“The Cosmetics Chosen by 1,200,000 People”

Written by: Rebecca Milner on April 23, 2009 at 4:47 am | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS | 2 Comments

@Cosme is Japan’s most popular “kuchikomi” (word of mouth) cosmetics information and ranking website. On March 10th the website released a cosmetics guidebook called “1,200,000 Nin ga Eranda Cosme,” or “The Cosmetics Chosen by 1,200,000 People.” As the title suggests, the book showcases the top products as selected by the site’s 1,200,000 users.

From over 60,000 products discussed on the website in over 6,600,000 user rating entries, top items in categories such as skin care and make-up get mention in the book. The products themselves are surprisingly varied, from $200 face creams to drug stores staples like witch hazel and Vaseline—a reflection of the different users of the site.

Each product entry includes the category, ranking, brand, product description, age demographic breakdown, and select comments from the site. An additional “ranking points” is awarded to each entry based on the sum of all consumer rankings, meaning products move up in the ranks not only on the basis of high consumer rating (on a scale of 1-7) but by the number of consumer ratings as well.

There are other interesting bits of information gleaned from questionnaires on the website, such as how long users spend putting on make-up in the morning and tips for a flawless French manicure. The front of the book also looks at years past, showing the top items from 2006-2008.

“The Cosmetics Chosen by 1,200,000 People” is a “mook,” the curious Japanese word for a cross-between a book and magazine. More casual than a book, but not as disposable as a magazine, mooks usually enjoy an initial display on the magazine shelves at the bookstore before retiring to the appropriate book section.

Like other crowd-sourced products and self-publishing “keitai novel” sites that have proved hits lately, this does a nice job of making users of the site feel like they are really part of something greater—ensuring that a good number of them will feel vested enough in the creation process to purchase the book not only for the information but also as a “souvenir.” The layout of the book itself resembles the beauty section in fashion magazine, yet with the prominent “rating points” and “members comments” reminding readers that they themselves are part of the collective editorial voice.

“The Cosmetics Chosen by 1,200,000 People” retails for ¥1,000 and is published by Kodansha, the company also responsible for popular women’s magazines Vivi and With.

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

Cup noodles and massage lotion come to the aid of students

Written by: Rebecca Milner on December 10, 2008 at 6:04 am | In MARKETING IDEAS | No Comments

Stress inducing entrance exam season is just around the corner and it seems that panicked students have become a niche market of their own. Last year we spotted “brain udon” designed to improve memory for the occasion and this we’ve come across these “Ganbare! Students” wonton noodles from Myoujou Foods. “Ganbare” roughly translates to “try your hardest” or “don’t give up.”

These convenience store cup noodles don’t, however, hint at improved test scores; instead they offer luck. With cherry blossom colored mini-wantons and images of the same flower embedded in the soup’s kamaboko, students are invited to ingest these decorative symbols of good fortune. Available from December 8th in tonkatsu and salt broth flavors for ¥170.

Meanwhile Waimack Jewel Cosmetics is releasing a version of their “refreshing lotion” with packaging inspired by those study-weary students. The “refreshing lotion,” designed to stimulate the scalp and clear the mind, is traditionally applied by barbers with the massage that comes as part of a haircut.

The new packaging, however, bills the product as a “student aid” and features caricatures of students preparing to battle oncoming tests. This version of the head massage lotion is available at lifestyle shops like Tokyu Hands and Loft for a rather expensive ¥1890 for 250ml—I guess anything is worth a try, no matter the price, in the name of beating those entrance exams.

Tags: cosmetics, Cup noodles, FMGC, Students
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Busy women get their own skincare lines

Written by: Rebecca Milner on October 7, 2008 at 3:57 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS | No Comments

With winter just around the corner, cosmetics companies have moisturizer on the mind. Early indications show that “busy”—as in busy working women and busy mothers of young children—will be a key marketing buzzword.

AnnaDonna has a “Tired Skin Coating Suppli Moist Gel” targeting working women who need a long-lasting quick fix for the harsh affects of long hours and industrial strength air conditioners. The products function as an all in one with over 10 vitamins, hyaluronic acid, and co-enzyme 10. Meanwhile Dariya Cosme has launched “Mom’s Companion Pride,” another one step skin care product meant to simplify that contains a blend of the latest moisturizing elements.

