Plastic Japan

Less Crap - The Tsutsumi Wrap

Olle

[email protected]

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Insight/observation

The extreme amount of plastic wrapper has to do with more than laziness, lethargy and convenience. It is culturally connected, stemming from Tsutsumi, which traditionally is simple, beautiful and thoughtful wrappings made with paper, textiles and natural fibers. Key words; thoughtful and natural.

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Strategy

Make it painfully obvious that something as beautiful as the Tsutsumi packaging culture today manifests itself as something very ugly. A strategy of contrast.

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Strategy in context

Not often do you get help from other parties promoting (general eco trend) the same product as you. Normally you’re facing numerous competing brands with their own agenda. In this case, the product is better environment so everybody is promoting the same product. “Green” organizations are doing their part, spokes people and lobbyists are pulling some weight, government law in Japan allowing them to issue warnings to retailers that don’t do enough to reduce and recycle waste etc.

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Strategy in context

What these actions have in common is that they’re clearly focused on the core problem itself; too much waste, and why it needs to stop:

• In x years we’ll friggin’ die• In x years there’s no more ice• In x years we’ll all have to buy a house on mars• One plastic bag equals x dead Zebras

We all know this - but still many don’t care.

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Strategy in context

This strategy is another “way in” - via the cultural aspect of the problem.

“Culture is those deep, common, unstated experiences which members of a given culture share, which they communicate without knowing, and which form the backdrop against which all other events are judged”

Edward T. Hall (1966)

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Rationale

We communicate culture without knowing, but we also act accordingly without knowing - It’s just how it is - “we’ve always done things this way…”

In order to change behaviors (like these) we need to affect people in more ways than by facts and figures, predictions and research. Not that that messaging is wrong - it’s just very much alike.

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Campaign

Culture vs. CultureWho will be the winner?

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Campaign

Tsutsumi Tsutsumi?

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Campaign

Tsutsumi Tsutsumi?

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Campaign

Tsutsumi Tsutsumi?

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Campaign

Tsutsumi• Natural• Friend• Extravagant• High quality• Thoughtfulness• Personal• By hand• For good

Tsutsumi?• Synthetic• Salesman• Crap• No quality• Stupidity• Masses• By machine• For bad

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Desired reflectiona.k.a. “what the fuck am I doing?”

How should we remember Tsutsumi?What should Tsutsumi culture connote in the future?

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Answering the brief

This strategy does address the issue with unnecessary packaging - making Japanese consumers think twice before accepting/asking for their goods put in separate plastic bags for example. Does it convince Japanese consumers that unpackaged goods are more aspirational than packaged goods? That might happen when they see that they get by just fine with one plastic bag, or none.