Bottle Innovation: I LOHAS from Coca-Cola Twists for the Environment

Written by: Michael Keferl on June 3, 2009 at 2:21 am | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS | 8 Comments

There’s a lot that can be done with PET bottle shapes, from sexier versions to the manipulated artistic pieces below. The bottles can communicate ingredients, emotion, or positive effects on the body purely by the bottle design and shape.

New from Coca-Cola Japan, l LOHAS is jumping in on the Eco bandwagon with a bottled water that makes an environmental stand (at least marketing-wise) with its bottle design that twists up neatly into a 12 gram piece of plastic that is said to be 40% less than other PET bottles.

The marketing push makes the consumption process into three easy steps: Buy the water, Drink up, Twist up and dispose. Not too different from most other drinks, except for the twisting part which makes the waste noticeably smaller than your average PET bottle. While it may not make a tremendous difference in terms of waste (though it’s certainly space-saving), it does lend itself to a certain spirit of ecology that is making its way into Japanese society.

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

Electric Bicycles for a New Demographic

Written by: Rebecca Milner on May 15, 2009 at 1:13 am | In PRODUCT INNOVATIONS | 1 Comment

“Denki hybrid” or electric assist bicycles have for many years been a preferred mode of transportation for harried housewives—ferrying children and groceries from town to home. These sturdy bicycles also win over cars and scooters in convenience thanks to the fact that they can be ridden on street and sidewalk and parked practically (though not officially) anywhere.

Considered practical yes, but hardly fashionable. Recently, however, manufacturers have begun to release more stylish models that, interestingly enough, target young men. An example of this is the new 2009 line-up from Yamaha Motor, released on May 8th. The three model series emphasizes sporty design and features an original three-shift mechanism that promises a smooth transition from take-off to cruising. The PAS City-X Lithium and PAS City-C Lithium models have three running different modes: “standard,” “powerful,” and “auto eco mode plus” (designed for long hauls). Meanwhile the smaller PAS Compact Lithium features the latter two. Prices range from ¥105,800 (about US$1,070) for the compact to ¥109,800 (US$1,100) for the City-X.

Why men? Harder economic times (coupled with the eco boom) have led to a rise in bicycle commuters, many of whom don’t just save transportation costs but actually pocket the money companies typically hand out as a matter of course for monthly train passes.

Trend Potential
Interested in what this means for Japan and the world, especially in these economic and ecological times? Preview our Trendpool database to get an idea of what you’re missing.

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

Tokyo Art Week Gets Green & Comical

Written by: Rebecca Milner on April 7, 2009 at 4:14 am | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | No Comments

Much is happening recently with vertical gardens and other urban architecture, including some high-end, self-contained models we’ve seen recently.

Hokkaido Sanyu Corp. has developed a system for green walls called River Re Wall that looks like a miniaturized riverbed or garden turned on its side. Behind the moss-covered wall panel is an irrigation system that ensures all-around healthy greenery and generates a faint, trickling sound of water. The sound is designed to create a sense of real, living nature, as well as encourage relaxation.

As part of their campaign to demonstrate the applications of such a system, Hokkaido Sanyu has established the Miino Brand of indoor fine art green walls. A number of these were on display at the recent Art Fair Tokyo. Priced at ¥700,000 to ¥2,600,000 ($7,000 to $26,000) these painting-sized “living” wall panels draw inspiration from traditional temple-style meditation gardens.

Meanwhile up the road at Tokyo 101, another art fair part of the loosely organized Tokyo Art Week, Sony Digital Entertainment had a booth to display the Charart project. Under the slogan “digital comic to real art” Charart takes popular characters from Sony Digital Entertainment comic series and turns them into the subject of fine art collectibles by the original artists. Sony Digital Entertainment was a main sponsor of Tokyo Art 101.

