午夜剧场

At the beginning of this year, we launched a new business from Shiseido. It is the POSME project, which aims to create new products and services through open innovation between corporations and high school girls, who have long been the drivers of youth culture.

The first product is the "Play Color Chip." It is a chip-style cosmetic designed for sharing and can be divided into single-use units, catering to the habits of young people who routinely exchange items and give gifts as a means of communication. We have evolved the common sense that cosmetics are something used alone to prepare for going out into something used together with friends while out.

Additionally, we opened "POSME LAB SHIBUYA" in Shibuya as a co-creation space for planning such products and disseminating information. Furthermore, we organized a marketing team called "POSME & Co." consisting of high school girls gathered through public recruitment. Centered around them, we are exchanging opinions with teens nationwide and exploring ways to share information.

This project has been widely featured in the context of a new approach to the younger generation from a large corporation, driven by keywords such as Generation Z (born in the 2000s with strong entrepreneurial spirits) and the senior shift in Japan's super-aging society. However, it has actually only been a year and a half since its conception. I am the only employee fully committed to it, and the rest is supported by the cooperation of people inside and outside the company who want to be involved. The reason we chose a style of releasing the brand to the world with only one unfinished product and completing it through an incomplete organizational structure is "personalization." I designed the project with a strong awareness of the religious aspect inherent in brands, where supporters embody the philosophy.

However, it is easier said than done. Communication with high school girls of a different generation, or with companies from different industries, often did not mesh well. The process of synthesizing ideas and building a brand from scratch within that environment was more grueling than imagined. Nevertheless, when I see the people involved confidently saying, "We are creating this brand," regarding things that took shape through continued discussion, I am convinced that the creative process is not in vain. I want to work hard every day with the goal of becoming a brand that broadcasts Japan's new culture.

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.