[Not a Number]

I see this thread has reverted to senseless nitpicking.

I guess it was juvenile of Asahi Optical Company to "whizz" their name or AOC logo on the Pentax bodies, lens caps, cases, lenses and other accessories, literature and advertisements.




Once upon a time there was a baseball team in Brooklyn called the Dodgers. Known as "The Brooklyn Dodgers". I guess the club was juvenile for "whizzing" Brooklyn or a big "B" on their jerseys, hats and score boards.

Then they team was sold and moved to Los Angeles. Now the are known as the Los Angeles Dodgers. Or simply "The Dodgers". But that juvenile club that owns them now has to "whizz" Los Angeles or LA on their jerseys, hats and scoreboards.

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Last edited by Not a Number; 09-06-2014 at 08:22 AM.

[monochrome]

Honestly, I don't like this kind of commercial. It seems that corporate egos are too apparent like "I made this. So you buy this!" I might be biased, of course.

So I guess Lee Iacocca was just wrong to go on TV when CEO of Chrysler and personally say, "If you find a better car, buy it." and, "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way."

"That better car must have been Chrysler's new K-car series, for the strong sales of the midsize vehicle — as well as the company's streamlining of manufacturing plants and invention of the minivan — helped Chrysler repay its government loans seven years early in 1983." - TIME Magazine, Cars, Crisis and Chrysler

Full Disclosure: The Chrysler Mini-Van was made at Plant #1 in St. Louis (closed and leveled in 2009 by the United States Government, before selling Chrysler to FIAT)

[luftfluss]

So I guess Lee Iacocca was just wrong to go on TV when CEO of Chrysler and personally say, "If you find a better car, buy it." and, "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way."

"That better car must have been Chrysler's new K-car series, for the strong sales of the midsize vehicle — as well as the company's streamlining of manufacturing plants and invention of the minivan — helped Chrysler repay its government loans seven years early in 1983." - TIME Magazine, Cars, Crisis and Chrysler

Full Disclosure: The Chrysler Mini-Van was made at Plant #1 in St. Louis (closed and leveled in 2009 by the United States Government, before selling Chrysler to FIAT)

I remember that commercial. But it had a totally different tone & purpose than the types of commercials Daikokuya is referencing. Iacocca was making a personal appeal, an explanation and guarantee to the public, whereas the fellows in the K-S1 commercial are not. There's really no need to take Daikokuya to task over his gently-offered opinion.

BTW, I know of 2 K-cars in my neck of the woods that are still on the road.

[monochrome]

I remember that commercial. But it had a totally different tone & purpose than the types of commercials Daikokuya is referencing. Iacocca was making a personal appeal, an explanation and guarantee to the public, whereas the fellows in the K-S1 commercial are not. There's really no need to take Daikokuya to task over his gently-offered opinion.

BTW, I know of 2 K-cars in my neck of the woods that are still on the road.

I didn't mean that to sound like I'm taking Daikokuya too task - just to say that this has been a legitimate approach for various products at various times, especially when there just isn't much corporate identity and brand awareness left to build on (Chrysler had just received a Government-Guaranteed loan, which at the time was a cultural negative in the USA).

Of course I'm viewing this through western eyes - I really don't know what brand identity Pentax still has in Japan, nor how this kind of an appeal strikes the target buyers.

Ar least to me - an executive publicly staking his reputation on a product is a stronger endorsement than Maria Sharapova hanging a Canon around her neck.

[stevebrot]

But the alternative appears to be: "I'm a celebrity and I have nothing to do with this product. So you buy this!"

Awww, common...I am sure that Ashton Kutcher knows tons about the Canon cameras he once pitched.


Steve

---------- Post added 09-06-14 at 10:32 AM ----------

an executive publicly staking his reputation on a product is a stronger endorsement than Maria Sharapova hanging a Canon around her neck.

Maria, OTOH, is a perfectly credible spokesperson for the brand.


Steve

[noser]

I see this thread has reverted to senseless nitpicking.

I guess it was juvenile of Asahi Optical Company to "whizz" their name or AOC logo on the Pentax bodies, lens caps, cases, lenses and other accessories, literature and advertisements.

A bit, yes it was. At least Pentax is the name that survives.

But I don't like the 2nd commercial, so it was a nitpick on my part.

[jeff knight]

I see this thread has reverted to senseless nitpicking.

Nitpicking is cool. It's much better than another forum gang-lynching.

[JPT]

Thanks for posting the video link.

How very different Japan is. Imagine, say, Google or Microsoft launching a new product for a younger audience using three middle-aged executives in sober suits with the measured approach of IBM-men from back in the day. It would be ridiculed. Yet here is a similar approach used centre-stage as a guarantor of quality and serious attention to good values. I'm not trying to be critical; I have a lot of respect for this approach. This is their culture, or that's the impression I take from the video as a Westerner. It's part of their core. I'm not sure it works for us, so in a way you go for things like the K-S1 because they are so Japanese and not despite it. TBH, I think that extends across quite a range of things Pentax do.

I think there is a great respect for craftsmanship in Japan and customers are attracted by the idea that the people who make something have a passion for what they do. There are a few Japanese words that are associated with this that don't have direct equivalents in English.
monozukuri - literally "making things" but has a connotation of attention to detail and good workmanship
kodawaru - a verb that means expending a lot of energy in something to make it just right
shokunin or takumi - a craftsman who is very skilled and sometimes carries the nuance of being stubborn about the quality of their work and unwilling to compromise
Perhaps this is why Ricoh has taken to featuring their engineers in their marketing material (also on the 645z webpages).

However, this video is not going to be shown on TV. Anyone who sees it has already demonstrated some degree of interest in the product and wants more information. When Ricoh advertises Pentax on TV in Japan, their commercials are much more like you'd expect, using a celebrity to promote a general image and one main selling point.

[mecrox]

I think there is a great respect for craftsmanship in Japan and customers are attracted by the idea that the people who make something have a passion for what they do. There are a few Japanese words that are associated with this that don't have direct equivalents in English.
monozukuri - literally "making things" but has a connotation of attention to detail and good workmanship
kodawaru - a verb that means expending a lot of energy in something to make it just right
shokunin or takumi - a craftsman who is very skilled and sometimes carries the nuance of being stubborn about the quality of their work and unwilling to compromise
Perhaps this is why Ricoh has taken to featuring their engineers in their marketing material (also on the 645z webpages).

However, this video is not going to be shown on TV. Anyone who sees it has already demonstrated some degree of interest in the product and wants more information. When Ricoh advertises Pentax on TV in Japan, their commercials are much more like you'd expect, using a celebrity to promote a general image and one main selling point.

That's fascinating and useful for other areas of life, too. Many thanks for explaining. Perhaps Ricoh should make more of these notions in the West, in order to distinguish their products from the gazillions of bendy plastic Chinese-made boxes out there. These terms would certainly apply to a rather fine made-in-Japan motorbike I used to own, which was of a higher standard than Honda's typical "export" versions, and to things like some Japanese gongs, each one hand-hammered and then hand-tuned by a craftsman, which seem expensive until you work out why.