Lotte Gum celebrates Shonen Sunday and Magazine

Written by: Michael Keferl on November 13, 2008 at 5:53 pm | In DIGITAL LIFE | No Comments

Chewing gum giant Lotte is helping to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of classic weekly manga Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine with fully branded versions of their own classic gum and chocolate wafers.

In th case of the Green Gum, even the internal wrappers are branded with character pictures and storylines celebrating the last fifty years. Casual retailer Uniqlo celebrated the milestone this year as well with special limited edition t-shirts.

In this case the collaboration is perfect, bringing two post-war brands together in a clearly retro way that benefits both and enforces their “classic” status.

Tags: Collaborations, Lotte, manga, Retro
Category: DIGITAL LIFE
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Forever Young - Popculture Bazaar for the child inside

Written by: Sascha Faustka on September 11, 2008 at 5:24 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION | 2 Comments

Kitty wears a gas mask and a Zombieteddie kills its owner - Japanese Artists playing with their culture

From August 22nd until today (hurry!) Japans ambitious young artists are given the chance to broaden their name recognition at the “Popculture Bazaar”, produced by Fewmany. Located on the first floor of one of Shibuya’s biggest department stores, Loft, 27 artists are presenting and selling their work arranged in boxes.

The idea to sell homemade products in Hakko Shops (Box Shops) is quite common in Japan. Anyone can sell their homemade work in compact boxes arranged in the stores. The customer can buy the items at the counter of the box shop, and the maker receives the payment minus a percentage taken by the store.

The theme of Tokyu Hand’s first temporary Popculture Bazaar is “Popbox Matsuri” (festival). All of the artists are presenting their interpretation of matsuri in the one square meter boxes, arranged like booths at a fair around a plaza. Throughout the two weeks of the festival the different artists can be watched here creating their goods.

The line-up of artists is quite impressive: Touma (monster designer for Bandai and Capcom), Yuki Koishikawa (Anna Sui, Sanrio, NTT Docomo), Mushroom Café ( Perrier, Kewpie, Lipton), and many more.

Looking at the products presented, someone from the West may think that the artist’s target group is children, just starting elementary school or even younger. You can clearly see in which culture the young artists grew up in, and what kind of figures and models they have around them day by day walking through Tokyo or switching on the television.

What seems to western people to be some kind of pop art, garish. and childish toy for primary school kids is nothing else than the reflection of the younger Japanese cultural background - a culture beyond Otaku and beyond Hello Kitty or Jump Magazine. Japanese young people in the twenties and thirties have grown up with these influences, so robots and monsters have become part of their everyday life.

Living out one’s addiction to cartoon characters or pink teddy bears is nothing unusual in Japan. Having tons of little Kitties and Kumas on their pink mobile phones is as usual for girls and boys as salarymen playing Nintendo DS or PSP on the train.

Keeping all this in mind, it is less surprising that Japanese fans are willing to pay up to 70,000 yen ($650) for a sculpture of their favorite artist, in form of a little pink pirate mushroom with a skull on its hat and a little girl standing on its blue tongue (see below).

If you don’t have the chance to go to the Popculture Bazaar you can see and buy nearly all of the designer’s products at Fewmany in Shinjuku.

Tags: anime, Art, design, manga, Pop culture
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION
Other categories: MARKETING IDEAS, DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

SNS for manga artists from Futabasha Press

Written by: Rebecca Milner on September 1, 2008 at 11:44 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS | 3 Comments

Manga publisher Futabasha recently established an SNS community for would-be manga artists. “Manga Yomou!” (“Let’s read manga!”) allows members to post their own original work on the site with the aim of getting a readership and feedback from peers. However there is more to this basic Myspace for manga concept, the editor of Futabasha’s monthly comic magazine Comic High will have a presence on the site, offering evaluations of select works and even picking some up for publication in the magazine.

