Saturday, October 16

Marketing strategy trend in Japan:
Reprodution boom (1999-2010) 

     With lots of companies struggling to think of a way to sell more, there is a trend among different fields of industry in Japan this past 10 years.
     Reproducing the past hit products.
To aim the adults who were kids that remember and now have the freedom of using their own money.  This can be targeted to the Japanese baby boomers, the first(now retired) and the second(now working and have their own kids) baby boomers. People tend to remember and have flash backs of what it used to be when they were young by just looking at a very familiar candy package.  They were just kids and couldn't buy as many as they wanted then, but now, hey, "Buying it isn't such an expensive thing.", one realizes. Can even buy a dozen or collect them. The above picture is of a package from a famous/popular sweets in Japan produced by glico pronounced gu-li-ko(http://www.glico.co.jp/) . This particular one was such a hit since it comes with a toy as a giveaway(omake).

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This giveaway toy had more than 20,000 kinds and sold over 5 billion.  Now, reselling this same package, they have renewed their toy to miniature wooden toys.  Attracting the used-to-be girls, now mothers of children making them remember their  childhood and also passing it on to their children. The company, Glico said not only the package but the quality and the good design has made this product  become a huge hit once again after so long.



     Another reproduction hit  are products with the reproduced package but renewed taste/flavor like the one on the left and right.  The one on the left are can sodas with Ultraman packaging ...and not only one but many!  The company notices this great sale increase is due to people buying a dozen or wanting to buy all of the Ultraman packaging cans.  


     Poloroid has done it too! 

They have made digital cameras with the "instant printing from the camera " available.  This is sort of funny when it is clear that digital cameras are taking the market share but yet, this easy printing system which is reminded by the name"polaroid" is still alive and well!  19,800yen for this renewed Polaroid Two, lets you get /give away pictures right away, right there for less than 40 yen per photo.   
Can be  popular to the elder baby boomers who doesn't want to struggle reading the manual to understand which cord to plug where between the computer and the printer, let alone  the process of uploading(although it is so easy and simple nowadays).    

     Now the movie industry is also under the process of reproduction.  Making films from famous comic books.  Some making it based on the comic, some making a different stage for the characters.   Now using real people, one can enjoy watching whether you have read the comic or not.   Uchusenkan Yamato: Space Battleship Yamato (http://yamato-movie.net/en/) , premiering in November, 2010 was a big hit in the late 1970s , Ashitano Jo:Tomorrow's Jo (http://www.ashitano-joe.com/) premiering in February, 2011, is older(40 years ago) than Uchusenkan Yamato.

     If we look around, there are more examples of reproduction such as games, toys, etc. 
      Even donuts too!   

Mister donut, a Japanese donut company sells(From Oct 1st, 2010) their past popular donuts again.

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