KDDI Designing Studio: Video Tour
Japan’s wireless industry provides some of the coolest mobile experiences on planet Earth. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that mobile players here are also masters at the street-level marketing of cell phones and wireless services — and KDDI’s Designing Studio is not only the latest over-the-top effort at creating a consumer-targeted mobile funland, it’s also the best. In today’s program, WWJ’s Gail Nakada speaks with the Studio’s general manager, tours five floors’ worth of interactive games, live handsets and mobile demos, and plugs into Harajuku’s ultimate mobile zeitgeist. Program Run-time 8:50 — Coded for broadband connections only
In today’s program, WWJ’s Gail Nakada tries out some of the incredible interactive demonstrations that highlight KDDI’s mobile vision of today and tomorrow, including music and video, and takes a peak at the coolest new au handsets.
She also speaks with Natsuko Kimura, general manager of Designing Studio, who was obviously chosen as much for her knowledge of Tokyo’s youth culture as for her marketing savvy.
After watching the video, make sure you read Gail’s article on the Studio’s opening, posted on 4 March.
There’s little doubt that Vodafone and DoCoMo will be hard put to play catch up in the mobile funland marketing race: KDDI’s new facility makes existing sites run by V and D in Shibuya and Aoba Telecom Center, respectively, look decidedly horse-and-buggy-ish — despite those showrooms having opened less than a couple years back.
Mobile marketing evolves quickly in Japan; if you can’t stand the tsuyobi, get outta the itaba.
— Editors