Hasta La Gadget!

Suntory Fine Zero. Asahi Strong Off. Kirin Yasumu Hi no 0.00%. Cheap and even cheaper. Low alcohol, non-alcohol. Just when you thought you had a grip on the beer stand at your local supermarket, there’s always a new product right round the corner…

Now liquor store Yamaya has perhaps finally trumped all the others with the latest in their new own brand of “beer”: the Gugutto. In fact, it’s an import from a Korean manufacturer but you can’t argue with the price: just 85 yen (even with the weak dollar, that’s still less than a buck)!

Of course, this isn’t real beer. It’s daisan biiru, an ersatz beer, which, like happoushu, is designed to get around taxes levied against beer by including almost no actual malt. Even more significantly, this new Gugutto is non-alcoholic, which not only surely lowers the costs, but also allows the makers to market it as the beer you drink when you want to drive (much like Kirin Free has been advertised).

The trend towards ever-cheaper beer has resulted in a plethora of daisan beers over the years, with new ones appearing from the main manufacturers every summer (and probably swiftly disappearing again). The marketing for these beers now focuses on their price, their low fat ingredients and (if they are non-alcoholic) how they allow you still to go about your other activities. They have ever more ridiculous names; their packaging is ever more bright and breezy. The days of the chic Kashiwa Sato-designed Kirin lager beer seem to have slipped away like a forgotten hangover.

With a declining consumer base the big drinks manufacturers are fighting for precious space in people’s bellies and on the shelves in the supermarket. A constant stream of new products (with the requisite advertising campaign with a celebrity) is one way to maintain your drinks in the public’s eyes and perhaps achieve sales, even if quality is thrown out the window.

Known to many foreign residents in Japan as a good chain store to pick up import wine, Yamaya is hoping to sell 2.4 million cans of Gugutto Non-Alcohol annually.

It’s no secret that I like bijin (美人, “beautiful girls”). In the past we’ve blogged here about apologetic bijin but this time the development has more of a web marketing spin.

The popular Bijin-Tokei (美人時計, or “beautiful girl clock”), a website that showcases different young ladies telling you the time every minute, has collaborated…with a new instant noodles product.

All right, so perhaps you were expecting a fashion brand? It seems that even yakisoba in a plastic container can be made to look glamorous when it’s held by a pretty girl.

For one hour every night on Bijin-Tokei, the time will be told by a revolving set of 15 girls indulging in JanJan noodles. Every minute there’s a new lady, which even for instant noodles might be a bit too fast to prepare and eat. Tune in from eleven for your dose!

Bijin Tokei has been a big success since it started nine months ago, accruing some five million unique users and 2.5 billion page views. It has also spawned imitators (the “Gal Tokei“, another in Korea, plus an adult one!) and the site even has an English version. The widgets are particularly popular and mean you can ogle girls whenever you look at your own blog!

It’s far from unusual to see Apple ripping off others when it comes to spots, and the same is true in reverse. But copying itself? Head on past the break to catch the similarities between Cupertino’s freshest iPad commercial and an eerily familiar Newton ad from yesteryear — something tells us the former will make a somewhat more indelible mark on the world than the latter, though.

[Thanks, Jordan]

Continue reading ‘What is iPad?’ spot deviates little from the days of Newton (video)

‘What is iPad?’ spot deviates little from the days of Newton (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 01:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About four years ago we first reported on these motion ads that were appearing in the Tokyo subway, which were coinciding with some work we were doing with BMW at the time. Below is the original example:

Needless to say, we haven’t seen much else along these lines happening in the years since. Perhaps with commuters so engrossed in their devices they simply wouldn’t notice animated ads going on outside of the train.

However, last year there started to be more tests using electronic paper, and blending it in with traditional printed paper advertisements.

Not only do they not need an external power source, the components for the ads can be reused over and over, as well as updated anytime. Even time-sensitive ads (if you get off at the next stop, pop by Shop A for a discount) could be integrated into the system.

Last week we found these down in the Marunouchi Line in Tokyo. They play audible ads with video, and there are several installations all along the track and in multiple stations. Most people waiting for a train are staring ahead anyway, so this is a great chance to get their attention. Judging from our own experience, most people waiting were checking out the videos.

We’ve held no punches in sharing our thoughts on Palm’s recent ad campaigns, but the one spot that was actually not heinous has seemingly served as the basis for one of Microsoft’s first-ever WP7S commercials. Debuting here at the tail-end of MIX, the ad spotlights Anna — a fictitious gal we’ve certainly heard of before — using her new smartphone to share photos with her dear lover Miles. It also features Luca, a kid with an undying love for playing Xbox LIVE titles, who seems to be caught somewhere in between the world of nature and nurture. At any rate, it’s worth your while to give the new Microsoft commercial and the Palm ad which it has oh-so-much in common with right after the break.

Oh, and Palm — we guess “Windows Phone 7 Series was your idea,” right?

Update: Yes, that definitely looks like an HTC HD2 at the 0:43 mark, but you can rest assured WP7S won’t ever come to that gem in native fashion.

[Thanks, Sean]

Continue reading Microsoft takes a note from Palm in new Windows Phone 7 Series ad

Microsoft takes a note from Palm in new Windows Phone 7 Series ad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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