Yamanote Green Tea Bottle

Written by: Michael Keferl on June 15, 2009 at 3:04 pm | In PRODUCT INNOVATIONS | 2 Comments

Is the train-loving population really this influential with their pocketbooks? The last year has seen an explosion in train-themed goods in Japan, from alarm clocks to banks to watches and everything in-between. Trains hold a special place in modern Japanese life, many of whom utilize the system every day.

Mokku, a maker of toys and novelty FMCG, has recently begun selling a series of green tea modeled after the famed Yamanote Line in Tokyo. Doing a full loop around the downtown area, the Yamanote is a key connector and an iconic line.

At about $3.50, these bottles go for about three times what a normal green tea does, so it’s really all about the bottle rather than the contents. Still, it’s an interesting twist to take the Yamanote which is known for its stark green color and merging it with a green tea.

UPDATE: By the looks of this site there’s also a Keihin-Tohoku line version out there as well.

Tags: beverages, FMCG
Category: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION

Shiso & Green Tea Cola for the Summer

Written by: Michael Keferl on June 9, 2009 at 7:20 pm | In PRODUCT INNOVATIONS | 1 Comment

I’ve been a fan of the vitamin C-infused Coca-Cola Plus for some time now, but that’s probably because it seems so tame compared to its beverage brethren these days.

Typically it isn’t Coca-Cola straying from their undeniably solid brand image, but Pepsi seems to have no problem playing around with colors, themes, and all kinds of flavor innovations on an regular basis. We all remember Crystal Pepsi many years ago, but recent years have brought us Cucumber, Blue Hawaii, Yogurt, and various other combinations of Coke’s ambitious rival.

On the end of the image above are two latest cola variations in Japan: The upcoming Shiso-flavored Pepsi and the just-released Coca-Cola Plus with Green Tea flavor. The latter we had today, and it’s hard to tell the difference much since Coca-Cola isn’t going to go too crazy, but the shiso will surely be an interesting trial when it comes out in the next weeks.

Of course, it’s not just in the cola world where odd beverages pop up left and right, and there’s a method to the madness that ties into innovation, core-brand boosting, and creative destruction. It’s a wild and wonderful world when the drink choices change all the time, and disappointing when one of them gets you hooked and then vanishes without a trace!

Tags: beverages, FMCG, Marketing
Category: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION

Taxi Cab Seatbelt Ads Bring Direct Attention to Waistlines

Written by: Rebecca Milner on May 8, 2009 at 5:08 am | In MARKETING IDEAS | No Comments

In a campaign for Hajime Chaka, the beverage company makes clever use of this staple of urban life.

To commemorate the two-year anniversary of its “Hajime Chaka” tea drink, Coca-Cola Japan has launched an innovative advertising campaign to take over city taxi cab seat belts. Safety belts in 200 cabs around Tokyo and Osaka will be branded with the slogan, “Every Day Weight Support Hajime Chaka” until mid-June.

The feted beverage is billed as a “healthy green tea” using 100% domestic tea and containing zero calories. The use of seat belts is meant to accentuate the discomfort or self-consciousness one might feel belting in a hefty “metabo” waistline. Metabo is the Japanese way of saying “metabolic syndrome,” which is said to mostly effect salarymen—just the sort who might be taking a taxi home after an evening drinking session with co-workers.

Standard promotional material for Hajime Chaka features a traditional-looking warrior fighting metabo, another appeal to the middle-aged male company employee seeking to feel better about his body and energy.

Trend Potential
Public transportation in Tokyo is notoriously plastered with advertisements and companies compete to cover new—and eye-catching—ground. The Hajime Chaka campaign goes a step further, by drawing on a physical and emotional sensation that the target consumer presumably feels upon using one of these forms of transportation—and encountering the well-placed advertisement.

Via J-Cast

Tags: beverages, Campaigns, FMCG, Marketing
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

FMCG Consumption Circle Almost Complete

Written by: Michael Keferl on April 13, 2009 at 8:14 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS | No Comments

Japanese FMCG are always interesting to us, mostly due to the rapid product cycle, off-beat marketing campaigns, strange flavor combinations, lots of collaborations, and modern crowdsourcing methods.

While cigarettes and coffee have been paired up at the register, we recently found two products that seem to be searching for a product match.

The “Pan” coffee from Roots below advertises itself as the perfect compliment to eating bread. In fact, the word pan literally means “bread”, and there’s a picture of a sandwich that looks suspiciously like the sandwiches available in convenience stores. Thus, if you’re holding a sandwich and looking for a coffee as well, which one looks more suitable?

The Cabin “Roast Blend” cigarettes, recently released, go quite far to associate themselves with coffee. The cigarettes themselves are long and dark colored, internal pamphlets offer coffee makers for lucky winners, and the packaging itself is not only suited for sitting next to a hot cuppa, but even says “For Rich Coffee Break”. Naturally, if you like coffee, what cigarettes would you buy?

This is an interesting tactic, because it does stand out rather well amidst a sea of competition. One convenience store shelf can have over twenty different types of canned coffee, and many times that in cigarette choices, so the marketers are appealing to the other consumption habits of consumers to get their attention.

So, all we need now is bread made to go with cigarettes and we’ll have a complete consumption circle! Both Roots canned coffee and Cabin cigarettes are made by Japan Tobacco, so all they need to do is get their foods division in action.

Tags: beverages, FMCG, Marketing, Tobacco
Category: MARKETING IDEAS, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION

Fashionable Beverages: TGC Milk Tea & Lawson

Written by: Rebecca Milner on March 23, 2009 at 6:21 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS | 2 Comments

Popular fashion festival the Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC) has released a chilled cup beverage called Collaboration Blend: Royal Milk Tea. The special edition beverage is available exclusively at Lawson convenience stores and went on sale March 10th, just a few days after the latest successful edition of the event.

While the TGC is produced by influential fashion and lifestyle portal site Girlswalker.com, it is the recognizable pink logo of the TGC that is displayed more prominently on the packaging and in-store promotional material. According to the press release, the executive committee of the TGC selected the blend of Assam tea and fresh cream and the ladylike pink stripe of the package design.

What’s more, on the back of the package and above the requisite nutrition information, is a QR code that links to the TGC mobile website where consumers can check out photos and reports from the recent show. This feature works to reinforce the link between the product and the event.

Trend Potential
CScout covered the fashion show in-depth, but for us the most interesting aspect is the e-commerce integration and collaborations that have made Tokyo Girls Collection such as hit. Our mini reports on collaborations, including lots of descriptions and photos, are available in the Mobile Trendpool.

Tags: beverages, Collaborations, Convenience Stores, Fashion, FMCG
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS