Hasta La Gadget!

“Brand Mook Series” has been a Takarajimasha Publishing House registered trade mark since 2005, and in the last year has become huge business in Japan. The Japanese publishing giant has collaborated with more than 80 brands from local fashion brands like Tsumori Chisato to international designers such as Top Shop, the Finish Marimekko and haute couture brands such as Furla and Yves Saint Laurent

A Mook is basically a magazine or book containing special edition branded items, and usually priced for less than $18. Break-through sales of about 200 branded magazine issues and a total of 20 Million copies turned the series into a huge success. For example, Kitson alone, an LA based celebrity fashion brand, have sold 1.2 Million Mooks in Japan. The tie in with numerous fashion houses has seen the Mook become an established success both in terms of sales and also as an exercise in branding collaboration.

This year, a number new brands joined the series, offering a new Spring – Summer 2011 collection of bags, pouches, purses and make up cases, which can be collected with each weeks Mook in the same way hobby magazines work offering new parts to figures each week, and driving continued sales. High end fashion brands have recently joined the Mook bandwagon, Armani Exchange, collaborated with Takarajishima for their Mooks earlier this year in Japan. In the magazine, you can find information on the new NY Spring-Summer collection and receive a limited edition set of unisex tote- bag and pouches. Cult fashion labels such as Bathing Ape have also released their own branded Mooks but at a premium rate of around $41, however with limited sales they prove particularly popular with the die hard BAPE fans.

The magazines formula is fairly simple, readers get information about a brand’s new collection, shops information, new trends and some personal information about the designers themselves along with some “exclusive” items. Basically it works as a great advertising vehicle, a PR magazine for the brand, but drawing in the reader with the offer of a uniquely designed bag.

In accessory excessive culture such as in Japan, it is a natural success where this kind of large scale marketing collaboration where limited edition bags act as the lure in the readers purchasing these magazines. As with hobby magazines, where enthusiasts want to collect the complete series of whatever it is they are colecting, similarly people are drawn to continued purchasing and collecting the special edition branded items. Taken further there is a large scale potential then for marketing in other spheres in Japan.

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It’s not hard to get us excited about a post at CScout Japan, especially not when it involves sampling an ice cold beer on a sweltering hot day! Beverage manufacturer Kirin has introduced their new “Ice Plus Beer” which pretty much does exactly what it says on the can, cold beer designed to be poured over ice. Hitting the shelves today, the new beer from Kirin seems to be generating quite some chatter, especially as they have been pushing out their social marketing campaign, tweeting “cold jokes” and 100 different “hidden” commercials.

Consuming beer with ice may make the beer connoisseur shiver, however the manufacturers have touted that the Ice Plus Beer has been specifically designed to be poured over ice to enrich the taste and enhance the aroma. After sampling it, surprisingly the advertisements aren’t far off and it does seem to taste better over ice than consumed straight from the can (however it did take three or four to verify it!). There is no escaping that it still is a cheap and cheerful Kirin beer taste though, all be it a colder one. As with many Japanese products that have to compete with other seasonal items, the packaging is interestingly designed also. On the back of the beer can itself is a nice pop-art style 4-frame comic that illustrates how to enjoy the product, complete with swooning girl over alcoholic male. The convenience stores didn’t miss a trick either, a nice tie in offering a discount “Ice Cup” with the each Ice Plus Beer, to help the thirsty consumer enjoy it as soon as they step out the shop and drive sales during the humid months.

The marketing build up has been well thought out also, punning on the ability of the beer to “Cool Japan” and some self-effacing tweet gags that run on the phrase “samui” (cold) which refers to a bad joke. They did however miss a trick not tying it into Coll Biz though, anyone who has seen a drunken salary man in Tokyo on a weekday night knows the comedic potential there! On the product’s own homepage is also a secret collection of 100 short (approximately 30-60 second) and humorous commercials featuring the cartoon characters to advertise Ice Beer Plus, further drawing the consumer into the brand.

Seasonal products are big business in Japan with a particularly competitive FMCG (fast moving commercial goods) market. Pepsi and Kitkat for example, are constantly coming out with new flavors to keep the public’s appetite satiated, and on the shelves in the convenience store we purchased this beer in, we also spotted a new Pepsi “Caribbean Gold, White Sapote” flavored drink….although we did have to Google white sapote before we knew what it was!

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From the cute, colorful graphic boxes to the perfectly placed stools to help sugar-hungry kids reach the top shelf of perfectly organized sweets, Japan’s supermarket candy aisles are a testament to accessibility.

Traditionally, females in Japan tend to live with their parents until they get married as taking the step to living on their own is not a simple and cheap step to take. Step in the ladies from Lacine, a female support company based in Japan, who recently introduced an exciting new concept aimed at easing the transition between ladies living with their parents and finding their own domicile. The new “Trial Stay” program aims at fostering a female-oriented atmosphere and living space for their residents, through their new concept of a “salon” in the apartment complete with cooking classes, beauty school, and other female-directed workshops all combined under one roof, differentiating their home from service apartments.

For about US $200 to US $300, the company provides a fashionable apartment room for a short stay of 2 to 4 weeks, enough time for these ladies to decide whether or not living by themselves floats their boat, or if they should wait until their Prince Charming asks them to live with him in his castle. These women can live in a home decorated with beautiful ornaments and equipped with the latest eco-friendly “green” technology, such as an IH Cooking Heater. The room uses LED lighting and comes with an arrangement of furniture, which is cost effective in the sense that it saves them from buying their own.

Trial Stay’s main feature is its Salon, which acts as a living room where residents can get together and throw parties, as well as a place for daily events such as cooking lessons taught by professional chefs and beauty courses led by renown make-up artists. The Salon is designed by Panahome (Panasonic’s Home Improvement Department) and integrates the newest technology developed by Panasonic. Their Eco Money System allows them to implement their recently introduced concept, “Mieruka” (a play on with the words ‘develop’ and ’see’, which imply that users can see how much electricity/energy they are using as well as how much solar powered energy is being created by the solar panels attached to the apartment). Finally, the home even generously provides an electric bicycle for each of its residents, making the trip to the grocery store and back much less tiring and more convenient.

This Trial Stay proves to be a new and interesting concept that many women may find appealing. Not only do they get to live far away from their parents, they are able to learn how to become, what some Japanese men may say, a real woman, by learning how to cook and master the art of makeup.

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Here at CScout Japan we pride ourselves on uncovering and bringing to you the best in Japanese design. Whether we are connecting with Japan’s top architects and designers, or pounding the streets of Tokyo, we always aim at showing you the true “cool Japan”. With the International Congress of Architecture (UIA), in Tokyo this year, we are once again inviting you to join us in not only exploring the hidden designs and secrets we have uncovered, but actually meet the most influential architects working in Japan today and immerse yourselves in archiTokyo.

Japan has given birth to some of the most striking architectural design in the world. From being able to bring out the perfection in tiny intricate details, to exquisite simplicity in clean designs, and drawing on its tremendous rich cultural history, the design scene in Japan has become synonymous with both innovation and beauty. One designer who exemplifies this is Terunobu Fujimori, one of the worlds most acclaimed architects. archiTokyo 2010 brought participants into Fujimori’s “Copper House” pictured below right, featuring an example of his famous tea house theme, and also to his private residence, below left, named Tampopo House.

Roland Hagenberg renowned author, filmmaker, and expert in Japanese architecture having collaborated on projects together with top architects such as Kengo Kuma, Kenzo Tange, Tadao Ando, Kisho Kurokawa and Toyo Ito, amongst others, has once again joined us for archiTokyo 2011. Guiding the immersions Roland shares his insights he has garnered over the years with participants, divulging some of the secrets and tales he accumulated through his recently acclaimed publication on the lives and souls of twenty of Japan’s most influential modern architects, “20 Japanese Architects” (and a release last week of 24 Architects in Japan).

In 1995 Japanese architects Kazuyo Seijima and Ryue Nishizawa formed their own firm Sanaa and have gone on to produce some of the most striking design coming out of the country today. Their work, like the Dior store in Omotesando pictured below, is well known for “creating lightweight, transparent spaces that expose the fluidity and movement of their occupants”. Nishizawa also joined us on a past architectural immersion, personally guiding participants around his Dior building, taking them through the creative process, and explaining how, with his partner, they have gone about creating some modern day masterpieces such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London.

Through archiTokyo we provide you with opportunities to discuss projects, debate ideas and hear directly from the most influential architects working in Japan right now, all in their own creative spaces. We take you behind the doors, and let you get truly up close and personal with some of the most striking spaces in Japan with our unrivaled access.

The tours promise to be the highlight of those visiting Japan for the 24th International Congress of Architecture and will be on offer from Sept 9th through to October 9th. Keep watching this space as we will soon be announcing an update on how you can enter to stand the chance of winning your own place on one of our archiTokyo immersions.