Marketing Tips– category –

Why are things going well with Milano Salone? I think one of the primal reasons must be the good environment in Milan in April. Comfortable weather, nice food, beautiful streetscapes, etc. Indeed, it's a trade show, and most people come there for business, but we're not always serious and don't focus only on our jobs. Entertainment is necessary even when we are at work.

I analyze the success of the Convenience Gym, which found a million members by removing every possible barrier to exercise. Then, I examine the hit Men's Parasol, which succeeded by simply redefining the item's purpose. Both confirm Theodore Levitt's Principle: "Sell the hole, not the drill." I apply this to our craft by proposing to engrave family names on dining chairs—shifting the purpose from "comfort" to "making the place where family members return to." (The only downside: it risks making parents terribly sad after the kids fly the nest.)

What does Japan truly smell like? I explore the rumor of soy sauce and the reality of the World's Cleanest Airport (Haneda). This cleanliness is the legacy of Haruko Niitsu, a charismatic master cleaner who proved that true mastery requires empathy. I pivot to our local pride: Asahikawa Airport's virtually non-existent flight cancellation rate, which requires its own league of unsung masters of snow clearing. Come and witness this Hokkaido spirit—the genuine smell of Kaizen—at our factory.

This theme would be a critical issue especially for the business suit industry. In Japan, the industry is in danger of extinction. As time passed, office clothing became more and more casual, and less and less people wore a business suit. I think the fundamental reason for the decline would be the fact that business suits are uncomfortable.

One day, I found an interesting article about a facility to support people with disabilities. The facility staff learned many waste clothes were produced from hemming up pants in UNIQLO, and asked to hand over the waste clothes. Wonderfully enough, UNIQLO kindly agreed.

Academically, the value of things is composed of three factors: rarity, utility, and timeliness. Let's put aside timeliness here because things get too complex. First of all, diamonds are no longer so useful at least in industrial activities because we can artificially make them. Let's rule out utility. Next, what about rarity? Do you still believe diamonds are rare?

Hokkaido is sometimes called the milk kingdom that boasts the largest milk production (about 55% of the total milk production in Japan). Only a short drive takes you to the road where dairy farms spread on both sides anywhere in Hokkaido. Every time I see cows lazily munching, an environmental issue occurs to my mind, which is methane gas produced from cow belching and manure.

Do you know how many decisions you make in a day? Including trivial ones, like blowing your nose or reading this article, for example. It is said to be about 35,000. Do you believe we can make such many decisions logically and rationally? Of course, not. It's beyond our capacity. We make most (65%) of our daily decisions based on our emotions and biases.

In the US, the price of homes still increases, while the Fed (FRB) is fighting inflation. In other words, even though the interest of home loans is going up, housing supply is still short in the market. Every time I see the news, I can't help thinking from my point of view as a Japanese "Isn't the size of American homes too big? The supply of homes could be increased more easily by making them smaller."

When was the last time you went to a museum? To tell the truth, I don't understand much about art unfortunately, but I like to go to museums, maybe because I enjoy trying mysteries that can never be solved by me. And also, we can learn a lot about marketing tips in museums.