Two brothers led the way to transform the family business they struggled to run into an international company
As young kids, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata were convinced that their venture was worth fighting for. It was founded in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936 The Hijikata family's cast iron foundry was renowned for its exact accuracy. However, by the time it was in the early 90s, its future was at risk. As the heirs of the company's history, Kuni and Tomo knew that it was their responsibility to ensure that their casting iron workmanship in its original form.
The two brothers were employed at Toyota and Toyota Tsusho However, they saw an opportunity to design cast iron cookware to be passed on through the generations. Therefore, both brothers quit their regular jobs and dedicated their full time efforts to save the family-owned business. Brothers learned at the foundry, as craftsmen before setting up the business in the year 2010. Vermicular started to develop. The first cast iron pot hit the market, demand was so high that they had a 15-month backorder, fueled largely through enthusiastic word-of-mouth.
Ten years and more than 10 years later, the Vermicular team has set their objectives for growth around the world, and is which includes their home countries of the U.S., China, as well as beyond. To better communicate the worth of their kitchen equipment for the markets outside of the U.S. that aren't yet available, Vermicular has invested heavily in the creation of videos that promote their products. "Without our videos, we'd be unable to expand the reach of our organization," says Mark Hayashi Vermicular's Director of U.S. Office. We spoke with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to learn more about the company's plans to expand internationally using video. See their stories below and also the full interview that they gave below.
"We frequently think of the video content we create as the extension of our brand and products. Visuals are always more effective than written content and that is especially true particularly when it comes to cooking." Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of U.S. Office
How did you develop this product?
Tomo: "I thought that we could use our firm's casting iron know-how to make enameled cast iron pots that come with lids that are perfectly fitting. However, there was no precedent for that process in Japan. We were aware that we'd have to pioneer the method on our own.
To learn everything that we could, Kuni and me sat on the floor in the findry. Kuni turned into the casting craftsman, and I changed into a machine specialist. The process took three years, and more than 10,000 iterations before we had the idea that was in line with our objectives."
What was the process of setting up your own brand in Japan?
Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been the core of our communication and marketing strategies. The telling of stories about our distinctive heritage and our commitment to excellence has been a huge hit among our customers, and helped us feel more connected with them on a deeper scale.
We began by creating videos that reflected our mission statement that defines our company. Whether creating a brand story video or a how-to-produce tutorial the videos we create represent our values and who we are. In the beginning, we stated that we weren't focusing too much on short-term sales but rather on enhancing the satisfaction of our customers from a longer-term perspective."
What's been the biggest hurdle in building Vermicular? The Vermicular brand is not limited to Japan?
Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the issue of communicating. When we started Vermicular in 2010, we've had a lot of challenges. Vermicular brand in 2010, we've established a solid reputation throughout Japan but we've not seen any transfer across to Japan. The challenge was developing the Vermicular brand entirely from scratch which was challenging and required an extensive preparation prior to launch."
What was the initial source of capital you put into to make your name known internationally?
The content you've created that you've brand appears to be amazing. What was the procedure that led to this quality?
Mark: "We worked with an agency that created the film for our company and spent a lot of time deciding on the look and feel of the lighting, clothes, castingas well as food styling. Additionally, we took many hours working in tandem to create video storyboards. These were central to the entire project, and included the day of shooting.
Since there are many different people in the scene when shooting, there are almost every time unexpected setbacks that cause delays at the onset. The use of a well-constructed storyboard and an organized schedule for shooting helps set clear expectations and assists everyone involved in the shooting to follow the same direction. Storyboards not only provide a detailed plan for our hectic shoot day, but also helped to avoid any post-production issues. It is especially important for smaller companies with limited funds."
Where do you invest your earnings to ensure that you continue growing?
Mark: "Our hypothesis was that the development of a product-related video with a how-to-video series would allow our customers to experience the maximum capabilities of our induction cooktop. We state that the mission of our company doesn't end at the end of our mission once we have placed orders for our kitchen equipment.
We would like to see customers cooking with the Vermicular cookware in the longest amount of time. We've noticed clear results from the instructional videos as they aid in teaching the cookware's owners, as well as helping customers gain greater understanding of the usage of the cookware."
Did video aid in the development of Vermicular around the world?
Mark: "Definitely! Many. The way we think about our video content to be the extension of our products and brand. We may not have the biggest budget, but we spend hours trying to figure out the narrative and format of our videos to be most effective in telling the tale of our brand. Videos are more efficient than words. This is especially important in the world of cooking."
What's the motives why the team utilizes the HTML0 format for embedding and hosting the video?
Mark: "We prefer for many reasons, the primary one being the customizable options for embedding video. A clutter-free, ad-free user experience provides seamless user experience across the website , and also ensures the "touch and feel" of our logo.
Additionally, it allows us to share draft content between our teams from the U.S. and Japan, which makes it simple to get feedback, even when the distance is thousands of miles."
What's next to be the next step of Vermicular?
Kuni: "More creative products are currently being developed and we'll continue to expand our range of offerings across both the U.S. and across various Asian nations."
Mark: "We are currently planning our strategy for video content which includes everything from brand-name video content, which includes a variety of chef and farmer videos, as well as educational videos that will eventually become our valuable assets in the years ahead."
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