Influx Insights Tag Feed: japan

influx interview-designer series-verena dauerer-editor-pingmag japan

Influx Insights — 2008-02-06T04:17:15Z

Verena Dauerer is the only foreign journalist working at PingMag, the inspirational and influential Japanese art/culture/design website.

Here's an interview I did with her recently where we talked about PingMag, it's unique ownership, design and Japanese design.

1. Can you briefly describe your background and explain how you ended up at PingMag?

I've been working as a journalist for ten years now, the recent years I was freelancing in Berlin. Apart from that I have been doing production for short films for a while, briefly Lingo programming in the 90s, and eventually started giving lectures about VJ culture at design schools and festivals and organized a VJ festival with two friends there in 2006.

At one point, I got bored a bit of myself being in the city and decided to work abroad for a couple of months. I liked Ping, sent these lovely people an e-mail - and came to Japan to work as editor of PingMag in November 2006. Originally I wanted to stay for three months only, but they provided me with a contract and a working visa. Tempting! And I stayed...

2. Tell us a little about PingMag (its ownership, editorial policy, etc)?

In terms of our structure, we are 3 editors in total: My 2 lovely Japanese colleagues
care about the Japanese homepage, and I run the English site alone.

Each of us contributes with our own topics, and I handle most of the freelancers and possible pieces.

Regarding these: Anything can be interesting depending on the approach. I'd say our trait is being hysterically fond of anything that is special to us. There really are no limits, be it from the field of art, design, technology, architecture, fashion, crafts, etc. It doesn't even have to be Japan related, but it has to be done with a great love for detail.

Of course, each piece is decorated in the cheerful PingMag style since translation usually requires adaptation.

In terms of ownership, PingMag is part of Yes Communications!, our parent and run by our producer Tom Vincent. Financially we are in this very lucky and even rarer position that at the moment we are sponsored by a Japanese investment bank called RISA Partners. I know that this makes us kind of unique, as content wise we
are totally independent and far from being a corporate blog.

Also, we just got a little sister one month ago: PingMag MAKE is done by another colleague, a Japanese editor that reports once a week from regional Japan about traditional craftsmen, and small businesses.

3. What do you think is happening with the world of design? Are developed nations over-designed?

Over-designed? If the natural development of a civilization is its aesthetic refinement,
cutting back would be a step backwards or a possible indication of decay. There is no end to this refinement, as you can surely see in Japan... Provided that environmental factors are included.

4. How would you describe the current state of Japanese design and where do you believe it is heading?

Huh, I can maybe enlighten you with some aspects of its structure that might help you
understand its output: On one side, there are the star designers that design practically
everything from mobiles to furniture to any other gadget you can imagine with utmost
perfectionism.

Think of Naoto Fukasawa or Iwai Toshio (who just developed the Tenori-on.) As Sensei, they have an army of designers working for them - and this system is strictly hierarchical and as solid as the tough structure within the mainstream design establishment.

On the other side, design events like the annual DesignTide try since a couple of years to promote the young upcoming ones.

Then I have the feeling that some designers aren't interested at all in a wider exposure outside of Japan, others would like to but they don't speak any English.

Where it might all be heading could also depend on how far people keep perceiving the country as an isolated island and themselves as a closed community in the future.

5. What developments are important and interesting to look at in Japan- is tradition and history now more important that the thrill of the future?

I'm interested in Japanese society and its rapid (or not) changes.

So in this very special case, tradition is the overall tie that firmly grips everything quite rigidly.

Compared to Western countries this is a by far stronger driving force that keeps
preventing changes - of the attitude, of the approach to design, or work methods. And
since this applies to any nation with a long tradition, of course, everything is
connected with the past and will surely affect the future.

Every part of Japanese society is based on the collective and this hasn't changed a bit.

Combined with the way the corporations still work, their internal octopus-like structure that provides everything for their workers, this seems to be a kind of capitalism done the communist way.

And it works because of the concept of the collective. It's interesting to see what will happen in the next years, like how far will this be softened, and on the other side how far tradition could loosen its tight grip a bit.

6. Where do you find your inspiration?

I'm an info junkie thanks to rss feeds. The rest is journalistic handcraft:observing.

Posted by Ed Cotton

louis vuitton pushes the boundaries between art and commerce

Influx Insights — 2007-10-11T14:13:44Z

There once was a time when art sponsorship was a subtle thing; brands used to discretely put their logos onto the promotional materials and leave it at that.

Those were the days when art and commerce were kind of separate, in the last few years we’ve seen much more of coming together of the two worlds and perhaps the best example is the partnership between Japanese uber-artist Takasji Murakami and Louis Vuitton.

Murakami’s designs turned the Louis Vuitton brand into a pop sensation.

In 2006, he was interviewed by CNN and asked about the collaboration.

"TS: How did your collaboration with Louis Vuitton come about?

TM: If you look at Louis Vuitton's history, they've always been influenced by Japanese designs, such as the flowers on the kimono, ever since the 19th century. In a very natural way Louis Vuitton is in touch with Japanese culture. It's a very big turning point for me. Now I understand the fashion world a little bit. It's important because the European creative situation is very influenced by fashion and art and fashion are very closely linked."

The partnership between the two continues today and is celebrated at the artist’s upcoming exhibition at the LA MOCA.

For the event, Vuitton has created a “fleeting” store for the where luxury lovers will be able to get purchase and of course, just state at, the range of products from the Vuitton/Murakami collaboration.

It’s a very different kind of museum store and not without controversy.

Via Dezeen

Posted by Ed Cotton

the importance of local

Influx Insights — 2007-09-19T22:54:49Z

A couple of interesting examples of "local" as an important concept.

1. Sigur Ros

A new documentary from Sigur Ros about the band returning from a world tour to Iceland and seeking out small venues, so they could re-connect with their home country and people.

2. ANA

Ad for Japanese airline ANA that appeared in September's Monocle magazine highlighting the localness of the airline's cuisine, even down to the prefecture.

Posted by Ed Cotton

should japanese brands talk up their nationality?

Influx Insights — 2007-06-07T18:13:02Z

Anderson Analytics recently conducted an interesting study to understand if US college students (1,000 sample) knew the country of origin of certain brands and rank the best countries of origin for specific categories.

Students want their cellphones, MP3 players, stereo systems and cars to be Japanese and their computers, clothing and chocolate to be American. They would also like their watches to be Swiss.

The problem is that they appear to have no idea the country of origin for the world’s leading brands:

58% thought Samsung was Japanese, not Korean

53% thought Nokia was Japanese, not Finnish

49% thought Adidas was American, not German

Clearly, for certain brands, it pays to stay quiet, but perhaps now is the time for the Japanese brands to come out of their shell and to take pride in their nationality.

That was BBDO's plan when it won the Mitsubishi account in 2005.

"The advertising recognizes the influence of Japanese pop culture on American popular culture. It embraces Mitsubishi's hip, cool Japanese roots, which is reflected in the music, design, structure and animation of the campaign. From the syncopated beat of Kodo drums to the distinctly current spin of the Mitsubishi logo, the advertising boldly speaks to consumers, asking 'why satisfy when you can thrill?'"

Dave Lubars-BBDO

the thinking behind wii's success

Influx Insights — 2007-04-19T01:31:00Z

At the WOMMA Basic Training conference in New Orleans, we got the chance to hear the story behind the launch of Nintendo’s Wii from Stephen Jones of Golin Harris and Perrin Kaplan, VP Marketing at Nintendo.

Obviously Wii is a great product and was destined to be a success from the get go, but was interesting to hear the thinking that went behind it.

The presentation focused on how word of mouth and viral played a key role in re-inventing the Nintendo brand and bringing it back, when many experts had pronounced it dead.

Nintendo had to fight back; Sony and Microsoft had overtaken it and its brand was fast becoming irrelevant. The company learned from its mistakes in 1992, when its arrogance allowed Sega to enter the market. The challenge was to regain relevance, but at the same be true to the brand’s core values.

The opportunity lay in a Blue Ocean (Nintendo worked with one of the book’s authors) away from the complex world that gaming had fast become. Everyone was being excluded from it except male teens and young men and the gaming category hadn’t grown for three years.

The goal was to make gaming relevant for the masses. They expanded their focus to include everyone, ensuring they didn’t alienate the core gamer.

Nintendo saw a huge opportunity to use viral and word of mouth.

Nintendo's strategy was to explore all kinds of opportunities, but to remain flexible. Jones mentioned how easy it is to get caught up in the latest Web 2 fad and loose focus, and mentioned Twitter as an example.

Here’s what they did:

My Space: Huge media property for their core 18-34 target. They created a program with My Space to encourage users to send in videos about “play” for a contest. Users were encouraged to vote, rank and win prizes. They also gave away free MP3s from bands on a Nintendo sponsored tour.

