moves in Japan:
The first is this interactive projection advertising technology by a company called Catchyoo (via CScout). I saw a similar technology being used at some museums in London but this is the first time that I've seen it being used in advertising. It can be projected on floors, on walls, on tables, etc. In many ways, it feels like a video game, and the Wii comes to mind. See video here.
The other example is this virtual make-up booth, a joint project developed by Mitsukoshi, Shiseido and Fujitsu.
I'm no make-up expert, but I guess most women will be pleased to be able to try as many variations as they like without going through the mess of having to apply the make-up, then having to wipe it off, then applying another option and so on. Eventually they'll still want to try out the real stuff, but at least they can make a previous selection.
The machine scans the woman's face and through an LCD screen, she can try as many variations as she wants to (by waving products with RFID tags on a tag reader). The screen shows how she'll look, and better yet, she'll be able to see the before/after effect.
The project runs through Feb. 12th at the Mitsukoshi store in Ginza (via Wired Blog).

shrewd marketing or spam?

Couple of moves worth commenting:

- The Chicago White Sox home games are going to start at exactly 7:11pm. Not 7:10 nor 7:12. That's because the convenience store chain 7-eleven has agreed on a US$ 500,000 a year sponsorship through 2009. Viewers are now going to be asked to tune in at exactly 7-eleven, or rather at 7:11pm, by TV announcers. See the team's press release here.

- More recently and still in sports sponsorship, State Farm, an insurance company, closed a deal to put its logo on more than 40 college basketball courts across the US. Aside from the usual sideline boards, they'll now have their logo on the back of backboards, affixed to the support arm.
- Starbucks is being targeted by an online campaign that aims to have the coffee chain's Forbidden City store in Beijing closed. See the story in The Guardian, here (reg. required). Check out this flickr page as well for more pictures.

Reference:
Elliot, Stuart (2007). State Farm Is There, Right by the Backboard. The New York Times. January 31, 2007. (see here)
Watts, Jonathan (2007). Starbucks Faces Eviction From the Forbidden City. The Guardian. January 18, 2007.

tokyo ubiquitous network project

A long, complicated name, which represents the latest marketing effort to be launched this month in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza district.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "stores in central Tokyo are set to beam news of special offers, menus and coupons to passers-by in a trial run of a radio-tagging system (RFIT). The Tokyo Ubiquitous Network Project...sends shoppers information from nearby shops via a network of radio-frequency identification tags, infrared and wireless transmitters... Shoppers can either rent a prototype reader or get messages on their cell phones. The tags and transmitters identify a reader or phone's location and match it to information provided by shops."
See below a diagram that explains how this will work (still in experimental stage).
The project's website is recruiting participants for the experiment, which will last from January until March 10th.