承前*1
若い衆の麦酒離れ？ ということだが、Japan Timesには、日本の麦酒会社が新たなターゲットとしての女性を狙い、それに伴って、製品開発等にも女性を積極的に起用しているという共同通信の記事が掲載されている。
若い衆の麦酒離れという記事を読んで、これはグローバルな傾向とは違うだろうと感じたのだ。何しろ、ヨーロッパの麦酒業界が新たな市場として熱い視線を送っているのはイスラーム社会だからだ。勿論、ノンアルコールではあるが。
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Brewers tapping women for ways to up sales
Kyodo News
Major brewers are targeting women to increase beer sales in an effort to overcome sluggish sales of alcoholic beverages.
This suds for you: Natsu Mori (left) and Sakurako Yoshino of Kirin Brewery Co. pose before two cocktails that they developed at its head office in Tokyo in May. KYODO PHOTO
Kirin Brewery Co. has assigned female employees to develop cocktails tailored for young women, while Sapporo Breweries Ltd. has set up a team composed of seven women to create a new product.
Suntory Ltd. placed advertisements for its "happoshu" low-malt beer Diet Nama (draft) in women's magazines in May and June. A 350 milliliter can is priced at around ¥152.
Sales of beer, including happoshu and third-category beers brewed from peas and soybeans, have been on the decline since brewers raised prices earlier this year.
Kirin began marketing cocktails, under the name two dogs, in 350 ml cans on June 18 — one called cassis navel in a pink can and another called salty bulldog in a green can — for around ¥148.
The products were developed by Sakurako Yoshino, 26, and Natsu Mori, 24, who are both in their third year with Kirin. The pair were given the assignment as the company wanted to come up with beers and cocktails that women of their generation would enjoy.
"I wanted to develop a product that would be more of a pleasure to look at and to taste than the products available," Yoshino said.
Their two male superiors on the team to develop the new products were initially reluctant about the design of the cans and the taste of the cocktails as they differed from Kirin's traditional products, but the women finally prevailed.
Sapporo formed a project team of seven women in their 20s and 30s in the spring of last year to take charge of product development, market research and public relations.
The team evaluates new products from a women's perspective and the company plans to assign the development of new beverages to it in the future.
Kirin also maintains a group of female employees who carry out sales promotion activities targeted at women. The group participates in the company's Nihonbashi Nadeshiko Project, holding interchange meetings with women working in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district, and engages in word-of-mouth promotional campaigning.
Mayako Kono, 44, who in March became the first woman president of a Kirin group company, said that when she was a saleswoman during her early days with the brewery, liquor store managers were surprised to see her when she called on them.
Kirin is aggressively promoting women to higher positions. It is aiming to increase their representation in managerial positions to 100 by 2015 from about 30 in 2006.
"The company will be in trouble unless women employees play an active role," which will help Kirin gain acceptance by female customers, Kirin President Senji Miyake said.
The problem, however, is how to elevate talented female employees to executive positions when many leave because of marriage or to find a position with another firm after working for Kirin for about five years, Miyake said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080723f2.html