Pre-E3: Showed national journalists (Newsweek, etc) the controller in closed sessions, to get some buzz going.

E3: There was considerable buzz about the Wii at the major gaming show. On the first day, Nintendo noticed kids sprinting down the exhibition hall to get in line to try out the Wii. Guys at the Kotaku blog captured the stampede on film.

The buzz from E3 spilled out into the mainstream media.

Offline Buzz: Wanted to get beyond the green room. Talked to producers of the Colbert Report and got it on the show. Talked to writers of South Park and got two episodes featuring the Wii. This was done out of the creators love of the product, no money changed hands. It was all about offering them something exclusive, giving them creative freedom and providing them with answers when they had questions.

The South Park episodes aired two weeks before launch.

Gaming Media: Most console manufacturers FedEx out their product to the writers at game magazines. Nintendo turned the simple act of delivery into an event; where the journalists had to pick up the consoles from police cars, security vans and ice cream trucks parked outside their offices. Of course, many writers filmed “the event” and posted it onto the web.

Brand Ambassadors: Created parties hosted by “mavens”- a couple of groups; “Maven Women” who have lots of friends and influence, they were invited to host Wii parties for their friends and multi-generational families, who got to invite up to 35 family members providing they were younger and older than them. Allowed all participants to blog, tell stories etc about the parties and their experience.

Other stories: Wii and weight loss, Mayo Clinic, Norwegian Cruise Lines buy Wii’s for their fleet.

The Results

2,000 Wii stories on Digg
30,000 consumer videos on You Tube
150,000 blog posts tagged with Wii on Technorati
37,000 blog mentions according to Blogpulse

1.9 million units sold in 4 months.

Overall, the goal was to transform Nintendo from a dead brand to an innovator, the goal was completed when the WSJ named Nintendo one of the most disruptive innovators of 2006.

It’s easy to imagine that with such a great product, stuff just happens, but as Golin Harris and Nintendo showed, there’s a huge amount of strategy, thinking and layers of implementation that go into making success happen.

america's ready for muji's simplcity

Influx Insights — 2007-06-14T18:16:32Z

Last month, Japanese retailer Muji, announced that it’s setting-up shop in the US, opening a New York store in the Fall of 2007.

One store is hardly going threaten the domestic players, but it will provide them with an interesting glimpse into one possible future.

It’s likely that Target, will put Muji under the microscope; they share a love of design and designer contributors, but that’s where the similarities end.

While Target, celebrates and shows off their designers, Muji prides itself in its no brand status, most of the products have no logos or branding. In addition, Muji’s interpretation and use of design, is single-mindedly focused around a traditional Japanese minimalist aesthetic.

Here’s how Muji describes its vision.

"Lower priced for a reason."

This phrase encapsulates how we can provide our Muji products at lower prices. We launched our Muji brand by designing and developing products that might almost be regarded as substandard if based on traditional criteria, although they are, of course, actually of good quality. Through the careful selection of materials, streamlining manufacturing processes, and simplifying our packaging, we have continually introduced high quality Muji brand products onto the market, at lower than usual prices. Presently there are more than 7,000 items sold as Muji products. Muji's natural and simple design proposes rational lifestyles for today's world. Muji products - there is a reason why we can provide such good quality products at lower prices."

While the brand has been toiling away for 20 years in Japan and making the occasional excursion to Europe and Asia, the move to the States, is a signal that the temperature is right here for Muji.

While many of Muji’s products are made from recycled paper and fabrics, it doesn’t market itself environmental leader, instead its focus is on simplicity. A concept the brand has extended to over 7,000 products including bicycles, cars and most recently, homes.

Muji's US target will be an active group of Americans who seek alternatives to showy brand consumerism; those who are looking to pursue higher goals in their consumption habits, but importantly, want to show and share those goals to others. Carrying around and being seen with a Muji notebook conveys a certain status.

Note: Toyota's Prius is outselling other hybrids, because its owners want the benefit of other people noticing that they own a "hybrid", sales of competitor models, lack this benefit, because they look exactly the same as their non-hybrid siblings.

Muji has done some great marketing in Japan, including this 2003 campaign developed by Kenya Hara that nicely articulated the brand's vision of "simplicity". Hopefully, Muji won't compriomise its brand vision for the US market and adopt the same strategy and similar executions in the US, even if local advertising agencies suggest otherwise.