Trends in Japan - CScout Japan Blog

Taspo rules bring retail back to tobacco

Written by: Michael Keferl on January 2, 2009 at 1:54 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS | 1 Comment

Last summer, the Japanese tobacco industry imposed a rather large burden on itself by requiring the use of Taspo (tobacco passport), an RFID identification and payment card, for adults to purchase tobacco from vending machines. While the cards require photo registration my mail, the benefit is that they can also act as cash for purchases much like PASMO, Nanaco, and other e-money.

tobacco shops japan taspo 2

However, despite heaps of money spent on Taspo awareness through flyers, advertising, and hands-on a marketing campaigns, most Japanese smokers aren’t signing up for the card. As a result, vending machines are losing revenue, smokers are frustrated, and convenience stores are happily picking up the slack.

While Japan has tobacco vending machines just about anywhere, rendering all of them inoperable to most of the public has driven the market back to retail. Japan used to be littered with tiny tobacco shops that sold its wares out of a small window, but these storefronts dwindled and were eventually replaced by vending machines. Now the shops are coming back, and brands are making it their new business to focus on making the shops look as spiffy as possible.

tobacco shops japan taspo 1

The shop above (on the left) is in Harajuku, and surrounded by what used to be busy vending machines. Now it has a brand new interior and exterior, plus staff inside to sell their wares. For marketers, this is a new opportunity to connect with customers in a way that they couldn’t with vending machines. New campaigns, free gifts, and other benefits are simple with small retail spaces.

Of course, this will all be contingent on where the government and tobacco industry go from here: Whether driver’s licenses are eventually allowed to be used at the machines, they relax the rules (unlikely), or if they reinforce an already ridiculous policy by requiring Taspo at retail locations as well.

Tags: RFID, Taspo, Tobacco, Vending Machines
Category: MARKETING IDEAS
Other categories: DIGITAL LIFE, LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives license

Shibuya Station pop-up marketing stands

Written by: Michael Keferl on October 31, 2008 at 2:53 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS | 1 Comment

Tokyo is certainly plastered with ads from top to bottom, but ad culture in Japan is still quite traditional. More importantly, space is very limited, and to stage an interesting public event takes a lot of coordination and cash, and creative modern campaigns like Koke Kokko are outstanding just because the concept is so rare here.

However, there’s one spot near the Yamanote Line entrance in Shibuya Station that almost always has something interesting happening, and is used for everything from sampling to more innovative projects like the Smart Car vending Machine (below) we showed you a while back. Here are a few examples to show you the variety…

smart-car-vending-machine-shibuya-1

This campaign for Wonda Zeromax involved legions of staff handing out samples of the canned coffee to passersby. With such a high volume of traffic, passing out lots of samples without getting trampled is a feat in itself.

wonda zeromax coffee japan

We haven’t blogged this product yet because we weren’t sure what to make of it, but the Media Port UP from Nikon is a wi-fi enabled headset with a built in screen for video and websurfing. It can be connected to your iPod, but also stream video over the net. This was a “tryvertising” stand set up so people could stop, sample the sound and video quality, and move on through the station.

media port up nikon

Anyone in Japan who smokes is familiar with Taspo, the RFID enabled ID card that’s required tobacco purchases from vending machines. Despite being promoted for months and months, no one seems to want to bother with registering for it because it involves giving personal information as well as a photo (on top of the time involved). As a result, they’re spending lots of money to set up inside conventions and train stations where they take your picture for free and help you sign up quickly. Still, very few people seem to actually have the card…

taspo tobacco japan