Found in Translation

Westerners have sampled Eastern culture for centuries, but never like this. Look around. Sushi chefs are in suburban grocers, selling smoked eel rolls right next to the rotisserie chicken and the chocolate éclairs. Anime-influenced cartoons dominate children’s after-school and Saturday morning programming in the United States. Americans and Europeans are ordering bottled green tea at Asian-style hotels, lining up for shiatsu at Japanese spas, and gobbling $3 billion worth of herbal remedies a year. Ironically, many Western companies are so busy exporting their iconic brands into Eastern markets—think of Starbucks and Domino’s in China—they may not have noticed the shifting tastes at home. Even Japanese companies have noticed the change and are jumping on the bandwagon. After decades of conscientiously Westernizing their cars, Toyota and Nissan are now designing cars for export that are distinctly Japanese. New models and concept cars, like Nissan’s Serenity, are taking their design cues from Japanese cherry blossoms, fans, paper screens, and Kabuki theater. These new models aren’t intended to be novelty or niche products; they’re aimed right at the mainstream. How can Western companies capitalize on this trend? They need to recognize that it’s perceived origin, not true nationality, that creates brand value. Market research and academic studies support this conclusion, as do many real-world cases. Just as Pillsbury’s Häagen-Dazs capitalized on its Scandinavian-sounding name, brands that evoke Asian culture and design can exploit Westerners’ fascination with the East. Samurai Jack, a successful children’s cartoon in the United States, was created by Genndy Tartakovsky, a Russian émigré to America. And consider the Asian imagery and ingredients listed on bottles of SoBe teas and fruit juice blends. The manufacturer, South Beach Beverage Company, was founded in Norwalk, Connecticut, by John Bello and Tom Schwalm and became a subsidiary of PepsiCo in 2001. Ask yourself which of your brands could get a lift by incorporating Eastern features and whether your company has the skills and resources to test some ideas. Some companies have proved adept at drawing on Western talent to exploit imagery from the East. SoBe, for instance, relied on Berlin Productions of White Plains, New York, to create its gecko-like mascot Mr. Green. And it was a Vietnamese-American from California, Nissan designer John Anthony Sauss, who came up with the idea of incorporating traditional Japanese art into the design of the Serenity minivan. Other companies may benefit by tapping into Asian design at the source. Both GM and Sweden’s Electrolux, for example, have product design centers in Shanghai. These Asian-based operations primarily modify Western designs for sale in local markets, but they may also prove valuable as the companies seek to incorporate Eastern influences into products destined for Western markets. If all this seems too anecdotal, consider that the value of Japan’s cultural exports—its films, video games, and music—was $14 billion in 2002, the Wall Street Journal reports. That’s three times the value of the country’s exports of TVs. And recall that last year Japan spirited away that most Western of prizes, an Academy Award for best animated feature. Wasabi-chip cookies anyone?

Found in Translation

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