Skip to main content

High purpose initiative can help you create energy to your business like Tanita




A small Japanese company that makes bathroom scales has under 100 million dollars in sales generated by less than 300 people. But they put out a recipe book in 2010 that has sold around five million copies and created a new growth platform. Their story, which depicts how a higher purpose can work, is instructive.
Tanita makes and markets accurate, durable, user-friendly professional and personal scales for measuring health related characteristics such as weight, body fat and body water. Based in part on some patented, breakthrough measurement technology developed in 1992 and branded as “bioelectrical impedance analysis,” Tanita has 50 percent market share in Japan, where it is a household brand for scales, and it is a leader in the global market as well.
With healthy living as a heritage value, Tanita developed a company cafeteria that featured a healthy yet tasty menu at a time in which healthy eating was something of a trend, even a fad, in Japan. The cafeteria items were the subject of a prominent TV feature piece that stimulated a publisher to develop a series of Tanita company cafeteria cookbooks, the first of which appeared in 2010. Now one in ten households in Japan own a Tanita recipe book, and its recipes are featured on several established recipe sites in Japan such Cookpad (which gets nearly 7 million unique monthly visitors).
The success of the cookbook led Tanita to open a 70-seat Tanita Cafeteria in the very popular commercial district of Marunouchi in January 2012. Marunouchi is an upscale urban area near Tokyo Station with high end retailers, corporate offices, and who knows how many thousands of restaurants. The menu items are all under 500 calories, with low sodium and fat content. Each table has a timer, not to encourage people to leave but to encourage them to spend at least 20 minutes eating, because a leisurely meal is healthier. There are slogans to honor healthy lifestyles everywhere. The restaurant is so popular that access needs to be controlled with a number system. And more restaurants are now in development.
Some observations:
First: The recipe book success and the restaurant provided an already strong brand with a whole new basis for a relationship with customers. Many brands have a higher purpose (in Jim Stengel’s words) that simply does not get traction. Tanita is no exception. Their mission has always been to help people lead healthy lives, but it took the recipe book and restaurant to give the claim substance, visibility, credibility and energy.
One of my recent blog updates reported on the findings of BrandJapan 2013, the annual appraisal of some 1,000 Japanese brands. In that database, the Tanita brand went from 107 to 60 with a top ten finish on innovation. Impressive for such a specialized business, as most brands in the top 100 had daily visibility. It did even better in the in the business survey (which appraises the business performance of the firm) rising from 38 to 8, reflecting its new found energy and the business potential of the Tanita restaurants.
Second: The effort to be an ultimate go-to source of healthy eating provides a new growth platform for Tanita. The recipe book, like most brilliant strategic moves, was unplanned. It did emerge from a natural extension of some fundamental values reflected in the Tanita mission and culture, but the actual recipe book was based on the luck of being the object of a TV feature and the insight of a publisher, not from the strategic plan of the firm.
The brand does get credit, however, for recognizing the opportunity represented by the recipe book. It started what may be a successful restaurant chain that will provide a significant growth platform for the modest company. A key move was to identify a restaurant champion from within their firm using a competitive process. The winner was both capable and motivated to make the concept a success. He not only added a host of on-brand innovations to the restaurant but was instrumental in introducing an Internet based Health Record to support lifestyle changes, which played a role in keeping the higher purpose as an active strategy guide.
It’s a remarkable story of how a higher purpose, supported by meaningful values and mission can lead to not only an enhanced brand but to a new growth platform.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sweet Spot

How do you create a digital strategy that involves customers in an energized social community?  How do you create an engaged, active “go-to” website?   Prophet's David Aaaker says, You must change the orientation of marketing from selling the offering, the brand, and firm to becoming an active partner with a shared interest program around a customer’s “sweet spot.” A sweet spot reflects customers’ “thinking and doing” time, beliefs and values, activities and passions, possessions or places they treasure. Ideally, it would be a part of, if not central to, their self-identity and lifestyle and reflect a higher-order value proposition, much beyond the benefits provided by the offering. To illustrate, Pampers went beyond diapers by creating the Pampers Village community that provides a “go to” place for all issues relating to babies and child care. Its five sections – pregnancy, newborn, baby, toddler, and preschooler – all have a menu of topics. Its online ...
Post a Comment
Read more

New ways to business capital

A Business capital, often referred to as capital in a business context, is the financial resources or assets that a company or a sole proprietorship uses to operate, invest, and grow. Traditionally, it can come from various sources, including: 1. Equity Capital: This is the money invested by the business owners or shareholders. It represents ownership in the company and can be in the form of common stock or retained earnings. 2. Debt Capital: Debt capital is borrowed money that the business must repay with interest. This can include loans from banks, bonds issued by the company, or other forms of debt financing. 3. Working Capital: Working capital is the money a business uses for its day-to-day operations, such as paying bills, salaries, and purchasing inventory. 4. Fixed Capital: Fixed capital refers to the funds invested in long-term assets like buildings, machinery, and equipment. 5. Venture Capital or Angel Investment: Startups and high-growth companies may secure capital from vent...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Liberalism under attack?

I believe the answer may be yes. It's yes because two powerful states in Asia: China and Russia have consolidated authoritarian regime, that the end points may not be visible soon.  These two forces are working tirelessly to globalize oligarchy and authoritarianism. Their gospels has been noised abroad. Their influences influences have been displayed in some nations (with pseudo democracy) in the global south,  In Africa, liberal democracy have been badly weaken by the character of people in leadership: abuse of offices, stealing of public funds without questions and necessary punishments, plus rigging of presidential elections, leading to changing fortunes ànd quagmires. Beside, the curent hyper-inflation in Nigeria is blamed on the recent resurgence of Adams Smith and liberal economics doctrines (and partly by loyalty to Washington consensus: policies and insititios designed by the US government to globalize capitalism and it's associated cultural systems). The market is now...
Post a Comment
Read more