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Don’t let history repeat itself

Over recent years, in general, Asia was able to withstand the pressure of the global downturn better than the

rest of the world. GDP and domestic demand remained relatively robust creating improved standards of living

for large sectors of populations’.

The new middle class bubble in Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Philippines is full of tangible hot air and being

closely followed by Vietnam and Myanmar. As consumers become more affluent and disposable income

increases, their tastes, ambitions and choices broaden. The desire to try products and services that were

before out of their price range and the social pressure to “keep up” has created new consumer markets of

people keener to try overseas brands and experiment. This represents franchise opportunities for Asian

franchises looking to expand overseas.

From the above and our discussions with franchises/franchisees, the demand for Japanese brands is

particularly appealing as they represent quality and status. A purchase driver of the Asian market is buying

the brand because it is Japanese so although a Japanese franchise should localize to some extent, we

recommend maintaining and promoting the core qualities associated with being a Japanese brand.

This is a massive bonus as a main sales point “Made in Japan”, “Taste from Japan”, “Image of Japan” etc. is

inbuilt from birth and franchises need not develop a new, clever (expensive!) marketing strategy or

promotional campaign-simply celebrate the attribute It Is Japanese. We saw the same pattern in Europe and

America which unfortunately most Japanese brands missed.

To give examples, the traditional Japanese food sushi started to seriously take off in the UK in the late 1990’s

and now Yo Sushi (bizarrely a British company) dominates the market with over 74 restaurants worldwide!

Wagamama a Japanese food restaurant (whose founder is a Hong Konger) now has over 140 restaurants

worldwide. Hmmm do you think there is something not quite right about this, like err hello these global

brands are serving Japanese food!!

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The Japanese Government is showing greater support for exporting Japanese culture as is seen by Cool fund

Japan and the image of Japanese brands remains very positive- Japan is the strongest national brand in the

world in 2014 according to global brand consultancy FutureBrand‘s annual Country Brand Index.

I for one would find it a crying shame if Japanese companies missed out on this second chance to celebrate

Japanese brands; this time in the more convenient Asian market.

Japan - Summary of perceptions, The Country Brand Index 2014-2015 by FutureBrand