Tag: Japan

Tokyo, Japan – Creative agency TBWA\Hakuhodo has launched an internal game called ‘The Escape’ which takes the agency’s team building into the metaverse, where it combines the idea of an evacuation challenge game and disaster preparedness drills all within the virtual space.

The game begins with an earthquake at the office, and multiple players work together to evacuate the office while rescuing injured colleagues and handling a fire accident. Players can be immersed in a realistic 3D office space wearing VR headsets, crouching down to secure their own safety and performing firefighting activities to accomplish the required missions one after another.

“The Escape” was launched this month to coincide with the start of the 2023 fiscal year in Japan. Since the program can be conducted with a maximum of 8 people, it is expected that participating in the same content and communicating with each other will contribute to team building and raise awareness of disaster prevention in the office.

Kaname Aratame, creative director for Disruption Lab at TBWA\Hakuhodo, said that they focused on providing a realistic sense of crisis, which is impossible in conventional evacuation drills, such as the inconvenience caused by poor visibility and office furniture becoming obstacles in the event of a disaster.

“Building the office, destroying it, and then escaping from it – it is the experience that you can get only on Metaverse. It is not an exciting experience but by reproducing a full-scale realistic office with accurately putting disaster prevention goods as its physical location, players can naturally acquire disaster prevention training, which is often passed off as someone else’s problem,” Aratame said.

Maebashi, Japan – Global apparel retailer UNIQLO is set to open a new prototype store in the city of Maebashi in the Gunma prefecture in Japan. Said store will represent the future of UNIQLO stores globally, as it features a combination of environmentally friendly features and expanded lifestyle services for customers.

The new UNIQLO prototype store, conceptualised by Kashiwa Sato, creative director and CEO at SAMURAI Inc. and chief creative director for the project, developed a new roadside store concept that both appeals to customers and embodies the UNIQLO philosophy of contributing to the development of a prosperous society and realisation of a better world.

https://youtu.be/XkmuIVGD-Ck

To achieve these aims, the store has been designed with range of energy-saving features, as well as an expanded suite of lifestyle services. Going forward, the company intends for the store to serve as a prototype for new roadside stores globally.

In addition, the store also brings together a range of the newest UNIQLO lifestyle services, including the UNIQLO FLOWER florist shop, UNIQLO COFFEE cafe, and Japan’s first permanent RE.UNIQLO STUDIO – the company’s repair, reuse, recycle and remake service.

For UNIQLO Group Executive Officer Masahiro Endo, the new Maebashi Minami IC Store, has created a new type of UNIQLO, where customers can both shop for our clothing, as well as gather and connect with each other. 

“Reducing our energy consumption was also at the front of mind when developing the store, and the various technical and design features utilised represent meaningful steps towards meeting our 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets. Going forward, we look forward to using this store as a prototype for our new roadside stores globally,” Endo said.

Tokyo, Japan – To strengthen its creative power, marketing communications agency Geometry Ogilvy Japan has announced the promotion of Yasushi Arikawa as senior creative director and creative head of experience whilst adding Naoto Nishimura who assumes an executive creative director position.

The appointments are part of the agency’s efforts to support the growth of its client portfolio and as a whole agency.

Arikawa has been an integral part of the agency’s pioneering Shibuya metaverse work over the last several years. He will now oversee the work of KDDI’s new Web3 venture, Alpha-U which was launched last month.

Meanwhile, Nishimura previously worked at Beacon Communications in Tokyo where he built a strong creative portfolio. In his new role, he will work with Arikawa to strengthen the agency, bringing creative and social together to provide a more integrated offering.

Doug Schiff, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Japan, said that it’s good to recognise some of their best talents whilst bringing great leadership from the outside. Schiff also said that he looks forward to working with the team to collectively move forward and provide bigger integrated ideas for their clients.

Geometry Ogilvy Japan works with brands both in Japan and global countries to support their business ambitions and growth objectives.

Tokyo, Japan – Japan’s leading telecommunications firm KDDI, in partnership with marketing communications agency Geometry Ogilvy Japan, creates a virtually produced film to showcase aU (Alpha–U), its new web3 metaverse platform brand.

In partnership with its parent company WPP, the agency crafts a 30-second clip which showcases four artistic illustrations made by GenZ artist Mayu Yukishita which were used as building blocks connected using AI midjourney and stable diffusion to generate interpolated animation of the platform brand.

