Premium summer gift

Suntory has started an advertising blitz to remind the baby-boomer generation that the premium beer brand Premium Malts makes a great gift for Ochugen, the traditional summer gift-giving season.

LISMO vs. Docomodake

Judging from the prominent spot in front of the KDDI Designing Studio in Harajuku, KDDI appears to be turning its LISMO squirrel (which was originally introduced as part of the promotion for the mobile music service LISMO! last year) into a mascot for the whole brand.

It seems to be quite obvious that this is a response to the huge popularity of NTT DoCoMo's mascot Docomodake, which have been cleverly expanded to form a whole family. Compared to them, LISMO still seems to be lacking in cuteness, probably caused by the decision to leave the character without eyes.



But who knows - LISMO might be up for a relaunch soon. Train operator JR East has done this very successfully for its SUICA mascot.



When introduced in 2002 (left), the SUICA penguin did not look cute at all (again, the problem seems to have been with the eyes). A covert relaunch in 2005 (right) gave the mascot larger eyes and a facial expression, and the SUICA penguin is now so popular that it it even has its own range of SUICA merchandise on sale at train stations.

Vittel

Vittel has come up with a new bottle design which is sure to stand out among the predominantly blue packages of its competitors.

New premium beer by Asahi

On June 28, Asahi will be the latest among the large Japanese breweries to release a premium beer with Prime Time.

Football cafes

Japan's football players are adopting the latest advertising trends in order to increase their recognition at home - there are now temporary cafes featuring both team captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata. The Nakata.net Cafe is in the same place where Microsoft's X-Box 360 Lounge used to be, and Miyamoto's Football Park Cafe occupies the ground floor of the trendy Marunouchi Building.

Tetrapak

Tetrapak Japan has launched a campaign emphasizing the environmental friendliness of its packages. Posters in train cars such as the one pictured here are made of recycled tetrapaks, which results in a matt and slightly curly paper that stands out against the glossy varieties that are standard in Japan.

Smoke

An ad for cigarettes? Think again - these posters are for Sanyo's washing machine AQUA, which can disinfect and deodorize clothes without using water.

Music Porter X

Adverts for the Music Porter X, a new handset from NTT DoCoMo have started to appear, although the handset itself was released back in April. The Music Porter X with its distinctive look (which somehow reminds me of audio equipment from the 1970s) is the first mobile that can receive radio programs from the satellite broadcasting service Mobaho.

Asahi Gubinama

Asahi has released a new beer-like drink with Gubinama, a rather unimaginatively branded drink targeted at overworked young salarymen.

Muji@Famima

MUJI items have been available at the convenience store chain Family Mart for several years now, but the products were not really standing out from the other things on sale there. Both companies seem to have realized this and have come up with a new product selection, package and POS design. Further details can be found here.

Lipton and Tower Records

As last year, Lipton and Tower Records have teamed up for a promotion campaign. The package design of this limited edition is so much nicer than the normal one...