Save ¥100,000 with voice recorded encouragement

Written by: Rebecca Milner on November 21, 2008 at 3:58 am | In DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION |

In our coverage of the latest generation of interactive digital piggy banks we noted that despite their often cartoon-ish appearance, these banks were for adults. Here is additional proof: the new Voice Memory Bank from Toy Box is designed to help you save ¥100,000.

That is not small change. That’s about $1,000 (give or take the fluctuating exchange rate), or about what a young-ish couple might need for a weekend at a hotspring resort, a package trip to Okinawa, or matching Louis Vuitton key holders. It is also a sum that might be worth investing, but the popularity of these banks just continues to confirm the stereotypical Japanese tendency towards mattress-style saving.

The key sales point of the Voice Memory Bank is that you (or your significant other, as the press material notes) can record an encouraging (nagging?) message that gets replayed with every ¥500 coin deposit. The bank itself requires an investment of ¥1,995 (about $20).

In other savings related news—and I don’t know how we missed this—a coalition of toy bank manufacturers, including Takara Tomy, Bandai, Banpresto, and Toybox, declared October 10th to be “savings day” (take that birthday of the Republic of China).

Apparently because the number “10” looks like a coin going into a slot, as demonstrated by the picture above.

Tags: Money, Piggy Banks, Saving
Category: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS