Who Is Setting Up The International Position Of UNIQLO?

Successive Bloomingdale's executive vice president, Wieden + Kennedy global creative director, GX Executive Creative Director, John Jay's simple and weighty curriculum vitae proved his extraordinary strength.

After joining the fast selling business, the creative master who loves antique cars and contemporary art is mainly responsible for all works related to creativity, including product design, marketing promotion and brand strategy.

Since its entry, John Jay has continuously strengthened its brand.

We should strive for innovation and pursue the perfect combination of fashion, commerce, culture and art.

Recently, in an interview with campaignasia, John Jay said that the focus of her current work is to enhance UNIQLO's global image and keep up with the trend of the times.

Joining fast selling is the return of change.

As a creative leader of fast marketing company, John Jay is involved in everything from advertising promotion to product design.

At present, his most important goal is to establish the international position of the company's brand UNIQLO.

It has been more than a year since he joined the fast retailing business. For 2014, John Jay, which has been working for creative advertising company Wieden + Kennedy, has changed dramatically in 2014.

At the same time, to some extent, this is a return -- the retail sale of early Jay in the US.

Bloomingdale's worked, and his career started in the fashion industry. In 1998, when Jay introduced Wieden Kennedy to Tokyo, the first brand he took was the UNIQLO.

After that cooperation, Jay became a friend of Ryui Masa, chairman and CEO of fast marketing company. It was Ryui Masa's vision and ambition that made him finally determined to join in fast selling.

Jay is a man of temperament. Especially when he is really motivated, for example, he will fly to Tokyo to interview the startups when he has the idea of bringing Wieden + Kennedy into Japan on the spur of the moment.

In fact, before joining the fast selling company formally, he has been consulting with Ryui Masa about the two cooperation.

Jay revealed that he was in the "dramatic stride" stage of his career at that time, though he was not sure what the "big step" was, but the conversation with Ryui Masa "ignited a big fire" in his mind.

"I suddenly realized: why not join them?" he said.

So he did.

Focusing on creativity and focusing on UNIQLO's joining in fast selling, John Jay is gradually adapting to its new role.

He personally participates in the design of products, which requires him to devote himself to the in-depth study of a large number of different channels and brands, so as to establish the tone of the whole company and service.

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Jay described the job as "very unusual and more creative than the traditional creative director". He said he was involved in all aspects of the brand, and the far-reaching impact of these jobs on the company will be reflected in the next few years.

In fact, although Jay is responsible for all its brands, including Helmut Lang, Theory and Comptoir des Cotonniers, its focus is on UNIQLO.

Considering that at present, the prospects of UNIQLO regard the United States as the primary development market is uncertain, Jay still stays in Portland, Oregon.

He needs to fly to Tokyo every month, and in the absence of time in Asia, he keeps instant communication with Liu Jingzheng every day and anywhere, even at three or four in the morning.

The busy work led to "sleep" in Jay's "do list" on the back.

Wieden + Kennedy, managing director of Tokyo John Rowe, once recalled that when he was still working in Portland, he lived on the opposite side of the office.

In the evenings, he could often see Jay working alone in the office alone and working late at night.

In the fast marketing company, Jay is obviously busier than before. He even participated in the construction of the global logistics center, which is located next to the big and the housing construction in the Ming area of Tokyo.

The aim of the move is to upgrade the retail sales to a new level.

Jay said, "on the surface, Liu and I are working together on all creative related business matters.

The fact is, I put almost all my energy in the future development of UNIQLO.

At present, UNIQLO's performance in Asia has been consistently positive, especially in China and South Korea.

But in October last year, UNIQLO announced that it did not achieve its annual revenue target of 200 billion yen (about US $1 billion 600 million). One of the main reasons was that 35 billion yen (about $286 million) was blindly and hastily invested in the brand expansion of the United States that still belongs to the "new arrivals".

Entering the United States, giving the brand the spirit of the times.

For the global expansion of brands, upgrading the popularity in the US is very critical. Jay's first task after joining the fast retailing business is to guide people to know what "UNIQLO is".

Compared with the fame of UNIQLO's creative use of digital platforms in Asia, its marketing approach in the US looks startling in its traditional way. UNIQLO has launched a full print media advertisement, which is a letter signed by Ryui Masa, which generally describes the brand temperament of "uniforms" of "uniforms". It also expresses Ryui Masa's appreciation and respect for the United States.

In addition, this advertisement is also reflected in the "service life" booklet produced by UNIQLO.

The booklet presented at the store looks like a small magazine with exquisite binding at first glance, but in fact it carries much more than that.

In addition to the display of basic clothing products, this booklet has also molded the brand humanized.

And from the perspective of globalization rather than Japanese brands, it tries to explain how UNIQLO is integrated with people's daily life.

In order to achieve the desired effect, UNIQLO invited some people to write articles for the endorsement of the brand. The invites include athletes Kei Nishikori and Adam Scott, Chinese actress Ni Ni, Columbia University Professor, anthropologist Laurel Kendall and Japanese Kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke IV.

They wrote in the article: "tradition should not be stick to it, instead, it should be broken.

At any time when we focus too much on preserving something without changing it, we lose the vitality of things. "

Surprisingly, UNIQLO also introduced the technical details behind some products. For example, there are articles in the pamphlet devoted to the reinterpretation of Japanese indigo printing and dyeing technology by UNIQLO, and the detailed illustration of the structure of Heattech fabrics in graphic form.

"The concept of 'comfortable life' has been in the market for 20 years," Jay said. "It's just a beginning. We are now expressing it in a simple way...

So far, every advertisement we have introduced is an interpretation of this concept.

The letter in the newspaper is completely true, because Mr. Ryui Masa has openly talked about the United States, and the country's ability to dream is appreciated.

In Jay's view, UNIQLO's entry into the United States is not a simple market behavior. He believes that the more important thing is to understand consumers thoroughly.

"This is a process that requires deep thinking," he explained. "It is not a problem that can be solved by putting in cool advertisements or opening new stores." currently, UNIQLO has 42 stores in the United States, and only 17 new stores were opened last year.

It needs to consider the brand strategy and vision, which is what we are trying to think about every day. "

Between the brand itself and the times culture, Jay's expertise has reached its peak.

In fast selling, he is closely involved in the construction of an innovative R & D center, which will to a certain extent promote product innovation and ensure that the brand can interact with the specific people it serves.

"To achieve the goal is not simply to see what new fabrics we can develop," Jay said. "At the same time, you also need to consider" do I really understand the meaning of these fabrics to consumers? "

I spent a lot of time talking about the combination of humanities, and we saw too many examples of excellent brands losing their way, though not all of them were lost because of their loss of culture, but at least they played a role.

They are no longer part of the spirit of the times, and the spirit of the times is always changing. "

Brand innovation, opportunities and challenges

So how can we ensure that a brand is never out of date? It's not easy.

"It's really hard," Jay said. "But part of it is private."

Jay revealed that he would normally interact with interesting people and enjoy the experience of having dinner with them, through which he established personal connections with creative people and looked for possible inspiration.

"A long time ago, I realized the art of Sharon, and when I was in Wieden + Kennedy, I would organize cultural salons in all parts of Asia, and try to ensure the diversity of guests. There were fashion designers, financial journalists and even rappers at the scene."

Jay tries to bring multiculturalism into the brand and passes the brand value through cultural context.

Even though UNIQLO has been very popular, it is also facing challenges.

In fact, because it can be seen everywhere, several years ago, students in Japan also spawned a word "unibare", which was used to ridicule the mainstream consumption taste symbolized by UNIQLO clothing.

Thus, it is appropriate for Jay to strengthen the relationship between brand and more interesting contemporary culture or subculture trend, or even earlier.

For a big brand like UNIQLO, this goal may not be as easy as the creative and recognized small company.

Nevertheless, Jay is still very much helped by the full support of Liu's well being the very creative leader himself.