"hip" news and stories

In spite of a 2,000-year-old tradition, sake is declining in popularity in Japan. Consumers there are opting for wine, beer and cocktails -- Western drinks -- at home, at bars and at restaurants, causing a 10 percent drop in sake's alcohol market share in the last year alone and an almost 50 percent drop in total sales in the last decade. The home sales are particularly flagging, something attributed to the increasing popularity of Western cuisines and the desire of cooks to match them with appropriate drinks. This trend works in reverse in countries where Japanese cuisine is still seen as hip and trendy, like in the US.

To renew interest, brewers are turning more and more toward premium sakes and cutting-edge ad campaigns, not unlike the ones commonly seen for beer or luxury spirits, to attract younger drinkers to their products. They don't want the trendsetters of the nation to see sake as "what grandma and grandpa drink" or as "what your boss forces you to drink in a smoky pub in a sticky glass." In pursuit of hipness, they are also touting the drink as being low in calories and a good stress reliever.

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Ice cream is very popular in Japan, and why not? It can get pretty darn hot there depending upon the location and time of year. I remember it being in the upper 90's°F in mid-September when I was in the Kobe/Kyoto/Osaka area a few years ago and ice cream and cold beer helped keep me functioning. Although not mixed in together. Talking about mix-ins, Cold Stone Creamery has been making a move on Japan. They now have eight+ stores and more all the time. They are trying to play catch-up with their competitors like Baskin-Robbins which has over 750 stores and who had 700,000 folks lined up last month when they spent two hours giving away free ice cream for Japans Ice Cream Day.

That's hard to beat, but Cold Stone Creamery has decided to leap right out of their competitor's market profile and seek to be the ice cream purveyor to the hip and cool. They are focusing on marketing to young urbanites; the makers, breakers, and trend-setters for Japans youth. I am sure you have seen or heard about them, especially the young women. They dress wildly creative, listen to cutting edge music, and are full of energy and vitality, constantly remaking themselves in their own concept of cool and hip. Their other target consumers are the uber fashion conscious "office ladies" as the young and single, female professionals are known.

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When a well-established brand looks to reinvent themselves to appeal to a new group of consumers, usually a younger and hipper group, they automatically go for something a little offbeat. Class is not usually a consideration in this type of marketing strategy, which makes it seem like an odd choice for the new campaign for Perrier, a sparkling water that has long been associated with good taste.

In an effort to bring in younger drinkers, Perrier is trying to make its water "sexier", "flirtier", "riskier", "sassier", etc. than before. Bottles of the water will be accompanied by contortionists ("crazier") in LA nightclubs and beach umbrellas ("sunnier") in Miami. They are hoping that their $10 million marketing campaign will turn the water into a trend again.

The problem with such a campaign is that it risks the brand's long-term identity in favor of some short-term effervescence. Even if the campaign works and the water becomes a trendy item, it is only a matter of time before the trend fades out, which could leave the brand a little flatter than before.

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