Twisted View of Marketing in Japan

*”Buttery-smell” or “Bata-kusai” is a Japanese expression to describe a thing or a person that has Western/Caucasian touch/feel/look.  Butter, and its taste, feel, and smell, must have been quite an experience for Japanese people 100-150 years ago when they started encountering lots of new things from US/Europe.

A few people have sent me questions.  Here are a direct answer, and some marketing talks related to it, to one of them.

“When I watch CM’s from docomo’s Google Keita, Windows 7, or Apple iPhone, I see some consistent feel among them, “buttery-smell”.  Is it effective?  … The taste of film, which I do not see many Japanese companies use but lots of non-Japanese firms use, what is behind it?”

Was the question, from Sasaki-san.

Very good observation.  Others like FRISK, NIKE, and XEROX, also have similar “buttery-smell”.  (A lot of people do notice that they are different, vaguely though.  A message to marketers is “Hey, guys, people know what you are doing or not doing.”)

There are several questions in it, so let me sort them out:

1. Where does CM’s “buttery-smell” come from?

2. Is there any intent or aim behind CM’s “buttery-smell”?

(3. Why Japanese companies do not do it?)

As for #1, I may not be a right person to answer technical matters, so I have asked Mr. Abe, a veteran producer from Sound By S, commercial production company.  But, as I expected, his answer was very long (as long as his talk), contains a lot of technical terms and codes, and complaints with some real names, so that I had to sum it up anyway.

Upon that, let me answer to question #2.  Will touch on #3, too.

Making the long story short, maybe too short, though, CM’s “buttery-smell” comes from the fact that it is produced by Western/Caucasian director, cameraman, and their crews.   That’s why it has “buttery-smell”/Western feel.  Excuse me giving you such a stupid answer.  The difference is a product of difference of shooting method, choice of lenses, way of lighting, and policy or philosophy behind all of them.

Let’s dig in a bit more, of course Abe-san’s telling, though.

Caucasian’s eyes are very sensitive to intense lighting/luminosity, especially UV rays, compared to non-white guys like us, so they do not like direct lighting.  They tend to use in-direct lighting like using a wall to reflect it.

On the other hand, people like direct lighting to its object in Japan.

As a result, just like a movie film from Hollywood does, oversea CM features only an object that you want to see/show, versus that of Japan shows everything bright in the frame.

Accordingly, type of lens also becomes different.  In Western industry, they prefer longer lenses = narrower depth of focus = an object just on the focus point shows right but a bit off gives off-focused visual.  In Japan, they use short lenses to capture everything under the light.  To a layman like me, it may be easier to understand it as a difference between a tele-photo lens and a wide-angle lens.

In addition to these two biggest reasons, there are other smaller differences.  And they add up to this difference of taste of films.

And somehow, it cannot be done in Japan. Though Japanese is known to have skillful hands for anything, they can hardly copy this.  It is because it’s a product of totality of industry structure, techniques/skills, knowledge, experiences, people, apprenticeship behind, and their value/philosophy, I guess.

Net, if you want that “buttery-smell” CM, you have to go abroad and shoot with oversea stuff.  No wonder you do not see it from Japanese companies.

Let’s move to its Marketing intent/aim/effect.

The film above is a good old Haagen Dazs ice cream commercial from 1990’s.　I still remember this.  In 1990’s, these high quality “buttery-smell” visuals came on TV, not as a movie but as a CM spot, and made us say “Cool!”.  Vidal Sassoon, which I used to be responsible for, was introduced with very “buttery-smell” CM, too.  In fact, we produced it in Hollywood.

While Haagen Dazs is of course an oversea brand, truth was that this TV commercial was made first in Japan.  This “buttery-smell” CM was made by Haagen Dazs Japan, for Japanese consumers, to be aired only in Japan.

I believe there must have been clear intent for marketing for this “buttery-smell”.

And it was achieved, splendidly.

It is not a cheap ice cream for kids around, but is a high quality ice cream for adults (must-be made in Europe).  The image was brilliantly engraved in our heart and mind with this one film alone.  Later, they started using TV with similar film outside of Japan, I heard.

Same for Vidal Sassoon.  Back then, Japan was only country in the world where the brand was spending major marketing dollars.  In UK, its origin, it was one of those minor salon shampoo brands.  That film established clear image that it is landing on Japan from Western world, in the middle of the Bubble economy days, as an oversea premium quality hair care brand.

Esthetic sense, feel, and image, which people watching TV get from visual and sound, are often more important than literal/word-oriented information.  In this sense, Haagen Dazs is one of the best examples of effective use of “buttery-smell”.

Besides, there are other cases that they do not have any aim or intent.  Some are simply using the same films used in US or Europe.  And reason why Japanese firms do not produce those films could simply be that they do not have any particular reason to do so.

If there is any marketing challenge to this, it should be if you are making up two “different personalities with different sense/images” other than just a difference of touch of film, when you are producing films in Japan at one time and go abroad at some other times.  Shooting oversea, especially in US, is not easy task.  It costs more, eats longer time, puts harder schedule management for talents and stuff, etc.  OK, so let’s do it in Japan this time.  I think it is a reasonable choice.  However, the question remains.  If those two different types of communication show at the same time or back to back, are people watching them recognizing and remembering them as the same “personality”?

Or, simply, they may watch you saying “Somewhat cheap, this company is trying cutting corners these days.”  At least, I can say, many of them notice the difference.

“O.”

 Japanese people, most of whom do not use religious principles for their daily life, are not good at deciding/defining the way of life and behaviors according to principles, while they are very good at following rules or are quick in changing decision depending on context or situations.  Obviously, I am one of them, too, letting everything go is my way of living…

(Well, it begins with something not really about the Marketing, but bear with me for a moment.)

One day, say, you go to supermarket to buy coffee beans.

Then, you remember coffee sugar is running short so you are to buy that, too.

Question.

Where, which isle/shelf, do you think you can find coffee sugar?

(Maybe easy question for those who often go shopping and know the store very well.)

Answer:  Next to Miso and Salt, in most stores.  (Just in case, I went to 5 big supermarkets around.  No exception, all had it there.)

In general, you cannot find it on coffee/tea/cocoa shelf.

Baby diapers are sitting in the corner with menstrual pads, paper towels, and tissue papers, and baby food is located in the canned food isle.

If you shout at yourself, “OK, today, I will fix very nice pasta!” and go shopping, you will end up having to grab spaghetti next to dried Ramen noodles, pick up anchovies and olives sitting with canned Saba (fish) in Miso soup, select olive oil next to Japanese sesame oil, put dried pepper into your basket in front of Hidaka Konbu…  Off course, get fresh garlic from veges section.  Ah!  I need some cooking wine!  But you cannot locate it between cooking Sake and Mirin.  So you timidly ask store clerk, and he says “It is at the liquor section, (off course, don’t you know?)”  What?  I was there two seconds ago to buy some beer…  You would walk good hundreds of meters even in a small store.  If you are in big suburban store, you would have an intensive exercise.

By the way, many stores have “Store Percepts” or some sort, often found on the wall in the office in backyard, maybe above fax machine or next to a switchboard.  It says “We strive for customer centric management.  We always do our best to provide fun and convenient shopping for customers.”

And, dear customers are enjoying good exercise everyday.

What is it that makes this happen?  It is for efficient stock management for stores and wholesalers.  Store clerk is assigned to each section, so that one person looking after coffee section is not always same as one for sugar shelf.

It is not “customer centric” at all.  They design isles/shelves for shelf stock management, “store centric” thinking.

If their Store Principles say something, they should decide how they behave accordingly, otherwise it does not make sense.  Or, they should decide to put “Provide the lowest possible price through strict management of stock on shelf and backyard” or “Pursue profit improvement as a priority”, instead.

Excuse me, it gets very preachy.

Many companies and stores have statement/percept of purpose or principles, or some may have statement/story of founder’s wisdom/tips.  And in the world of brand marketing, they have Brand Equity, Brand Philosophy, or Brand Story.

Many successful brands with consistent brand images and sustained business indeed implement behaviors=marketing plans that are surprisingly faithful to their equity.  Louis Vuitton in any point in time keeps themselves very Louis Vuitton, yet always fashionable.  Haagen-Dazs has always been “indulgence of ice cream for matured” yet you can always find fun seasonal flavors.

But, like the story of supermarket in the beginning, a lot of brand philosophy have been put on the wall to get sun faded, left unused.  There are managers who think it is for sometime when they have time and money, but they have a lot more than that to coop with changes of the market and severe competition.  Or, some go after what customer says in research, swaying here and there.

At the same time, they always say they suffer from the lack of distinctive positioning, “Hey, all look the same!” just like many super market chains suffer.

There must be some good wisdom or intent in or behind the statement of company principles, founder’s words, brand equity, philosophy, or history.  Some lessons or laws that hold true still today.

So, put it off the wall and clean the dust, time to time.

There must be something good about applying “define what you do according to principles” not just to how you live but to how you manage your company or brand marketing.

Oh, any tips to do better shopping in supermarket?

Think about which wholesale industry is the product from, then you can find it quick.  Paper products are from paper wholesaler.  Dried food is from dried food wholesalers.  Cooking oil is coming from cooking oil wholesaler.

Phew…

“O.”

I am trying to update this Blog about once a week.

But some people may have noticed already that I started to have English version in parallel, which made me busy for translation for the past few days.  It’s been already more than 6 months since I had not used English.  My (English speaking) brain squeaks as if it is covered with full of rust…  Finally, writing of this topic gets me to catch up with Japanese version.

But why English pages?

(Like I wrote in my profile,) it is for very personal reason.  I do not want to lose English, but I do not have any chance to use it after I left the Company.  I must force myself to use it, or I cannot retain it.  Is there anyone coming to this Blog?  Can I retain this if very few people come to read?  Can’t promise anything now…

Today, it’ll be relatively small chat.

I like Sapporo Beer.  (That means Sapporo cannot become No.1?  Don’t know.  →　See this page.)

They are so “good at making good beer”, but somehow, so “bad at making good marketing”.  Indeed, it makes me like the brand more.  Recently, they launched a new beer brand with extremely high TV spending, which is a hotchpotch of many other brands’ promises.  For instance, it says 70% calories-off!  70%... half-done.  But, as it is from Sapporo, it must be that they wanted to sell tasty beer and to do so, 70% must have been the best balance…  They did it again.

Hang in there, Sapporo!  (I am not at all joking.  I mean it.)

In the premium beer segment, it gets super competitive, and Premium Molts (from Suntory) is doing very well.  YEBISU, historic leading brand in the segment, must hang in there now.  Particularly, in Kansai area I am living, it is quite hard to find beer from Sapporo other than YEBISU.  For Sapporo fans like me, Sapporo must fight hard to defend it.

From the YEBISU brand, they are now selling fall-limited seasonal flavor of “Amber-YEBISU”.  I like its package design so let me talk about it today.

It is a kind of design job that gives a designer headache.

“Communicate clearly that it is limited seasonal offer.”

“Must be obvious it is a part of YEBISU line.”

“But, make it clear it is different and special flavor.”

“Don’t lose premium look.”

“Of course, it must stand out in the store.”

“Don’t lose YEBISU-ness, and strengthen its total image.”

“Use the color (scheme) that connotes color of amber and flavor of it.”

You as a designer have to do them all.

But, this design did it well.

And I like it.

(Of course, I am in big favor of Sapporo, and YEBISU, and in fact I like the color they use.  And I am putting big big strategic question aside, if they should in the first place keep launching line extensions one after another, Black, Green, and White, and then Red, whereas the competitor, Premium Molts, is trying hard to steal its key color, Gold.)

Shade and touch of its crimson red are very nice on the can, and moreover, I love its design treatment of making them small.  It actually wipes out all the challenges above.

Look of seasonal offer and feel of premium can go together, so it might not have been a show stopper.  What it makes it great is their belief to their brand’s strength to decide to make the logo and trademark small.

Small looks premium/exclusive.  It is a common sense in people’s mind.  But it is a brave call in the marketing/merchandising world.  The idea would have got killed if they had one, only one from their management, raised question “It does not get attention on the shelf.”  End of the story.

But fortunately, they made it, and it works even harder as you can feel the color and quality of it.

