Nation Branding: Japan Stands Tall

Hot on the heels of the London riots and despairing stories of organised crime in Rio de Janeiro, comes this inspiring account of honesty and extraordinary civic-mindedness from the other side of the globe: the return of hundreds of safes and valuables to their owners in the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami.

Thousands of wallets and purses containing almost $30 million have been found in the debris and turned in by rescue workers and residents scouring the devastated prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima ravaged by a mighty tsunami that hit Japan on 11th March. 5,700 safes have also been washed ashore during that time. To date, about $78 million in cash and valuables have been reunited with their owners, often after arduous efforts to crack open the safes, dry and document the contents, then painstakingly track down the owners housed in hundreds of temporary shelters.

Japan Inc. may be battered and its credit rating downgraded; but its people have made the country proud and the world sit up and take notice of:

1. The Calm: Not a single image of chest-beating or wild grief captured by any newspaper, who showed magnificent restraint in their bulletins. No silly reporters. Only respectful reportage. Sorrow itself was elevated.

2. The Dignity: Disciplined queues for water and groceries. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. Just patience, courtesy and fortitude in the face of catastrophe.

3. The Grace: Restaurants cut prices. The strong cared for the weak. No looting in shops. People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

4. The Training: The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that. Hundreds of telephone agents from insurance company Aflac in Tokyo stayed at their stations and responded to customer calls from under their desks even as their office tower shook violently from the earthquake that followed the tsunami. 

5.The Sacrifice: The Fukushima Fifty stayed on selflessly at their stricken nuclear plant to pump seawater to cool the reactors, in spite of the grave risks to their own lives. How will these courageous workers ever be repaid?

6.The Honesty: When the power went off in stores, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly. Now with the return of the safes and valuables, ordinary Japanese citizens, in demonstrating their social and cultural values as a nation, are bringing out their best selves.

We should all be humbled and inspired.

The Most Popular Christmas Dish in Japan

I've just returned from a family vacation in Japan. One of the intriguing things I noticed on my last day in Tokyo, was a long line forming outside -- of all places -- a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.  That night, my curiosity was further piqued by an incongruous TV commercial that caught my eye, touting KFC -- of all things -- as a signature Christmas meal.

Curious, I poked around the Internet today, and discovered an amazing story: that KFC has found significant success in Japan by communicating the simple, single-minded message for over 20 year-end seasons that a KFC meal makes Christmas.

Consider these stats: Same-day sales in the week leading up to Christmas are about 500% more than average daily takings. And KFC stores apparently start taking Christmas orders in October. In a land that offers the world's best sashimi, teppanyaki and sukiyaki, I'm amazed that anyone would prefer a bucket of trans fat-laden fried chicken ... 11 secret herbs and spices notwithstanding.

As a student of strong brands, I can only conclude that when you take the long view, when the art of brand management is applied with discipline and consistency, anything is possible.

And on that note of optimism and hope, I wish my sole follower (and all other anonymous readers) a merry Christmas and finger lickin' good year.

What Pricing Says About You

Two stories caught my attention this Easter weekend.

The first was an International Herald Tribune article about the plight of the humble Japanese beef bowl. Long considered a staple meal of the journeyman worker, the broiled-beef-and- rice bowls from the big-three bargain restaurant chains Yoshinoya, Sukiya and Matsuya have had their prices slashed from about 400 yen to 280 yen over the past four months -- in response to Japan's faltering economic recovery and as a desperate measure to hang on to their customers.

Granted, price wars were made for this: two or more competitors engaged in a deadly game of 'chicken', eyeballing each other over successive price cuts designed to decimate profits and drive the weak out of business.

But the hard-won gains come at a price. Infuential economist Noriko Hama has warned that "if we all get used to spending just 250 yen for every meal, then meals priced reasonably will soon become too expensive. When you buy something cheap, you lower the value of your own life."

Now I'll confess I've wrestled with that last sentence from the moment I read it -- even posted a question on LinkedIn to seek other viewpoints -- but I suppose that taken in context, it may not seem quite so ridiculous as it initially appeared: One could argue that sustained price wars will spark a deflationary cycle and indirectly lower workers' wages through some trickle-down effect ... which in turn may lower one's perception of contribution to society.

But I'm still straining to wrap my head round the logic of that argument (you can tell I'm no economist). So let me instead think aloud about the subliminal messages a price point can send out about a product or service:

The perception people have of a product is often dependent on the first price they associate with that product -- which in turn exerts a psychological influence on the actual benefit they derive from its use. In his book Predictably Irrational, professor Dan Ariely writes about experiments in which students were better able to complete word puzzles after drinking an energy drink that was regularly priced. When other students consumed the drink after buying it at a discounted price, they were never able to do as well at the word puzzles as those who had paid the full price.

So brand champions: think twice, think three times before you allow your brand to be irrationally (or predictably) depositioned by a price reduction. The move can retain your competitive advantage in certain circumstances. But too many trigger-happy marketers yank the price down, then are surprised when the 'value gap' is stretched and snaps. Instead of thinking, what a great deal, customers start wondering, what's wrong with it?!

So why not focus on delivering value through a standout brand experience. You may be able to sell for more. The difference between the price that you can sell, and the price that you eventually do sell at, is the value of your brand.

This is, in fact, the cornerstone of the second article which caught my attention this weekend. It was a snippet really, in TIME magazine, about restauranteur and chef Shoichi Fujimaki who charges US$110 for a bowl of his ramen (yes, that's US dollars, there are too many zeros in the yen equivalent) which takes three days to prepare. Asked to justify his price, Fujimaki explains that "it's my 25 years of experience distilled into one bowl".

I don't know how Fujimaki-san is doing, with his ramen going at 35 times more than the beef bowls around his restaurant. But I'd love to make it up to Tokyo one day for a slurp. It must be one heckuva (brand) experience.