The fact that marketers are creating two different target audiences—working women and mothers—for essential similar products is noteworthy in that it reflects a demand for individualized products. “Tired Skin Coating Suppli Moist Gel” costs ¥1,890 ($18) while “Mom’s Companion Pride” comes in less at ¥1,155 ($11).

Also worth mentioning is the October release of Shiseido’s new Revital Granas skin care line aimed at the 30-something market.

This mid-range products line, priced ¥1,890 to ¥15,750 ($18 to $149), ostensibly has it’s sights set on picking the designer bags of the growing number of career women feeling the first flush of the ageing process. The line will be available along with a digital skin analysis at department stores, following a launch at the posh Omotesando Hills shopping complex.

Tags: beauty, cosmetics, Women
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Face shaping tools hit the shelves for self-change

Written by: Sascha Faustka on September 28, 2008 at 11:59 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 8 Comments

Unsatisfied with your face? Is your mouth too wide or your head too big? Do you want to change the shape of your face without an expensive operation? If you feel like this, you may not be alone, as it seems that a lot of Japanese people might think the same way.

Flipping through fashion magazines or switching through the channels on the television in Japan, it won’t take long to figure out that there are certain face and body types that appeal to Japanese tastes. Nowhere else in the world are young people are trying so hard to look like their idols, and are willing to spend so much money on fashion and beauty.

The cosmetic industry therefore offers a widespread quantity of products: from simple make up, to lash and hair extensions, and contact lenses to make your eyes look bigger - all quite common products people elsewhere in the world use as well.

But here are two products you may not have heard of so far:

People thinking to have a too big face or want to get a slimmer cheek, strain skin, or get rid of a double chin could be helped by the Kogao Meiku Beruto (small face make belt). According to the manufacturer, the face will become smaller and slimmer by just stringing the belt around the head while sleeping or relaxing. Sounds easy, right?

Men who are unlucky with their face can also be helped. This next product claims that if you feel like your mouth is too wide and makes you look like you eat too much, you better try Tex Mex’s “Slim Mouth”. This simple looking product is supposed to make your mouth slimmer and smaller by just training the right muscles three minutes every day.

If it comes to the face, Japanese in general seem to agree: “the smaller, the better”.

The small face belt is available in internet shops for about 900Yen ($9).
Tex Mex’s Slim Mouth is available at Tokyu Hands for 820Yen ($8).

Tags: beauty, cosmetics
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Tofu face masks and other natural, edible, beauty treatments

Written by: Rebecca Milner on August 17, 2008 at 4:11 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | No Comments

With the LOHAS boom in full swing, more and more consumers are taking notice of what’s in their food and in their beauty products. Now the latest thing is to combine the two: beauty products that are made from all natural food stuffs.

While retailers, like the Girls’ Walker produced Cosme Kitchen, a select shop for imported natural beauty products, play up the idea for marketing, another company, Hiina is offering the real deal.

Hiina, a company staffed by all women, has introduced a face-mask made from 100% soy milk, or more specifically yuba, the sheet of soy milk that forms at the top when the liquid is heated at a low temperature.

Each face-mask is made by hand and, because it is 100% additive free, delivered frozen. While we’ve seen chilled cosmetics before, produced in medical quality labs, the Hiina face-masks are made of foodstuffs and thus produced in a food manufacturing plant, with the equivalent hygiene standards, and frozen immediately for preservation. Thanks to all this, a set of 5 masks retails for ¥6,000.

Like sake brewers (the inspiration for the famous SK-II skin care line), tofu makers often have noticeably bright and smooth skin on their hands. So Hiina applied this observation to where women are most concerned, the face, claiming that soy milk, which contains saponin, has the power to exfoliate dead skin and draw out pore-clogging debris.

Another, albeit unlikely, participant in this edible cosmetics movement is Tokyo Gas, which features an article on home kitchen made beauty treatments on its Food Lifestyle #110 Q&A website (110 is the Japanese 911).

Specifically, treatments that can be made from typically Japanese kitchen products, like sake, seaweed, and rice bran, making this just one more example of the “back to Japan” trend in beauty care.

Tags: beauty, cosmetics, health, LOHAS
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS