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.

UCC has introduced a limited edition Milk&Coffee collaboration with the latest Evangelion anime film, including six cans featuring six characters from the film.

Evangelion is one of the most popular manga series in Japan, with fans in a wide range of ages. UCC released tie-ups based on Evangelion manga back in 1997 and again in 2007, which were instant hits with fans in their 20s. This is the first collaboration with an Evangelion film.

This time, a new dimension has been added, with a sticker on each can containing a code which fans can enter into a campaign website for the chance to win a rare figurine of a figure from the series.

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

The new bottle holds 520ml of water, but weights just 12 grams when empty, or 40% less than other Coca-Cola PET bottles. The bottle, cap and even label weigh less. Over a year, that would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced in the manufacturing process by 3,000 tons, equivalent to the offset of a 950 hectare forest, according to the company.

For Japanese consumers, used to measuring their environmental impact in terms of the volume of waste they produce (always carefully separated into burnables, non-burnables and recyclables), the bottle creates a new disposal ritual to reinforce the “green” brand proposition (see video below). It can easily be twisted by hand to make it thin and easy to throw away, a “1-2-3″  action Coca-Cola Japan encourages consumer to follow in its marketing campaign:  1. buy (!), 2. drink, 3. remove-label-twist-and-discard.

Of course, the ritual still ends with discarding (a non-biodegradable object). However, the manufacturer has undeniable tapped into consumers willingness to take small steps toward “greening” their daily lives, but without making major sacrifices (Part Time Greens).

Not only that, Coca-Cola Japan is betting consumers are willing to pay a premium to be (or be seen as) green: ILOHAS retails in vending machines for 130 yen for a 520ml bottle, an 18% premium to other brands like Crystal Geyser. (As a launch campaign, the water retailed in convenience stores for 105 yen.)

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

Morinaga has released Dars chocolate in a package intenionally printed backwards.

Snack maker Morinaga has released a its Dars chocolate bar in a new package intentionally printed backwards, as part of a clever Valentine’s Day promotional campaign.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Japan by the giving of chocolate as in many other countries. However, it is the custom for women to present chocolate to men. Women working in companies are expected to give small, inexpensive gifts of chocolate to male coworkers at the office, a custom called “giri choco” (obligatory chocolate). With February 14th falling on a Saturday this year, chocolate makers are fretting over the lower demand for “giri choco”.

To make matters worse, it seems that Japanese women are feed up with the whole tradition. Earlier this month, chocolate maker Morinaga published the results of a survey revealing that 90.8% of Japanese women would like receive chocolate from men on Valentine’s Day. 69.7% said that they have bought chocolates for themselves for Valentine’s Day, and 89.6% admitted that they have eaten chocolate that was given to their boyfriends or male family members.

Popular actors Junji Takada and Yusuke Yamamoto are part of the campaign.

Japanese men seem ready to relent, with 85.9% saying the way Valentine’s Day is celebrated outside Japan is a good custom. 91.3% of men said they would give chocolate to women, but only if asked. To give Japanese men a little encouragement by promoting the idea of “reverse chocolate” (chocolate given by men to women), Morinaga has released a limited edition of its popular Dars chocolate bar with the packaging intentionally printed in reverse. Popular actors Junji Takada and Yusuke Yamamoto appear in television commercials promoting “reverse chocolate.”

Kirin has released a new Oolong tea, made from 100% tea grown in China’s Fujian Province. The strong tea is packaged with a minimal black and white label.

Learn more:
Other Kirin products
Kirin official homepage (Japanese)

The Mottainai shop sells garbage bags with endagered animal designs.

Japanese retailers and consumers have been criticized for creating unnecessary excess waste, with many products individually wrapped in several layers of plastic. However, attitudes are changing, as evidenced by the Mottainai project operated by Tokyo-based Tatsumi Co. “Mottainai” means “you shouldn’t waste that” in Japanese.

The project supplies retailers who would like to provide consumers with reusable shopping bags. Mottainai’s online shop, which sells directly to consumers, features products meant to reduce waste, such as reusable lunch boxes, chopsticks, and thermoses, as well as items meant to draw attention to the environmental impact of waste, such as garbage bags featuring designs of endangered animals. The project also organizes events to educate the public in environmental problems.

Learn more:
Other Morinaga Products
Morinaga Official Site (Japanese

The latest in a series of mineral water products popular in Korea.

In September, Jinro released Aqua Blue, positioned as a premium grade in its Seoksu mineral water line. The new products come during a time when mineral water sales are booming in Korea as the sale of bottled tea drinks slip.
Aqua Blue is made from desalinated deep sea mineral water extracted from 1,032 meters below the surface or Kangwon Province’s Yang Yang Bay. The water boasts 50 varieties of minerals found in deep sea water, and a pH level of 7.3-8, which is claimed to add in it being easily absorbed into the body. The blue gradation on the bottle is designed to represent the ocean getting darker at lower deepths.

This new premium line comes at a time when mineral water is booming in Korea. Bottled tea drinks, which peaked in 2004 during a wellness trend, with some hit products enjoying 40% sales growth per year, have stalled, and this market is predicted to begin shrinking by 10% per year.

Meanwhile, the mineral water market has skyrocketed from 3.5 billion won ($2.5 million) in 2006, to a projected 4.5 billion won ($3.2 million) in 2008. Many of the popular brands such as Blue Marine, Momejouenmul, and Ulleung Minewater are, like Aqua Blue, produced from desalinated deep sea water. Blue Marine, a premium water line by Lotte Chilsung, is enjoying sales success despite a price of 1,400 won($1) per .5 liter bottle, about 40% more than the market average. Ulleung Minewater sells for 2,000 won for a smaller, 330 milliliter bottle, which was recently redesigned to give it a more premium look.

The move from bottle tea to mineral water might be linked to a recent consumer backlash against genetically modified ingredients, which appear in some tea drinks. Mijin An

Ulleung Minewater is one the more expensive products on the market, as has new package design with a premium look.

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