Japan Marketing News

Head-turning Japanese brand names: Asse

Here's another one of those Japanese products with an. . . um. . . interesting brand name. Asse is from Morinaga, one of Japan's top four chocolate manufacturers. The brand has been around for some time, but I just dropped by Morinaga's website, and it's no longer listed amongst their current products. This doesn't necessarily mean it's been discontinued, however. Japanese chocolate manufacturers sometimes put brands on hiatus, only to reintroduce them later. This particular variant—strawberry and mocha—was on the market last year as a limited-edition flavor.

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Duskin launches new donut brand in Japan

As new market entrants soon discover, the competitive response in Japan is incredibly fast.

Krispy Kreme opened its first shop in Japan in mid-December of last year.

Just four months later, Duskin, which owns the Mister Donut franchise, is responding with the launch of a new donut shop brand called "and on and." The first one opened on Koen Doori in Shibuya just a few days ago.

Conceptually, the brand is more high-end than Mister Donut and is targeted at "adults" in their 20's, 30's and 40's. The shop interior has a modern, hip feel and the menu features environmentally-friendly coffee that's received the seal of approval from the Rain Forest Alliance, an international non-profit dedicated to the preservation of tropical forests and sustainable farming. Besides donuts, and on and is offering sandwich-style pies and vegetable stick breads, presumably to attract the lunch crowd. Donuts and breads go for 180-250 yen while pies are priced at 300 yen.

Whether and on and is going after the same consumers as Krispy Kreme isn't yet clear (to me, this concept feels only half thought out). What is probable, however, is that the new brand was launched to draw consumer attention back to Duskin assets following the hoopla surrounding Krispy Kreme's opening. This kind of defensive launch is often seen in Japan.

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Eye-catching Japanese Posters: Nike

Nike Japan has long produced a good deal of its advertising for Japan here in Tokyo. The above posters are part of a series currently running along a backstreet in the Harajuku district of town (click to enlarge).

Aimed at local skateboarders and street-oriented youth (mostly males), these gritty executions are thick with attitude. The top one reads "If you think you can fly, you can." The one below says "If they kick us out of here, we'll [just] go somewhere else."

* By the way, the scooters you see in the photos are common throughout Japan. Given the high cost of parking and difficulty finding spaces in Japan's crowded cities, most people use the country's outstanding public transportation system—or move about by scooter, motorcycle or bicycle.

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Burger King mulling introduction of Japan-only products

Burger King, which is about to take yet another stab at the Japanese market, appears to be considering adding localized items to its menu here. According to an April 11 news report, four Japan-centric items are under consideration with a decision forthcoming by the end of this month. While other foreign-based hamburger chains like McDonald's and Wendy's have long invented food and beverages tailored to the Japanese palate, as far as I know, this is this first time Burger King has contemplated following suit.

Burger King, which is ranked second to McDonald's in its U.S. home market, has attempted to crack the difficult Japanese market twice previously. The brand will begin its latest assault in June, with the first BK restaurant slated to open in Shinjuku, followed soon thereafter with a second shop in Ikebukuro.

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Harry Winston opens largest shop in Osaka

Harry Winston, well known as one of the world's most exclusive jewelers, opened its largest shop in the world on April 6 in Osaka. The 485-square meter store, which is located in a Shinsaibashi area building co-occupied by Hermès, is Winston's fifth in Japan.

According to news reports, the brand considers Japan and the United States to be its two most important markets, so we can probably expect to see more Japan openings in the not-too-distant future. Winston has already announced its intention to unveil a new store in Nagoya before year's end. Plans to renovate the brand's Ginza shop may be in the works, as well.

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Sony Pictures joins forces with Japanese cell provider for Spiderman 3 promo

au is the Japanese cell phone company with the best reputation amongst consumers for handset design. A couple of years ago they opened the spiffy four-story KDDI au Designing Studio in Tokyo to showcase each season's new models and to host special promotional events.

If it isn't already clear from the above picture, au's latest promotion involves a tie-up with Sony Pictures (Columbia) and the movie Spiderman 3. In addition to the life-size model of Spidey scaling the au building, a number of exhibits related to the film are on display inside.

The benefits to Sony are obvious, since this structure is located at the mouth of Takeshita Doori, one of Japan's most famous youth-oriented shopping streets where thousands of people pass by every hour. For au, not only does the eye-catching display lure consumers inside where they can encounter new products, thanks to special arrangements with Sony, au is also using the tie-up to promote its new auction site which has a number of original Spiderman 3 promotional items up for bidding. On the PR front, both companies win since proceeds from the auction have been promised to charity.

BTW, Spiderman 3 opens in Japan on May 1.

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L'Oreal Japan: the (wet) kiss of success

About two weeks ago, L'Oreal released a special Japan-only variant of its extremely successful Maybelline Water Shiny series of lipsticks to coincide with the fifth-year anniversary of the brand's launch in Japan. The new product, dubbed Maybelline Water Shiny Pure Diamonds, was specially formulated with the moisturizing preferences of local women in mind.

The Water Shiny brand is worth noting because it's a good example of a foreign-label product that was conceived in Japan to address Japanese needs and then developed jointly with the home office. After its successful introduction here, the brand was also released to great acclaim in Korea, Taiwan and France.

Water Shiny is certainly not the first product to be invented specially for finicky Japanese consumers that went on to succeed elsewhere. It's an excellent reminder that investing in your brand in Japan can pay dividends throughout the world.

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