This examines the successful launch of Suntory's "THE PEEL" ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage, focusing on how the company achieved exceptional sales growth through synergy between its sales and marketing divisions.

The key to this success was the creation of a new, data-driven sales strategy unit called the "Buy Area Strategy Department," which used ID-POS data to scientifically determine the most effective messaging and point-of-sale (POP) tactics in retail environments.

It explains that by establishing common goals (like in-store sales speed), clearly defining roles, securing top-management commitment, and using data as a shared language, Suntory overcame traditional organizational barriers to create a unified, highly effective strategy that led to the product exceeding half of its annual sales plan within two months.

This provides a strategic overview of airCloset Salon, a new in-person diagnostic service for personal style and color analysis launched by the operator of the large-scale, monthly fashion rental service, airCloset.

The primary focus is on how airCloset Salon functions as a front-end product to drive customer acquisition and secure long-term subscriptions for the core airCloset rental service. This strategy centers on creating an "experience bridge," where the initial diagnosis naturally leads to a trial of the rental service’s value—professional styling and easy try-ons—by integrating the diagnosis data and offering the diagnostic session free when customers sign up for the monthly rental. The discussion uses the salon's successful model to illustrate the broader marketing principle of replacing a difficult, high-barrier sale with a gradual, staged "staircase design" that guides customers from initial value-based interaction toward continuous product usage and habit formation.

This provides an in-depth guide on the practical application of integrating customer insight with Design Thinking to enhance customer engagement and value creation.

It initially establishes that customer insight refers to the deep-seated, often unconscious or unspoken feelings and hidden truths that drive consumer behavior, emphasizing that marketers must proactively discover these insights rather than waiting for customers to express them.

The discussion then explains how to infuse these critical insights into the five stages of Design Thinking—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—to ensure solutions truly resonate with users' hidden desires and emotional "switch buttons." Specific instruction is given for each stage, such as focusing the Define phase on problems linked to the discovered insights and using the Prototype phase to design an experience that stimulates the emotional reaction of "this is exactly what I wanted."

It advocates for a continuous cycle of insight discovery and iterative refinement within the Design Thinking framework to create products that genuinely move people.

This provides an extensive overview of a book by Toshiyasu Nishii titled, "The Science of Continuously Increasing Customers: New Strategies for Marketing in the Digital Age," which advocates for a fundamental shift in marketing focus.

The author redefines winning strategies as "Jōseki" (established best sequences) and introduces a detailed 10-stage customer journey, heavily weighted toward post-purchase phases like habitual use and advocacy.

Key concepts for achieving long-term customer relationships include "Effortless" service, which stresses simplicity and initial success, and a "UGC (User Generated Content) First" approach to strategically leverage customer voices for new acquisition.

This provides a detailed case study on how Hankyu Railway successfully redefined its corporate branding by shifting its focus inward, rather than relying on traditional advertising.

The company's core strategy involved identifying its existing, high customer satisfaction by realizing that everyday actions by employees, such as pointing and calling during safety checks, were interpreted by customers as sincerity and reliability. This led Hankyu to define its core value as "Yutori," a concept representing a high-quality, tranquil sense of peace and mental space delivered through reliable convenience and high-quality service.

It explains how Hankyu embedded this core value across all operations—from internal marketing and employee behavior standards to equipment design and trackside development—creating a consistent, powerful, and difficult-to-replicate brand asset.

This provides a detailed analysis of the Times Car car-sharing service, examining its successful business model using a five-part framework.

This analysis systematically addresses the company’s target customers, such as urban non-car owners and corporate users, and its competitors, which range from other car-sharing services to private car ownership and public transport.

The core of the model lies in its unique value proposition, emphasizing convenience through a large station network, cost savings by eliminating ownership expenses, and temporal flexibility with 15-minute usage units. This value is supported by key capabilities, notably the low-cost utilization of its parent company's Times Parking network and sophisticated vehicle management systems, all contributing to a robust revenue model that maximizes profit by optimizing fleet utilization and maintaining a low break-even point.

This examines the marketing concept of "reversing the purpose" (mokuteki no shudanka), which intentionally treats the original objective as a means to achieve a greater, often long-term, goal, contrasting it with the common pitfall of "means becoming the purpose."

This principle is illustrated through two main case studies: the "Shukudai Yaruki Pen," an IoT stationery product designed to motivate children by making studying (the original purpose) a means to earn rewards and develop enjoyment, and NTT Data's entry into the capsule hotel business. For NTT Data, the hotel operation is merely the means to collect valuable, large-scale sleep data from guests for future healthcare and AI-driven business ventures, rather than profitability from lodging itself being the primary goal.

It argues that adopting this broad, strategic perspective can unlock innovative business models across areas like strategy, product development, and data analysis.

This analyzes the unconventional business strategy of fav Hotel, which achieved profitability with a seemingly disastrous 20% occupancy rate by challenging traditional hotel industry assumptions.

This approach, termed "Bias Break," involved rejecting the fixed ideas that high occupancy and extensive service are necessary for success. It explains how fav Hotel employed a strategy of subtraction, clearly defining what services they would not offer—such as daily cleaning and full front desk staff—to concentrate resources on a specialized target of group and family travelers.

This model is underpinned by a "Critical Core," a factor that appears irrational (low occupancy) but is made highly rational by significant cost reductions through digital technology, staff minimization, and a unique development process that accelerates expansion through land sales to investment funds.

This offers an in-depth analysis of the success of Hair Salon IWASAKI, an affordable Japanese hair salon chain known for its low-priced cuts, using the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) marketing theory.

This theory focuses on identifying the "job" or progress that customers truly want to achieve in a specific situation, rather than just selling a product.

The analysis reveals that IWASAKI's core clientele, fashion-conscious youth aged 20-30, hire the salon as a "worker" to solve the problem of maintaining expensive, trendy hairstyles frequently and affordably between major salon visits. By offering high-quality, targeted services like ¥690 cuts for quick, inexpensive maintenance, IWASAKI addresses a previously unmet need not fulfilled by expensive full-service salons or low-quality bargain cuts, ultimately providing an optimal solution for the customer's desired progress.

This provides an extensive case study of "Oshi-dan," a shrine created for displaying cherished characters or idols developed by Hasegawa, a major Japanese Buddhist altar manufacturer.

This business venture is presented as a model for successful new market entry by dramatically redefining the target customer from traditional, middle-aged buyers of altars to younger consumers engaged in "Oshi-katsu" (fandom activities). The analysis details how the company leveraged its existing manufacturing expertise (using high-quality Hinoki wood and traditional techniques) and deep customer empathy (driven by the young developer who was also a fan) to create a premium product that met the unarticulated needs of the fandom community.

It emphasizes that bold customer re-selection and reinterpreting existing assets are key strategies for modern business innovation, ensuring that product concept and communication align perfectly with the new customer's culture and values.