When Less Is More For Global Expansion Success
How to Expand Your Brand Globally @ 5th Fashion and BeautyTech Tokyo Meetup
Digital marketing and branding gurus with experience working with global companies such as Uniqlo, Unilever, and Original Inc shared their insights on “How to Expand Your Brand Globally” at the 5th Fashion and BeautyTech (FaB) Meetup hosted by the Tokyo chapter on Feb 24th. The FaB community consists of founders and investors in beauty and fashion, with 12 chapters across Asia and Europe and over 5,000 members.
Some 30 participants took part in the 35-minute session, presented by FaB Tokyo and cosmetics community platform, istyle.
The event was co-hosted by FaB Tokyo’s chapter leader Ms. Chloe Takahashi, CEO of Cosme Hunt, which curates select Japanese cosmetics to the US market, and Ms. Kikuko Yano, editor in chief of BeautyTech.jp.
Served as a facilitator from San Francisco, Takahashi kicked off the session by asking guest speaker Mr. Koichiro Tanaka, founder of Creative DirectorProjector Inc., how he helped Uniqlo expand overseas.
LESS IS MORE
Tanaka had been with Uniqlo for 10 years, and was in charge of the strategy and creative direction of global digital branding for Uniqlo, working directly with Uniqlo’s CEO Mr. Tadashi Yanai.
Uniqlo had caught global attention with branding campaigns such as the interactive UNIQLOCK advertising campaign which combined “music, dance, and clock” and also the UNIQLO RECIPE advertisements which mixed “food, style, and music”.
Tanaka said the secret ingredient to Uniqlo’s global success and digital marketing campaigns is surprisingly analog: keeping things simple.
Said Tanaka, “For example, we developed a concept for the HeatTech global campaign with three words, ‘Less is Warm’. It clearly reflects breaking the bias of winter and tells the benefits in the simplest words. (Mr. Yanai) liked this kind of simple concept and we developed the concept of global digital branding towards life-tools because it reflects Yanai’s definition of clothing as essential tools for everyday life.”
By breaking concepts down to the essentials, cultural differences then became irrelevant. Clothing then becomes a universal language.
He added, “I think the key is his ability to define clothes(the product or industry) by the simplest word and metaphor”.
However, even essential items such as food present issues of cultural difference. Takahashi then turned to the issue of tackling food product launches overseas when differences in taste and concept remain.
FITTING THE LOCAL CUP OF MATCHA
Sharing their insights on this were Ms. Namiko Kajiwara, Partner at World Innovation Lab, and Ms. Aya Nakajo, Vice President of F3 (Fashion for Future) unit at World, who helped launch Stonemill Matcha in San Francisco.
Food innovator Kajiwara said, “The original intention was not to create Japan inside San Francisco. When you expand your market to some other country you usually want to show your pride in, for this case, Japanese traditional culture. But you also have to think about the local market needs. So we found that matcha was getting popular for its health benefits rather than the culture behind it, so we tried to create a culture in between.”
Added Nakajo, “The culinary scene in San Francisco puts a lot of emphasis on farm to table or where the ingredients came from, or the heritage, so the key value proposition we really honed in on was the authenticity and quality of the matcha. I think we integrated into our marketing story the fine grown matcha from Kyoto.”
The key is not to insist on certain things or traditions but to listen to the customer to decide what to bring in and what to leave behind.
Nakajo also shared her experience bringing Sabon, a luxury bath and body product brand, from Israel into Japan.
She said launching in the Japanese market is less difficult than the US market in the sense that it is a smaller market and very dense — take the 30 million people in Tokyo alone — and so trends tend to catch on faster. That’s as long as the right communication strategy is adopted.
“(Japan) is still monocultural so people like to follow the trend, and there’s this fear of not knowing about the latest trend. So once you hone in on the product-market fit I think it’s a profitable market,” said Nakajo.
That said, customer expectations in Japan are very high, and Nakajo said she found it challenging to convey this to the Israeli headquarters initially.
She said, “Finding the right way to communicate through different cultures and have that trust amongst the founding team is important for any business.”
Kajiwara added that in terms of distribution channels in Japan, small brands may find the retail incumbents such as department stores a helpful ally as they are also looking to rejuvenate their lineup and image.
However, the cosmetics market remains very competitive in Japan, and language may pose a barrier for foreign brands looking to find a foothold in Japan.
FINDING RIGHT TARGET MARKET
A question from the online audience was in the speakers’ opinion on targeting the Generation Z market.
Kajiwara said that as the “Gen Z” market is synonymous with the internet, there is very little time lag, and trends among that market tend to spread globally quickly.
However, Tanaka said that Uniqlo does not in particular target Gen Z as their concept is to target universally, across cultures and generations.
To sum up, Yano of BeatyTech.jp asked the speakers regarding brand philosophy.
Nakajo felt that Uniqlo’s strategy may not be applicable across the board because the company has grown so global that its strategy also needs economies of scale.
“They can cut the cost even when they’re making very innovative and cutting edge products, so it may take some time to replicate,” she said.
Added Kajiwara, “Startups have to play differently from large corporates because of the resource constraints.”
Text: Ching Li Tor