The clip was also associated with visual effects to assemble the scenes, mixed with music and narration using japanese language.

Yasushi Arikawa, executive creative director of Geometry Ogilvy Japan, said that this AI-generated creative expression was inevitable for KDDI’s new brand αU that offers services that focus on Web3 and the metaverse.

“This film, in which AI and a virtual singer tell a story about the concept of “Already, one world” that blends the real and virtual worlds, takes us beyond the “uncanny valley” to an emotionally charged story,” Arikawa added.

Geometry Ogilvy supports all the creative direction for the new Alpha U collaboration, including all branding, communication design, events, and press conferences.

The launching was also done in partnership with Sydney-based production house Alt.vfx, and their subsidiary global creative studio T&DA, along with design agency New Holland Creative and THINKR.

Tokyo, Japan – Tech giant Microsoft has appointed Miki Tsusaka as its new president for Microsoft Japan. In her new role, Tsusaka will lead the company’s engagement with its customers and business partners, and be responsible for all its product, solution, service, and support offerings in Japan.

She will be reporting to Ahmed Mazhari, president of Microsoft Asia. Mazhari previously served as the interim president of Microsoft Japan prior to Tsusaka’s appointment.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Tsusaka was previously a senior partner and managing director at management consulting company Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During her time at the company, she led the company’s expansion of service areas and established strategic consulting groups specialising in marketing, sales, and pricing strategy development.

Speaking on her new role, she said, “I am delighted to be appointed president and representative director of Microsoft Japan. I decided to join Microsoft because I believe in the company’s mission of empowerment and its tremendous growth potential in Japan. I look forward to working with the experienced leadership team, employees and partners to help solve our customers’ challenges and accelerate the digital transformation of Japanese society.”

Meanwhile, Mazhari commented, “We are extremely excited to welcome Tsusaka-san to Microsoft Japan. She has over 30 years of consulting experience working with clients in a wide range of industries both domestically and internationally. I am confident that her robust global experiences in supporting business transformation will propel Microsoft Japan’s proposition to the next level as a leader of Japan’s technology industry.”

Tokyo, Japan – Adtech solutions provider Moving Walls and local OOH company jeki have teamed up to see jeki screens light up across Japan as the country caters to an influx of inbound and outbound demand on a global scale.

The partnership will build and strengthen a seamless system to meet a growing demand for media assets. Moving Walls will leverage itself as a global media solution partner to bring global buyers to jeki media. 

Meanwhile, jeki will have access to a global network of clients from which they can tap into global and regional digital budgets to execute campaigns in Japan. Jeki will also work with Moving Walls to run overseas campaigns for Japanese clientele.

Srikanth Ramachandran, group CEO and founder at Moving Walls, said, “This is a historic partnership for Moving Walls. We are proud to partner with a forward thinking and innovative media owner such as jeki – whose ideals for both Japan and beyond are admirable. This is the first of many more steps to come.”

Meanwhile, Atsushi Takahashi, managing director and CDO of jeki, commented, “Jeki noticed the increasing momentum of Japan-bound tourism in Southeast Asia with the easing of Corona-related entry restrictions. We are confident that networking OOH in Southeast Asia will be a powerful boost for our clients, especially as we specialise in tourism promotions for local governments and other clients throughout Japan.”

Singapore – Real-time data platform Aerospike has named Sharon Koay as its new marketing director for the Asia Pacific region and Japan. 

According to her LinkedIn profile, Koay will be handling Aerospike’s marketing process and campaigns from research and planning to execution and analysis. She will also be managing the marketing budget and goals for APAC and Japan.

Moreover, she is expected to bring her skills in market planning, enterprise solutions, sales, channel management and go-to-market strategies to her new role. 

Koay has sales and marketing experience of about 20 years and has held managerial roles at technology company Dell and software development company One Identity.

Prior to joining Aerospike, she also worked as a marketing consultant for Silver Linings Consultancy. Her clients included Aerospike, Proofpoint, EnterprizID, DT Asia, and Hoonartek.

Aerospike is a data platform that enables organizations to act instantly across billions of transactions while reducing server footprint.

Asia-Pacific – Global partnership management platform impact.com has announced the opening of its new office in Tokyo, Japan to further expand its business operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Japan team will be led by Country Manager Ryo Matsuzaki, who brings in a decade of technology, marketing, and sales experience to his new role. Matzusaki previously held senior sales and technology leadership roles at Appier Group and Google/DoubleClick. He was also Media.Monks’ first country manager in Japan for three years before moving to impact.com.

The expansion allows their platform and clients to create new partnerships worldwide, gain further traction in key verticals like fashion in Milan, and hire diverse leaders and market experts all over the world.

“impact.com’s roster of customers in Asia continues to grow at a rapid pace. Our expansion across Asia-Pacific over the last few years is further strengthened by the growth potential we see in the region. This is part of our commitment to broaden our local presence to effectively enable and support the creation and expansion of partnerships in these markets,” said impact.com Managing Director for APAC Adam Furness.

He also added, “We are excited to continue building innovative partnership technology solutions that support the forward thinking brands and creators we work with on a global scale.”

The new Japan team is expected to manage impact.com’s local customers and actively develop a network of top regional publishers and new businesses in the market. The company also aims to further its investment in additional resources to customise and localise its solutions in the new markets.

Furthermore, the APAC team will be assisted by impact.com’s recent senior hires: Country Manager for Indonesia Myre Gustam and Partner Development Manager for Southeast Asia Cris Tan.

With the Japan office launch, impact.com is now represented in 20 locations worldwide – seven in Europe and seven in Asia, including the newly opened offices in Milan, Italy, and Paris, France. The company is also seeing regional growth over the last three years after entering the Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia markets.

Singapore – Southeast Asian used car marketplace Carro is expanding its presence into Japan via a partnership with Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank. Through the partnership, Carro Japan aims to introduce its full suite of services, such as subscription-based services and car leasing in the local market.

The market expansion follows a local increase in demand for used cars and subscription-based services, resulting from the backdrop of rising prices of new vehicles and a growing need for car ownership. And yet, there has been difficulty of accurately assessing a used car’s valuation due to the inconsistent and lack of credible evaluation criteria.

With Carro’s Japan entry, it aims as well to support existing car dealers with leasing services and provide a highly competitive subscription-based service. In addition, Carro’s AI technology will be incorporated to accurately predict the valuation of used cars based on their history and data.

Meanwhile, SoftBank’s key role in Carro Japan will be to tailor services for the Japanese market, including marketing, sales, and collaboration with partner companies.

Aaron Tan, CEO and co-founder at Carro, said, “Japan is one of the leading automotive markets and most digitally-savvy countries in Asia. Our entry into Japan is the next natural step in growing our regional presence and helping traditional dealers expand their market reach across the country using our AI-technology-backed capabilities.”

With Carro’s entry into Japan, corporate clients can apply for the subscription-based service by stating their requirements for a used car via Carro Japan’s website, including vehicle size, mileage, non-smoking or smoking options, and more. A list of suitable used cars available for hire will be automatically generated for consideration

Tan added, “Over the next few years, we plan to capitalise on the growth of the used car market. We’ll start by providing car subscription services with SoftBank as a first step, and eventually plan to work with thousands of dealerships across Japan to play an active role in offering consumers a hassle-free buying and selling experience.”

Japan – Eddie Bauer, US-based leisure and outdoor clothing brand under Authentic Brands Group (ABG), has partnered with Japanese retail group Itochu, to further expand its presence in Japan. 

The partnership will see Eddie Bauer roll out across the country, launching new stores, wholesale accounts, and an official branded e-commerce site in Spring 2023. Moreover, Itochu will be partnering with Mizujin, a fashion wholesale and retail company, to design, manufacture, and distribute Eddie Bauer products.

ABG said that for nearly three decades, Eddie Bauer has offered a curated selection of outdoor and lifestyle products in Japan, where it has captured a loyal following. The brand will now broaden its offerings with a full assortment of performance and lifestyle apparel and accessories for men, women, and children.

Jarrod Weber, group president of lifestyle and chief brand officer at ABG, commented that they are pleased to grow the Eddie Bauer brand in this important market and to expand on ABG’s relationship with Itochu.

“Through the agreement, Itochu becomes a marquee partner for Eddie Bauer as we further the global strategy across strategic markets and engage with outdoor enthusiasts around the world,” said Weber.

Meanwhile, Yoshinari Nakamura, president at Mizujin, noted, “Eddie Bauer is a pioneering American heritage brand known for quality products, performance technology and style. Our aim is to build on Eddie Bauer’s strong foundation and rich heritage to enhance its presence in the Japanese outdoor and fashion markets.”