Japan Marketing News

Japanese handy clip makes bugs buzz off

Interesting alternative to traditional bug sprays here. 

Kiribai is a Japanese company that specializes in high-function products like pocket warmers, pressure activated ice packets and bug repellants.

The Mushi Guard Clip is a convenient way to keep pests away. According to the package, you just clip it on your cap or a pocket and bugs will stay at least one meter away. It works for a month and costs around 600 yen retail.

In Japan over the past couple of years, we've seen washable wool in everything from Konaka men's suits to sweaters by UNIQLO.

And now it turns out that manufacturers of women's suits are getting in the game too. Last week a Nikkei article mentioned that Isetan recently get teamed up with Inéd, a popular brand amongst Japanese office ladies, to offer limited-edition, washable Inéd suits at prices comparable to the brand's regular offerings.

In tough economic times, shoppers start thinking hard about justifying each purchase they make, and providing a "reason why" allows them to spend more freely. "Just think about how much I can save on dry cleaning costs. . ." 

Although it's not an answer for everybody, leveraging new technology like this may be one way to get Japanese consumers to revisit your brand. I've seen it work not only on products that were technology-oriented to begin with, but also on items like fashion and sweets—normally not the kinds of things sold on functional benefits in other countries.

Wine soaked Japanese find another way to get tight

If you're from a western country where carton vinos are well established, you might be forgiven for assuming that these are the Japanese version of bottle-less wines.

Of course, that's not quite the case. In reality, Spavino is a kind of liquid bath salt that contains wine as one of the main ingredients. Apparently the brand was inspired by European spas (hence the name) which have been using wine-spiked soaks as part of their treatments to give women tighter, smoother ski.

Japan is one step closer to making every surface an ad

Been so busy these past few weeks I didn't get a chance to mention this ground-breaking new media that appeared on Tokyo trains about a month ago.

Japanese printing companies have started offering advertisers the ability to display moving pictures on paper advertisements.

The above ad announces the debut of a new mascara from Lancome that uses a vibrating applicator brush. The poster is made from electronic paper—a technology that allows paper to be written and rewritten repeatedly. So what you're looking at is essentially a paper poster hanging from the ceiling of a subway train in which the image changes.

Similarly some train stations are now equipped with poster banks for electronic paper ads that can refresh with new images at specific intervals. If you're an advertiser and you rent the space, you can replace the ad whenever you want while sitting right at your office desk, since the wall frames are connected to PHS phone networks that tap into the internet.

"Air's another new Doritos product from Japan Frito Lay. . ."

You get a nice light crunch from these air filled triangular pockets just released under the Doritos brand by Japan Frito Lay. According to the package there is a patent pending on the product.