Models Momo Eri and Tsubasa Masuwaka at the campaign launch

During the Nihon Bara-Iro Keikaku, or Japan Rose-Color Project, customers who buy a Quarter or Double Quarter Pounder Cheese get a pink badge and scratch-card, with the opportunity to win one of 50 free T-shirts. Early in the campaign, the T-shirts were also on sale at the McDonald’s on Center Gai, the upper floor of which was turned into a store reminiscent of a pink Graniph or UT. Some of the Ts were emblazened with tongue-in-cheek messages, such as “I Have Not Been Trading Stocks.”

In this way, behind the rosey color, the campaign makes a deeper pitch at consumers’ sensitivities. Members of the fan club can submit “Big Mouth” comments about the state of Japan today, including hopes, worries and messages of encouragement, such as from ‘Kenta’ in Oita Prefecture to people looking for jobs: “To change the current Japan, it does not take a person with good education, but with the spirit to challenge everything.” Or from ‘Chibisuke’ in Chiba to people who hate their overcrowded commutes: “Leave it to me! I’ll make the trains bigger. I already finished the designs.”

Singer Amuro Namie was chosen as the campaign model, reflecting the personal struggles she has overcome with the death of her mother, divorce and personal reinvention as an artist. The television commercial shows her fighting with herself in a video game, and tells viewers to “Keep Winning for Yourself” and “Laugh at Everything.”

Suntory has been giving away a series of eight mini-goods by product designer Amadana with its Boss Silky Black coffee. Targeting design-smart businessmen in their 30s, the all-black and metal products include a USB memory drive cover, a tape measure, a “multi case” the size of an iPhone, a pen holder, a money clip, a bookmark, a “cord reel” for keeping headphone cords neatly in a suit pocket and a memo stand.

Amadana is a brand of luxury household appliances that have a modernist design aesthetic that has grown from niche to mainstream in a short time. Its product lineup includes everything from coffee makers and music systems to paper shredders and mobile phone handsets.

A quick look online shows the collaboration has spawned more than 70,000 blog posts so far this month, with comments suggesting that consumers actively bought BOSS Silky Black in order to collect the Amadana products.

To find out how Five by Fifty helps its clients innovate in the beverage sector, contact us.

Your message here? (AP Photo via The Daily Beast)

Without wanting to minimize the seriousness of the health issues at hand, the reality is that people around the world are considering how to protect themselves. The prospect of having to wear a face mask if Swine Flu continues to spread may be no big deal in Japan and Asian countries that experienced SARS in 2003. However, for consumers elsewhere unused to such things, the face mask poses a serious fashion dilemma.

The result is the mask becoming a canvas for personal expression. Individuals in affected areas who want to be victims of neither health nor fashion have begun to get creative and decorate their masks, as this photo gallery from The Daily Beast shows.

Mint Designs' cheeky chimp face mask

Some manufacturers like Kimberly Clark already put out limited numbers of colorful masks decorated with Disney cartoon characters for children. Japanese brand Mint Designs has fashioned a cheeky monkey-style mask, and artist Yoriko Yoshida was recently inspired to create a set of beautiful, witty and sometimes faintly morbid face mask illustrations.

Mt. Fuji face mask by Yoriko Yoshida

What’s next? The face mask covers the most important area of the body for communication, and the natural target of the eyes of others. So if face masks do become de rigueur in some places for a while (and it’s far too early to say that they will), the blank white space will become a unique marketing opportunity for the right brand with the right design and the right message.

Contact us to find out more.

The campaign gives specific examples of when to drink Oranomin C

In a highly segmented and overcrowded marketplace, time-bereft consumers need to be spoon-fed if they are to understand what differentiates one product from another. This collaboration does just that for both Oronamin C energy drink and Navitime.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical organized direct marketing for businesspeople outside train stations in central Tokyo this month, handing out samples along with a detailed 8-page booklet designed like a personal notebook. The company helps consumers plan the product into their daily routine, such as before a business meeting, while waiting for a train, or to recharge during a work break.

The campaign, co-branded with Navitime, a GPS-based mobile maps and listings service. There are similar suggestions for incorporating Navitime into your routine too, such as to get to a meeting on time, planning a journey or looking for a restaurant.

Consumers can use a QR code to access a co-branded mobile website and sign up to receive regular mails on business lifestyle themes like “Work-Life Balance”, as well as a free two-week trial of the Navitime service.

The campaign also saw the drink sponsor this week’s R25 (a popular freepaper for men in their 20s), with a spot on the cover and a multi-page survey on how men handle various business situations.

Although Navitime and Otsuka offer two seemingly different products, they have come together to aggressively try and show comsumers that they empathise with and can support them through the challenges of the day at work.

To find out how Five by Fifty helps its clients innovate in the beverage sector, contact us.

Catherine Zeta-Jones for Unilever Japan's Lux campaign

In a recession, consumers treat themselves with daily luxuries and are often prepared to replace a holiday to Hawaii with a small-scale splurge. Beauty and Wellness categories are ripe for premiumization at this time.

That’s why cosmetics and consumer goods’ companies are currently hiring Oscar-winning actresses and handing out free samples to grab customer interest.

