おまけ Omake 


This is one of the omake(Free gift, giveaway, throw-in) I got buying a bottle of pepsi for 79 yen. The free gift was something you can hang on your cell phone. A LE CREUSET minature accresory.

Yes, I saw women who don't usually drink pepsi buying a couple of bottles.  With the free gift, is the small paper inviting you to collect 10 points to get a real Le Creuset pot. And of course, you need to write your age, sex, etc for them to know who is starting to buy their product when you send your post card. The internet being such a powerful tool for everyone, we can not forget the URL, where to look on the web, written on the tiny paper as well.

As you know, this marketing strategy has been around since a long long time.  I remember digging in my cracker jacks to see what I got every time my mom bought it.  Asking my younger sister "What did you get?"

Well, with the slow economy, companies are seeking a way to boost the sales, Japanese companies are getting more and more aggressive as to how to use their omake.  Often consumers' decision making may rely on what the omake is.  The omake used to be something only cheap that you would throw away after a while.  Now the quality of free gifts are high and the big and popular, sometimes elite brands are interested to widen their consumer width, too.  

The publishing industry are competing with their free gifts too. Japanese love free gifts.  Omake bags did not have pockets nor zippers. And it was just a thin cloth that could get ruined so quickly.  But now, things have changed.  It's their marketing tool for the sensitive and sometimes picky Japanese consumers!  Japanese men/ladies magazines  have free gifts such as bags that are produced by the popular brands for the age group of their readers.

Yvs Saint Laurent has made lots of women carry their omake bags till people wondered why so many have this particular bag.  One of the reasons that made old and young women use thier omake bag with pride was that the bag was sturdy and black(easy to use in any occasions) with a pocket inside... and also not sold in Yves Saint Laurent stores.