Welcome to the Kawaii Economy

[Kuang_Grade]

While many kawaii related posts (many hello kitty releated) are spread over numerous threads, I thought I would start a kawaii economy thread similar to the Otaku economy thread.

Wall Street Journal
Nissan's Pitch For Mini-Car: Accessorize It
Pino is Secondary In Spots That Woo Young Women
By AMY CHOZICK
March 30, 2007; Page B3
TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. had a tough challenge in launching its Pino minicar: Make it appeal to young female consumers who couldn't care less about cars.

While these deep-pocketed shoppers spend lavishly on clothes and accessories, cars are optional for many. Instead, they rely on bicycles, motorbikes or public transport. So Nissan Motor purposely avoided focusing too much attention on the car itself. Instead, television and print ads portray the Pino as just one item in a collage of accessories, such as plushy animals, furry seat cushions and heart-shaped decals. The Pino pamphlet, designed to read like a comic book, shows a group of fashionable youths eating cupcakes and showing off manicured nails that match the Pino's star upholstery pattern....

[Kuang_Grade]

Here the rest of the piece

"If these young girls see a product that seems irrelevant to them, they'll make an instantaneous decision to ignore it," says Akinao Sato, an account director at TBWA/Hakuhodo, a Tokyo-based joint venture between Omnicom Group Inc.'s TBWA Worldwide and Hakuhodo Inc. that handles Nissan campaigns in Japan.

Nissan has no plans to take its minicars to the U.S. Even the most minute new models in the U.S. have much larger engines than Japanese minicars. "This is a Japan-only phenomenon," says Miwa Ishii, marketing manager for Nissan's minicar division.

The campaign, which started in January, is part of Nissan's big push into Japan's red-hot minicar market. Minicars, which are cars with engines of under 660 cubic centimeters -- about half the size of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle -- have soared in popularity recently, even as the overall car market has remained flat. That is because they are fuel efficient, getting up to 50 miles per gallon, at a time when gasoline prices are high. Taxes on minicars also are lower in Japan than for bigger cars. And there have been a slew of cute-looking models that cost as little as $6,000, appealing to first-time car owners and budget-conscious families. In 2006, 33% of total passenger-car sales in Japan were minicars, according to the Japan Minivehicles Association.

With competition getting tougher, Nissan's strategy is to target a narrowly defined audience. The Pino, named after the character Pinocchio, is aimed at 20-year-old women who love all things cute, or kawaii. Nissan also sells the sportier Moco minicar, for professional women in their late 20s, and the more spacious Otti model targeting mothers in their early 30s.

The Pino, which is just 4.9 feet high and costs around $8,600, comes in such colors as "milk-tea beige" and "silky silver." Its hubcaps are made to look like snowflakes that sparkle as they turn. Star-patterned upholstery lines the seats. One option with the four-seater car: a stuffed mascot called the "Pino Dog."

The Pino campaign also includes a promotional tie-in with Sony Plaza, a popular chain of high-end specialty shops, that allows customers to buy such things as upholstery covers customized for the Pino, CD cases, coffee mugs and neck cushions that look like stuffed animals. An online shop lets users decorate a virtual Pino and email friends an image of their potential car-flower-shaped cushions, furry red floor mats and all.

"The Pino is supposed to be like the personal stylist," says Ms. Ishii.

The company says its ad budget is confidential but adds it spent about 70% as much on the Pino campaign as it would to launch one of its midsize cars aimed at the general market, suggesting it is putting serious effort behind the tiny model.

It is crucial Nissan succeed in selling the Pino. Japan's third-largest auto maker by volume after Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., faces slumping sales in Japan and the U.S. and has been late to enter the surging minicar market.

Since the Pino's January launch, Nissan is selling about 5,000 units a month, almost double its initial sales forecast of 2,800 units. Nissan sells about 3,000 units a month of its most popular sedan models in Japan.

Nissan doesn't make any of its own minicars, which keeps production costs low, analysts say. Through a manufacturing agreement, Nissan rebrands Suzuki's Alto model as a Pino, outfitting it with Nissan regalia, handbag hooks, fancier seat cushions and other girlie features.

But Nissan's "cute" approach might not be enough to hook young women. These customers are notoriously fickle and could view the Pino as a passing fad. Even if the Pino sells well in the long term, analysts say auto makers don't make much of a profit on these low-cost cars. "It's a necessary strategy [for Nissan] but it's not sufficient" to revive the auto maker's Japanese operation, says Shinya Naruse, a Tokyo-based analyst at Nomura Securities.

[baka tono]

Pino, Moco how about Crappo?

[baka tono]

"Nissan also sells the sportier Moco minicar, for professional women in their late 20s, and the more spacious Otti model targeting mothers in their early 30s."

So are they going to come out with something for the obatarian set or are they just stuck with their Mercedes' and Jaguars?

[Mulboyne]

...aimed at 20-year-old women who love all things cute, or kawaii...

[Kuang_Grade]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaltips/941406734/