Trends in Japan - Marketing and Innovation from Tokyo

Feline Fun With Mercedes Cat Alphabet

Darrell Nelson — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:35:22 +0000

It’s a well known fact that the internet was made for all things related to cats, so Mercedes have decided that their latest campaign in Japan will harness the full feline potential. Thanks to the German car manufacturer your dream of having your name spelt out by a number of napping kittens can now come true.

Visitors to the dedicated microsite can type whatever message they like into the box, hit go and watch the cartoon cats spring into action to spell out their message. Users can then choose to share their creation on Twitter or Facebook.

The campaign is also aimed at highlighting Mercedes’ sponsorship of the new 3D Puss In Boots movie to be released in Japan in March. It is a pretty basic campaign from Mercedes but in a country with a love for all things cute and cuddly it will no doubt go down well.

Meiji’s Tweet Mystery Campaign

Darrell Nelson — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:45:48 +0000

Japanese food maker Meiji have launched an interesting social media based advertising campaign that lets twitter users develop a mystery story in real time. The campaign for the Kajyu Gummy sweets will launch in two days and encourages Japanese twitter users to participate in order to solve a Tweet Mystery and become part of a movie at the end of it all.

Users are told to follow key accounts including two of the story’s main characters and the snack brand’s account also. Once set up users will then start to solve the mystery of a missing grape vine (not the most exciting subject granted) by corresponding in real time with the characters who will offer up hints and narrative as it goes on.

Depending on how the users also shape the story will depend on the final outcome of the mystery which will then be shown as a movie on the brands mini-site specially launched for the campaign. With social media use increasing each month in Japan, in particular on Twitter, this kind of interaction and conversation with consumers helps to develop a more personal link with a brand. Gamification is also becoming a lot more common recently in campaigns where companies offer rewards to consumers as it becomes easier to leverage through the use of social media.

Mr Design Puts A Smile On Your Face

Darrell Nelson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:17:30 +0000

Japanese designers are renowned for taking the simple and mundane and turing them into something a lot more playful and fun. Adding their own unique twist to everyday objects, design company Mr Design turns notebooks into kitchen utensils and even adds a sense of smell to the simple sticky note.

The collection designed by Kenjiro Sanno is titled the Nico Series and features items such as the “Street Rug” for those who want to inject a bit of danger into their children’s playa area and comes in 20, 40 and 60kmh versions depending on just how fast paced your lifestyle is. All the products are aimed at provide a bit of brightness to the users day, nico meaning smile in Japanese, the series sums up it’s design ethos as “Smile does it better”.

Adding smell to your stationary the Hinoki Memo Cube sticky notes have been infused with a cedar tree fragrance, so that the product not only looks like you are chopping your way through the notes but smells like the real deal too. I also liked the the “Sushi Memo Block”, designed to look like the tuna, egg and salmon real food equivalent.

Other favorites included the “Dish Notebook” for times when you want to make someone eat your words, and the perfect format to write your groveling letter of apology to heal an emotional wound, the plaster shaped “Banko Fusen” notebook.

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Ikea Maiko Movie Does More With Less

Darrell Nelson — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:38:49 +0000

It is no secret that many apartments in Tokyo are about as large as a storage cupboard in some other countries. Showing that it is however possible to do more with less, Ikea Japan have set up model 5m² rooms at the Small Space Living Exhibition in Kyoto complete with Geisha.

Set up in the grounds of a temple and in the shadow of a pagoda, Ikea Japan arranged a number of 3 tatami sized rooms, or the equivalent of 5m² and in a video produced by Roomie attempted to evoke all things Japanese. The exhibition drew a fair amount of attention from passers by including apparently two real life Maiko (apprentice Geisha).

Ikea Japan have been trying out some interesting marketing efforts in Japan since they arrived back in 2002 after first trying to expand here in 1974 but failed to gain a foothold in the market. They recently launched a campaign where shoppers could actually spend the night in apartment mockups within their stores, sleeping in the beds and dining at the tables. As a result of such innovative campaigns as well as localisation efforts focusing on ’small space living’ and adapting products that are suitable to the Japanese lifestyle, the furniture retailer has become particularly popular with Japanese consumers yet crucially still managed to maintain it’s strong Sweedish brand image.

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Sony Develops Personalized Charging

Darrell Nelson — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 05:35:50 +0000

Sony have taken their wireless communication technology to the next level in the latest innovation involving the FeliCa NFC chip and home consumer appliances. The company announced yesterday that they have developed a system capable of enabling authentication and communication between a device and the plug socket power supply, meaning personalized electricity usage control for home owners and can act as a theft deterrent.

The new system uses Sony’s FeliCa IC chip technology, embedding the chips into home appliances such as televisions and computers. Reader writers are then installed into the plug sockets which communicate with the devices wirelessly using radio frequency when the appliance gets plugged in. After the reader authenticates the device and owner it can then allow power to flow to the appliance and data such as exactly how much power is being drawn and duration of usage can then be recorded.

The system has a number of different potential uses including as an anti theft device where appliances won’t work with any other plug socket other than the one it is prescribed to communicate with. The video also suggests a future where users will be able to switch between energy sources and could also usher in the possibility of mobile phone like electricity plans where users can choose flat rates or pay-per-use. Sony also comment that it would help in the ability to conserve power to certain appliances by being able to monitor and prescribe how much electricity flows to what device to be used in smart homes and HEMS systems.

There is also the potential to install the system in public spaces for pay-per-charge style stations where electricity can be measured and controlled, or discourage those who nurse a single small cup of coffee for hours on end whilst sucking on the electricity taking up the space and working away in a busy coffee shop. On the back of electricity concerns in Japan last summer as a result of the Fukushima disaster, we have seen a growing amount of innovation in the energy sector appealing to a much more energy conscious consumer.

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