The site, billed as “Social Networking for Comics,” is organized into sections for user-made “indies comics” and illustrations displayed by ranking, plus space for reviews of new published series, member blogs, and a BBS.

With mobile phone novels like Koizora (which started out as a user generated story on the mobile phone homepage portal site Maho no iRando) becoming best-sellers in print, publishers have done well to take notice of this reader trend. In fact, it was Futabasha that published the highly successful manga series of Koizora last year.

While it might seem odd to buy a hard version of something you’ve already read for free online, sales figures prove otherwise. One reason for this is that readers have been said to want a souvenir of the work in the form of a printed version because they felt part of its discovery and success. Through Manga Yomou, Futabasha dangles the carrot of published success to draw members, who will then become an established readership for whatever the publisher chooses to bring to print.

Tags: Koizora, magazines, manga, Publishing, SNS, UGC, Web 2.0
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Kinnikuman goes for gold, Gundam collects ash

Written by: Rebecca Milner on August 28, 2008 at 12:43 am | In MARKETING IDEAS | 1 Comment

While slime and Space Invaders are busy celebrating their 30th birthdays, manga icon Kinnikuman is feting a most important 29 this year. Two in Japanese is read “ni” and nine “ku.” Put them together and you get “niku,” get it?

In honor, Bandai is offering a commemorative premium solid gold figure that comes, fittingly, in a crystal capsule. (It should further be noted that while “kinniku” means muscle in Japanese, “kin” is the word for gold).

The made-to-order items (sorry, the deadline passed on August 21st) will reach collectors on Kinnikuman Day, August 29th. Bandai quotes an estimated cost of ¥49,350 but notes that the actual price will reflect the current market price for gold.

Meanwhile, Gundam needs no anniversary excuse to morph into any number of collectible, occasionally useful, goods. The latest is the Gundam Mobile Ashtray, in the design of the “Zaku” mobile suit.

This key holder model from Banpresto, while not quite solid gold, comes in a “classy metal finish” according to the press release. The mobile ashtray, popularized through the various styles offered at the Mobile Ashtray Museum, is Japan Tobacco’s attempt to marry two well-known local practices, smoking and product design.

See more examples here and here.

Tags: Bandai, Characters, JT, manga, Retro, Smoking
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Personalized life with manga, drama, and rice

Written by: Rebecca Milner on August 15, 2008 at 4:11 pm | In LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS | 2 Comments

Ultra-personalized souvenirs of special occasions might be a global trend, but Japan has added it’s own unique approaches to the theme.

Sakura Comics has debuted a service that allows couples to turn their love story into an original comic book, called “Wedding Story Manga.”

The plot unfolds around a personal story (a first meeting or a proposal, for example) while the characters are drawn to resemble photos provided by the customers. Clients can choose the style of drawing from a variety of samples and the length of the comic, from a two page black and white leaflet (¥29,800) to a 16-page full color mini book (from ¥191,800).

The finished product is intended as a souvenir for newlyweds to give to guests at the reception.

Another example is the Koizora-themed souvenir photo campaign from Watabe Wedding. This limited time service invites couples into a studio designed to resemble scenes from the incredibly popular drama Koizora (“Love Sky”), allowing couples to act out their favorite moments and poses. The professional images are then compiled into a souvenir photo book.

A TV version of the drama, which originated as a mobile phone novel, will run on TBS from August through September, as will Watabe Wedding’s campaign (package price from ¥20,000).

Weddings aren’t the only example, Yoshimiya has created a service for announcing the birth of a newborn with a commemorative bag of rice.

Not only the does the bag have the babies face printed on it, but the rice inside measures exactly the same as the baby’s birth weight. The idea is that far-away relatives can simulate holding the new family addition.

Yes, and then rip it open and serve it up for dinner. Don’t be so squeamish, mottainai!

Tags: Babies, Koizora, manga, Personalization, Rice, Weddings
Category: LIFESTYLE / FASHION, MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS