Consuming Japan http://64.62.152.78/index.php/weblog/index/consuming_japan/ en jlm@wordworks.jp Copyright 2010 2010-02-03T05:10:06+00:00 Bad Boys http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/marketing-eye_bad-boys/consuming_japan/ The latest issue of Marketing Eye Online features a story about outlaw fashion. There have been several times in recent history when furyou (bad boys, outlaws) have set the tone for the times. Many people in Japan will recall the gYankeesh of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Now, once again, bad boys are popping up as popular figures in manga and film and trendsetters in fashion. But the new gbad boyh styles are spreading in part because they have been diluted by non-bad boy elements. MARKETING EYE identifies three distinct types

The classic waruwaru gbad, badh type in whom the old gYankeeh attitudes are alive and well. He is very particular about his clothes, brought up highly conscious of superior-subordinate relationships. He may look bad, but he is highly respectful of tradition. He is a brand loyalist; not the sort of flighty customer who changes his look with every passing trend.



Manly: +++++

Attracts Women: ++++

Egotistical: +


The itachi (Italian?) bad boy is epitomized by the gigolos employed by Kabukicho host clubs. He is smart, stylish, girlishly thin. He sees his body as a weapon and wears suits that emphasize his slimness. He may seem to treasure womenfs feelings, but be fiercely ambitious on the inside.



Manly: +++

Attracts Women: ++++++

Egotistical: +++



The chara bad boy is a mix of wildness and the sort of feminine taste found at Shibuya 109. He skillfully combines trendy items and hair styles. He is open about his desire for women to like him.



Manly: +

Attracts Women: ++++

Egotistical: +++++

]]> 2010-02-03T05:10:06+00:00 Target Insight '09-'10 Fashion Types http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/target-insight-09-10-fashion-types/consuming_japan/ Fashion-conscious people have long believed that you are what you wear. But, according to Ito-Chu Fashion Systems, the use of fashion to say “This is who I am” has become more pronounced since the 1990s. This trend is especially noticeable in women who belong to the purikura “print club” generation born between 1977 and 1986. The company’s trend analysis identifies three distinct types, divided on two dimensions: casual/elegant and sexy/anti-sexy. The elegant type (43%) is elegant and sexy. The gal type (12%) is casual and sexy. The multi-mix type (25%) is casual and anti-sexy. There is no type that is both elegant and anti-sexy. The elegant type wants to be seen as having a cute smile and a soothing presence. For her partner she wants a man acceptable to everyone. In marriage she looks for security and stability. Stability and social contacts are what she looks for in a job. She is a careful shopper, who likes the safe feeling that big-name brands provide. Her cell phone is pink or pearl white, her favorite interiors simple and natural, with wooden furniture displaying the natural grain of the wood.

The gal type wants to be seen as bold and stylish. She wants a man with whom she can have fun. She wants a gorgeous wedding and work that offers a chance to get rich. She is an impulse shopper, who likes new, trendy items. Her cell phone is black or gold, her favorite interiors are like those found at upscale summer resorts.

The multi-mix type wants to be seen as individual with a distinctive sense of style.  She wants a man who shares her values, a marriage in which man and wife are well-matched. She wants a job that suits her. Her shopping is guided by her style; she is particular about details. Her cell phone is bright red or blue; her favorite interiors recall cafes with specially designed furniture.

The three types see “Eco,” environment-friendly products from different perspectives. The elegant type likes environment-friendly cosmetics, eco-bags, things both stylish and ecological. The gal type likes “Wow! Looks great!” She is, perhaps unexpectedly, the most likely to participate in events and happenings with ecological themes. The multi-mix type wants ecology her way. She finds it in having a small garden, handmade soap, that sort of thing.

]]> 2010-01-05T08:49:53+00:00 Target Insight '09-'10 Pre and Post-Bubble http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/target-insight-09-10-pre-and-post-bubble1/consuming_japan/ It was Marketing Eye‘s Asami Sunahara who pointed me to Target Insight ‘09-‘01, a Senden Kaigi publication for which she was one of the co-editors. The first major section deals with generational differences in Japanese consumers,  looking at these differences in terms of pre and post-bubble coming of age, the magazines they read, and the products they made bestsellers. Here I translate a summary of results for coming of age before or after the Japanese bubble economy’s collapse in 1991. The dividing line is age 36.

Pre-bubble is 37 or older

  * Experienced a growing economy
  * Learned to consume when things were getting better and better

Post-bubble is 36 or younger

  * Came of age when Japanese society was already stagnant
  * Learned to consume when things were stuck or getting worse

Basic Stance
Pre

  * Upwardly mobile, want to be different
  * Believe that hard work is rewarded
  * Look to the future, long-term perspective

Post

  * Want the same as others with whom they get along
  * Do not believe that hard work is rewarded
  * Focused on the present, mid to short-term perspective


Use of Time
Pre

  * Don’t like to do nothing
  * Want a full schedule

Post

  * Want time to do nothing
  * Like schedules with lots of empty spaces


Consumption Attitudes
Pre

  * Want the latest, something better
  * Want it all
  * Using consumption to mark higher status at key moments of life

Post

  * Want limited-time, seasonal, and just right for me
  * Spend more on some things, less on others
  * Treasure momentary encounters, want to be inspired


Fashion
Pre

  * One-taste coordination
  * Like what’s new
  * Like brands

Post

  * Re-mix items from different styles
  * Like used and remake apparel
  * Like “select” (idiosyncratic) items


Communication
Pre

  * Want to be connected with society
  * Enjoy communication with a wide variety of people

Post

  * Want to be connected with a small group of friends
  * Prefer comfortable, narrow worlds

Information Gathering
Pre

  * Gather information from a wide variety of sources including mass media
  * Find role models in magazines
  * Give greater weight to face-to-face communication

Post

  * Search the net to quickly find what they need
  * Find role models in stores and people they know
  * Give greater weight to word-of-mouth on the Net

]]> 2010-01-02T05:51:07+00:00 Rocky Road Ahead for Japan's Ad Industry - Nikkei Advertising White Paper 09 http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/rocky-road-ahead-for-japans-ad-industry-nikkei-advertising-white-paper-09/consuming_japan/ The first paragraph of Chapter 1 of the Nikkei Advertising Research Institute’s Advertising White Paper 2009 opens with a fundamental reality about the advertising industry, ” It doesn’t matter how hard ad agencies and media suppliers work; without the advertisers’ OK they are stopped in their tracks. The advertisers’ hold the industry’s fate in their hands.”. Media Through spring of 2008, industry forecasts were optimistic about renewed growth. Then came the call, the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the start of the global recession. Clients slashed their advertising budgets. But it wasn’t just the global recession. Clients were already complaining about the increasingly weak impact of mass media advertising in TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, a trend accelerating with the growth of the Internet and other new media. In Japan, as in the rest of the world, it looks as if Josh Bernoff, writing in

is right: Advertising Will Change Forever. Digital Spending Will Nearly Double in 5 Years, But Ad Budgets Won’t.

]]> 2009-07-22T01:41:05+00:00 Media My Way http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/senden-kaigi-5-15-09-media-my-way/consuming_japan/ The featured section in the May 15 ‘09 issue of Senden Kaigi could be more literally translated “The Reality of the Consumer’s Media My Way Phenomenon”. The first story in the special section is based on a Hakuhodo DY study of high school girl media use. Her monthly cell phone bill would be 800,000 a month, if she didn’t have a fixed rate plan). She takes her cell phone wither into the bath. It’s not waterproof, but she needs her entertainment. She may be watching the last episode of a favorite TV show, but she is still e-mailing. She receives 300 e-mails a day but has developed the ability to sort through them very rapidly. She simultaneously chats and writes her diary on Mixi. Multi-tasking is a way of life.

]]> 2009-05-19T05:48:05+00:00 Is being very Japanese the key to global value? http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/is-being-very-japanese-the-key-to-global-value/consuming_japan/ This ad for Suntory’s premium whiskey Yamazaki makes a strong claim. The more something is distinctively Japanese, the more global it becomes. In a multicultural world where the “Japan brand” may be weakening, there could be something to this. Great cars and great electronics have universal appeal. That, however, can be a problem when those great automotive and electronics products can and are being made all over the world. What then becomes of the distinction that “Made in Japan” once communicated? 2009-05-10T09:07:14+00:00 SENDEN KAIGI 5/1/09 No. 764 Brand Alliance Strategies http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/senden-kaigi-5-1-09-brand-alliances/consuming_japan/ The featured topic for this month’s Senden Kaigi is brand alliance strategies, i.e., the ways in which “Even competitors are changing from rivals to allies.” The second special section is “Consumer buttons pushed by today’s hot products,” the ones that “people line up for, sell out, are out of stock.” The third is “SEM case studies and know-how, from the basics to applications.” 2009-05-10T05:00:19+00:00 BRAIN Special! Why They Concentrate on Work http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/brain-june-2009-volume-587/consuming_japan/ This month’s special section focuses on four currently hot creators, Koichi Tanaka, Shinya Okamoto, Koichiro Yokozawa, and Yuichi Kodama, and why they work so hard. Also featured on the front page is a regular feature, the Aoyama Design Kaigi (Aoyama Design Meeting). Participants this month are Junya Ishigami, Jiro Hirano, and Shiro Maeda. There topic is “Timeless Universality.” 2009-05-10T04:49:41+00:00 Word Works Chosen to Provide English Text for First Japan Interactive Advertising Annual http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/word-works-chosen-to-provide-english-text-for-first-japan-interactive-adver/consuming_japan/ The Word Works, Ltd. has been selected to provide the English text for Japan Interactive Advertising Annual ‘09, which showcases the prize-winning ads from the Tokyo Interactive Ad Awards (2003-2008, including TIAA and Cannes Grand Prix winner “UNIQLOCK.” 2008-12-15T07:36:00+00:00 Best wishes for a happy and prosperous year of the Mouse! http://www.wordworks.jp/index.php/weblog/to-all-our-friends-we-wish-a-happy-and-prosperous-year-of-the-mouse/consuming_japan/ 2007-12-28T05:56:00+00:00