Good job!

(I have to confess here that the taste of the Red YEBISU was not as great as the design to me, who prefer the Green YEBISU to the Gold YEBISU being a bit too sweet.  But, forget it.  I am a big fan of YEBISU anyways.)

I am hoping that it would be cool if they change the entire line package according to this upon a renewal for the next new year day.  With this selfish dream, I sipped YEBISU tonight, too.

“O.”

Wow, that's a big theme!  Do I have any answer to this big question of “What it takes to be No.1”?  Of course, not.  I just wanted to chat some tips or source of inspiration for it today.

As always, excuse me staring with my personal matter.  I do not like TOYOTA, Panasonic, NTT, and Asahi, all the leading brands/companies of Japan.  Only “regret” is WWAN of my mobile PC being NTT’s Docomo’s, but I believe it is the only one I have from these companies/brands.  For info, I was a big fan of NIKE in 80’s, but not any longer.  (I am not particular about computer, but I am supposed to be anti-WINDOWS probably, if I have to choose.  Fast is, not surprisingly, my very first computer in my life was Mac…)

Twisted way of thinking and leading life?  Yeah, the title of this blog says so.

I think I am “hard to be a use of No.1 brand” kinda person.

OK, then, you can think it the other way around.  Make your brand be disliked by me to be No.1?

Well, that is not very actionable.  Let me discuss this a bit differently to make the point clear.

Why do people like cars that are quite boring?

Why are people willing to pay for second hand innovations?

Why are people paying obviously high cost to get mediocre service from semi-government company?

Why do people like drinking sweet and foam-less beer despite, knowing its name “Super Dry”?

Why….

The “reason” is seemingly because they like “not having particular reason, but feels good”, versus people like me wanting clear “reason” for choices.

“Seems not bad”, “Don’t think too hard, it’s been that way”, “Not bothered to think about it”, “Not like to be asked ‘Why’ for my choice”, “I trust it, so I don’t have to get bothered”, etc.  Those are vague but solid reasons.  They are not conscious reasons for choice, but are “best conscious choice for not being forced to choose” in other words.

I think it is quite similar to “healthy conservatism” in (Japanese) political psychology.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has recently been retaining high approval rate by people called “national citizen” because (ironically) these people with “healthy conservatism” are supporting the party.  They did not want to choose the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP – conservatives in Japan despite its name), resulting in DPJ’s historic win.  DPJ’s policies, and its vision of “Yu-Ai/ the spirit of fraternity” are well based on “healthy conservatism”.  Or said differently, policies are based on thinking that you do not have to be on the side of positive approval of them, but you are not clearly on the other side.

Well, this Blog is not the place to discuss politics.  Let’s go back to where we were.

If you are a manager of No.1 Brand, learn from big mistakes that the LDP committed.

Particularly, be careful if you are making “Unnecessary Change on your Equity/Images”.  Aren’t you committing to things that can turn off your customers with “healthy conservatism”?  Something like the Prime Minister Koizumi did.  It could give you “historic victory” short term, but don’t touch it.

Who are your “local farmers, construction industry, local post offices, and leaders of big industries”?  You better know them, who they are, and see of you are NOT doing anything wrong to turn them off.

If you are working on brands to be but not yet No.1, learn from the DPJ’s big success.

Is your vision/equity full of “fraternity” to embrace heart of users with “healthy conservatism”?   Being edgy won’t make you No.1.

Take a close look at your category’s No.1 brand.  Is it making any break down, like the LDP?  Or is there any chance to make the break-down happen?  “Healthy-conservative” people won’t choose you with substantive reason, so you better know if the time is with you.

Is your “manifesto” list up everything, vaguely promising things that you don’t know if you really can but you hope you can?  “Healthy-conservative” people do not demand “best” quality, but they are very keen if you can do things that any brands in the category should be able to.

And, to be No.1, you must be able to do very good job in providing the very category benefit/function/service, to be trusted to “lead the country (category)”.

Excuse me, It’s been quite abstract, this time.

At least, I can tell, Kao is dumping a gem into trash can, if they are milking “Revue” brand after buying Kanebo cosmetics.

“O.”