Shiseido completely updated and relaunched its Tsubaki line for the first time in March. Kao has expanded its Asience line, Unilever has done the same with Lux Super Damage Repair, and P&G is aggressively marketing a leave-in treatment with the Panteen brand.

Shiseido and Kao have taken the battle to the streets, with prominent ads in subways stations and free samples for pedestrians. Unilever and P&G, on the other hand, have focused on television and high-profile web advertising. For Lux, Unilever employed a Hollywood crew to shoot a short film staring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

For more on current “Up-Trading” trends, click here.

Cosmetics maker Shiseido interviewed 10,000 women across Asia to determine the ideal Asian face.

Leonardo da Vinci theorized that the ancient Grecian mathematical formula of the Golden Mean could be responsible for beauty in the human form. Today, Japan-based cosmetics maker Shiseido claims to have found the Golden Mean of Asian beauty in a marketing campaign for its Maquillage line.

Shiseido conducted research by interviewing 10,000 women in Japan and throughout Asia to find the common factors in women’s conception of the ideal face. They came to these results: women think that an ideal face is clear, small and shaped like an inverted triangle, with sharpe, big eyes and full lips. Eyes, lips and the rest of the face should all form well-defined features, with contrast among them.

Shiseido found that the ideal proportions could be recreated using five layers of shade and highlight. Shiseido has now established a special website to teach women “M (Maquillage) Rules” for using their products aspire to the ideal face.

Maquillage has creates a series of tutorials on its website for recreating the ideal face.

If imitation is any sign of success, Tokyo Girls Collection, the live fashion show-cum mobile commerce event created by Branding Inc., should be flattered.

A Japanese printing company, Toppan, has announced that it will diversify into fashion and launch a series of catwalk shows in Tokyo in September, according to WWD and Nikkei.

In a concept almost identical to TGC, Toppan will sell clothing and accessories worn by models in the shows via a mobile website. It will also sell magazines and DVDs related to the event. Toppan hopes to attract 10,000 girls in their teens and 20s paying at least ¥3,000 (US$30) for a ticket. It expects annual sales of ¥3 billion (US$30) by 2011, and plans to export the shows to other cities in Asia.

Branding Inc. (formerly Xavel) held the first TGC in 2005. Attendees can instantly buy clothes they see from an affiliated mobile website, fashionwalker.com. Versions of TGC took place in Beijing in 2007 and 2008. The most recent event was held in Tokyo in early March and featured brandsincluding Alba Rosa, BEAMS, Jill Stuart and Milkfed.

In the video game Like a Dragon 3, characters eat ramen to gain strength.

Instant noodle manufacturer Ace Cook is promoting its new product through as tie up with the popular Sega video game “Like a Dragon 3″ (sold in North America as “Yakuza 3″). In the video game, players eat ramen noodles to gain strength before battling opponents.  Ace Cook’s new product is named after a fictitious ramen restaurant that appears in the game. Although the shop does not actually exist, a special section on the Ace Cook website features a map, menu, and reviews.

One of only two Quarter Pounder locations in Japan.

Interiors are done in minimal black.

McDonald’s Japan briefly sold the Quarter Pounder sandwich nation-wide in the late 1990s, before dropping the item from menus. Beginning last November, they began test marketing Quarter Pounder sets at 40 McDonald’s branches in Kumamoto, a city of 1.5 million people in Kyushu.

On November 5th, a launch campaign began in Tokyo, with two McDonald’s locations in Shibuya and nearby Omotesando being totally converted to “Quarter Pounder” shops. The restaurants offer only two choices on the menu: a Quarter Pounder set for 500 yen, and a Double Quarter Pounder set for 600 yen. The interiors are minimal black, and feature Le Corbusier sofas. Interestingly enough, there is no discernable connection to McDonald’s. No golden arches, no yellow, no Ronald. Japanese consumers are not likely to know exactly what a pound is, or a quarter for that matter, but no clues are offered on the ultra-minimal Quarter Pounder website.

A contest is being run till the end of November, with a grand prize of a sightseeing trip to America being offered to ten couples. To enter the contest, applicants must answer a single question: Which fast food chain launched the Quarter Pounder in Japan?

The minimal Quarter Pounder website.

A sign reading

Signs and packages with smatterings of English have long been ubiquitous in Korea. It seems young Koreans no longer find the attraction of English advertising copy, and marketers have been turning to more exotic languages such as French and Italian.

Samsung

Samsung has released a new line of MP3 player named “La Fleur,” and decorated with floral patterns for a romantic French feel. Restaurants have been adding splashes of Italian, French, and even Latin to their menus, and shop signs in Japanese have been popping up around Seoul.

In shopping streets in the trendiest sections of Seoul, “Sale” signs are nowhere to be found, but there are plenty of “Saldi” signs can be seen in shop windows. “As we carry Italian fashion items, a sign in Italian is a natural choice,” says a fashion shop manager. “A sign in Italian helps convey a chic and high-end image to our female customers.”

Third language marketing strategies appeal to consumer’s desire for products and shopping experiences that are unique, and have appeared only recently as the English abilities of the average Korean have improved in a competitive job market.

Jeongmae Choi