Trends in Japan - Marketing and Innovation from Tokyo

Android Mannequin Brings Shop Display To Life [Video]

Darrell Nelson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:17:17 +0000

Tokyo department store Takashimiya has teamed up with Dr Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University to install a new visual merchandising concept using a lifelike android mannequin that has shoppers stopping in their tracks. Used as a Valentines Day promotion, the female android mannequin smiles, nods and even yawns as it interacts with passersby.

Dr Ishiguro is well known for his Geminoid android robots which he has been developing for a number of years and bear striking resemblances to real human beings. The partnership with Takashimiya however is the first time the androids have been used in a commercial setting.

“I see this as the future of shop displays,” commented Dr Ishiguro as he pointed at another window display made up of static traditional mannequins, “they don’t represent real life at all which is what I see as the point of some displays”.

The female robot is capable of over sixty facial expressions and cycles through four main emotional states according to the program. She is also connected to a Kinnect system and facial recognition software enabling her to react and move to the presence of people infront of the display.

“We have tried to make it more lifelike through not programming her to react to every shopper in sudden movements but in a more natural way and arranged her in a pose as if waiting for someone,” Dr Ishiguro explained as the android slowly moved her head toward us and smiled and nodded as if in recognition.

The amazing lifelike resemblance and movements of the android mean that shoppers were engaging in the display in a completely different way to a traditional window set up, and I overheard one passerby actually questioning her partner as to whether it was a real person or not.

Visual merchandising like this adds a higher level of emotional connection to the consumer who associates the brand on a more personal and human level rather than something cold and detached as with traditional displays. Dr Ishiguro certainly sees it as a possibility for the future, “I would love to take the idea over to New York and have this type of display in luxury shops on the likes of Fifth Avenue.”

Ad in Tokyo Watches You Move

Michael Keferl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:38:17 +0000

Came across this ad today for Suntory’s Black Oolong Tea in Shinagawa Station featuring the popular manga character Moguro .

Using a concave back, the signage creates the 3D effect of the character watching you wherever you go. Interesting and eye-catching stuff.

The ad is part of the campaign running at the moment for the drink and has a nice little dedicated website attached to it which uses Twitter and Facebook as well. Users can send a customized cartoon “DON!” (the tag line for the campaign, similar to Ta-Daa in English) message featuring the campaign character Moguro to any of their followers and both parties avatars appear as characters in the story.

Bunpei Ginza, History of Tokyo from Dawn to A.D 2000

Darrell Nelson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:53:49 +0000

Japanese graphic designer Bunpei Yorifuji of Bunpei Ginza has produced an awesome series of illustrations outlining the complete history of Tokyo from the birth of life through to modern day. In just 10 plates Yorifuji manages to capture the most defining moments building up to the making of modern day Tokyo!

The graphic artist is well known in Japan for his simple and often humerous advert and campaign illustrations, and is also the man behind the Tokyo Metro Manner posters. With an amazing ability to take a subject and bring it to life in graphic form he described his approach to creating his work as “gardening”, tending and nurturing ideas that connect in the same way that trees and plants are all part of an ecosystem and has been inspired by American artist Edward Hopper and the ukiyo-e woodblock print work of Katsushika Hokusai. We have put the whole series below, enjoy:

Hi-Tech Toys And Creative Genius: World. Words. Lights.

Darrell Nelson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:22:45 +0000

We have been talking about the Japanese “super creative” firm Party a lot recently and the team seem to be a non-stop creative machine. One of their newest projects takes on the world of music videos and spins it off into a commercial venture. Party created the promotional video for the latest song from Japanese band Androp titled“World. Words. Lights.” involving flying mirror balls, dancing rocking robot cubes, light video towers and a host of other toys.

Product placement in videos is pretty rife in pop music nowadays however Androp and Party have put a new twist on the concept. The box like dancing musical toys used in the video were put up for auction on eBay as soon as the video was released, meaning fans of the band or those who want the designer toys can get their hands on one…. that is if you happen to have a spare $5,000 knocking around. Ten limited edition versions of the toy will be handmade per order by Party and artists Yuri Suzuki, Tomoaki Yanagisawa and Kimura.

The concept for the video came from the lyrics which touch upon words and their meanings around the world, as the band commented “when we listened to the track, keywords such as “lights” and ” dance music” stood out. In order to visualize the mechanical beats, and these 2 themes, we came up with an idea to create a group of “toys” which dances to the music”. You can also check out the making of the video and all the toys for it here.

Depending on how demand goes for the first of the toys “Rocker” (a cool name in itself) which changes its facial expression to the music, the band will then release all the other toys designed and made specifically for the video on eBay as Party’s Masashi Kawamura commented, “the Flying mirrorball, we plan to produce it as a fun toy anyway.” Creating spin off bespoke pieces that can be purchased is an interesting revenue creating idea from Party and Androp, especially in the days of music piracy where bands lose sales, and enabled Party to keep production costs low as they will keep the money generated as part of their creative fee.

This isn’t the first video that Party have produced for the band either, having also come up with the amazing video for “Bright Siren” last July which featured 250 Canon cameras and their flashes, controlling the strobe through a computer program. Again the video doesn’t stop at simply being just a promotional movie but the dedicated site allows fans to create their own version and send as a message via social networks. You can also pause the video at any given moment to see photos taken with the cameras that made the video.

Play The Tote Commercial Turns Bag Into Orchestra

Darrell Nelson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:53:04 +0000

Japanese design company Super Planning celebrate the 10th anniversary of their ROOTOTE bag brand this year and will air an amusingly musical commercial to celebrate. Highlighting the amount of different sizes and “something for everyone” designs of the award winning brand the commercial features a ROOTOTE orchestra comprised of 53 different Tote bags.

Rootote has been a strong brand in Japan having won Good Design awards and partnering on collaborations with designers and companies such as Nendo and more recently and internationally with MONOCLE magazine. The company has become known for their innovative design and fun branding as well as the quality of the product which uses pre-organic cotton, free of agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. They also produce the “Tote as Canvas” series which allows the public to “use the Tote bag canvas for creating art”.

The company is a good example of a brand that has been able to infuse its products with a certain amount of Japanese character in order to strengthen its image. Able to convey both the quality and the design aspect of the products without taking itself too seriously the brand exemplifies a marketing strategy that works particularly well for Japanese companies in this sector.