Tags: Art, design, Eco
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

AEON Lake Town - Japan’s Largest Eco-Shopping center

Written by: Rebecca Milner on March 27, 2009 at 8:50 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | No Comments

The Aeon Group has created Japan’s largest commercial monument to the recent eco boom—in the form of the Aeon Lake Town Shopping Center. The center is comprised of two separate complexes, Mori (forest) managed by Aeon Retail Co. Ltd. and Kaze (wind) managed by Aeon Mall Co. Ltd. In between the two is an artificial lake (three times the size of Tokyo’s famous “Shinobazu no Ike” pond), also designed for flood control.

The concept for the center, Hito to Shizen ni Kokochi Ii, translates roughly as “people and nature feeling good together” and Aeon is billing the space as Japan’s biggest “eco shopping center.” What does that mean? At 220,000 square meters (and with five times the number of shops as Tokyo Dome) Lake Town certainly is large, but attempting to minimize its footprint just the same.

Furthermore, the space packs in green not only on landscaped lawns and centrally located inside planters, but also built into some of the “green walls,” a trend we’ve seen emerging in the last couple of years. Lake Town also uses solar panels and a hybrid gas eco system (the first of its kind in Japan). The combined efforts of these various eco-friendly systems results in an estimated 20% reduction in carbon emissions.

While not useful for the majority of drivers at this point, Lake Town also features Japan’s first consumer-ready charging station for electric vehicles. 30 minutes charging (presumably while they’re shopping) is good for 120 kilometers (75 miles) on an 80% charge.

Meanwhile, the space (and website) seeks a roll in dispatching the latest products and news from the ecology movement. Additional keywords include walkable (get those pedometers ready), universal design, and community space—the latter including the Act Green meeting and information room and a sunset terrace at Lake Town.

Trend Potential
Eco concepts mixed with retail are certainly more palatable to the public, especially in times when at least the perception of environmental catastrophe is real in their minds. Japan is doing much in both the technology and the marketing of the environmental message. We explore Japanese eco trends in more depth and compare them to other global examples in the Trendpool.

Tags: Eco, Retail
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Suntory Midorie brings green to cities inside and out

Written by: Rebecca Milner on March 24, 2009 at 10:26 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 3 Comments

We just talked about some close-to-urban (pretty close, anyway) agriculture going on with Tokyo Milk, but there’s a lot going on in Japan from grass-covered vending machines to, well, grass covered cities. If you’re interested in some personal agriculture, the Green Capsule does all this on the ultimate micro scale. What if we really want a green city? Maybe not as green as this building in Fukuoka, but at least something the breathes a little.

Beverage company Suntory has been working on a project, Suntory Midorie, aimed at bringing more green into Japan’s urban areas, inside and out. To this effect, the company has developed original systems for roof top gardens (“Midori no Yane,” or “green roof”) and wall-side foliage (“Hana no Kabe,” or “flower wall”). These systems draw on a technology developed by Suntory that replaces natural soil with a new synthetic kind, called “pafcal,” that is purportedly light, promotes growth, and requires little maintenance.

Both Midori no Yane and Hana no Kabe were officially launched on March 3rd in the Tokyo and Kansai area (Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe cities). Suntory had already put up a few Hana no Kabe in their Tokyo headquarters and in Café Solare, located in the Suntory Museum in Osaka. We’ve also spotted one for promotional purposes, branded with the tag Suntory Midorie, at the entrance to Shibuya’s Center Gai shopping street (pictured below).

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Shibuya, a trendy teen retail area, get a dose of green. Last season’s Tokyo Girls Collection publicized the launch of the Shibuya +1 no Mori (Shibuya +1’s forest) project, symbolized by the planting of three trees outside of Shibuya station. The Shibuya + 1 no Mori campaign was created in collaboration with the NPO Gaia Initiative.

Trend Potential
Japan is going green, but in ways that are creative and profitable for the businesses pushing these trends. For more information on green “Eco” trends in Japan, subscribe to the Trendpool database for ideas to help businesses innovate.

Tags: Architecture, Eco, Suntory
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS