Toyota is Japan’s number one brand for the 16th consecutive year, report
Interbrand Japan, Japan’s largest branding company (headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, President and CEO: Masahito Namiki), has announced Best Japan Brands 2024, a ranking of Japanese brand values using its proprietary Brand Valuation™ method to convert brand value into monetary value.
This is the 16th year these rankings have been announced. Best Japan Brands uses the same valuation methods used in Best Global Brands, a global brand value ranking Interbrand has announced every year since 2000.
By comparing the value of leading global brands with that of Japanese brands using the same system of measurement, it examines the value of brands as business assets. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data is introduced and analyzed to assess not only the value that brands provide to their customers, but also their role and responsibility to society today and in the future.
Overview of Best Japan Brands 2024
In May 2023, with the transition of new coronavirus infections to category 5, the lives of people in Japan began to return superficially to pre-coronavirus status.
However, with the slowdown of overseas economies due to instability in the global situation, and the impact of the yen’s depreciation, a harsh economic environment is developing in which wage increases are not keeping pace with the rapid rise in prices.
Against this backdrop, the average year-on-year growth rate of all 100 individual brands ranked in Best Japan Brands 2024 was +4.8% (+6.0% growth last year), and the total brand value of all 100 brands was $291.6 billion (+6.7% year-on-year, compared to +7.7% last year). The overall trend is slowing. This overall trend is similar to that in the Best Global Brands 2023, which was released in October 2023.
In this year’s analysis of the commonalities among the brands that have achieved significant growth in brand value, we found that of the 10 factors in the Brand Strength Analysis (see page 8), the factors found to be high were: Agility (the speed to market that a company demonstrates in the face of opportunity or challenge, enabling it to get ahead and stay ahead of customer expectations), Coherence (the degree to which customer interactions, across varying experiences and contexts, remain authentic to the brand’s promise, values and personality), and Alignment (the degree to which the whole organisation is pulling in the same direction, committed to the brand strategy and empowered by systems to execute it across the business).
While the importance of responding quickly and flexibly to the external environment remains unchanged, the fact that a company not only defines its purpose and brand vision, but also incorporates them into its corporate culture and business activities and embodies them, seems to contribute to the growth of its brand. In addition to the high degree of implementation of sustainability-related measures, another key factor for brand growth is the ability to translate solutions to social issues into economic value in the form of business.
Top 5 Growing Brands
UNIQLO
Under the concept of LifeWear (ultimate everyday clothes), UNIQLO provides people around the world with the joy, happiness, and satisfaction of wearing good clothes under the corporate philosophy “Changing clothes. Changing conventional wisdom. Changing the world.” Because of its low prices and simple designs, the LifeWear concept has become a fixture in the daily lives of young and old alike.
The “RE.UNIQLO” project began collecting clothes 20 years ago, and has been reusing them as support clothing and recycling them for fuel. In addition, it has recently expanded from repair and remake to resell as one-of-a-kind used clothing. Sustainability has been steadily integrated into the company’s business and has improved trust in the brand.
The company is also communicating new forms of social contribution based on its brand philosophy, such as ongoing contracts with top athletes after their retirement and “THE TOKYO TOILET” project.
Mercari
Mercari has set a new group mission “Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people” for 2023, the 10-year anniversary of its founding. By “circulating all kinds of value,” not just physical goods and money, it aims to realize a world where everyone can realize what they want to do, increase the number of options for contributing to people and society, connect people around the world through the power of technology, and fulfill the potential of all people.
To this end, Mercari has introduced AI, quickly absorbed consumer needs from its customer service centers, created new products and services, and enhanced its product search function.
Also focusing on the promotion of “circular finance,” in November 2022, Mercari subsidiary Mercpay launched Mercard, a credit card whose credit limit is determined by the user’s Mercari usage record and whose usage and management can be completed via an app. In March 2023, Mercari also launched a bitcoin transaction service on Mercari. Activities based on the Group’s mission are strengthening trust and attachment to the brand.
Fujitsu
In May 2023, Fujitsu established the vision “Being a technology company that realizes net positive through digital services” along with three areas of contribution in order to realize its Purpose, and presented the concept of value creation looking toward the year 2030.
With Fujitsu Uvance, which embodies its Purpose and drives growth, at the core, Fujitsu is committed to help solve social issues in the cross-industry and achieve sustainability transformation for its customers. To accelerate these efforts, Fujitsu Uvance has been proactively implementing organizational reforms and human resource development within the company, and has demonstrated its commitment to solving social issues externally by releasing its own research reports on sustainability, participating in the Davos Forum, and collaborating with other companies.
The quality control problem caused by the issuance of the Mynacard certificate was severely evaluated in terms of trust, but Fujitsu responded to the situation sincerely. These efforts to create social value through both corporate and business activities centered on Purpose are also linked to results in terms of economic value.
Suntory
In February 2023, Suntory reorganized and renewed its Group Corporate Philosophy, expressing in simple terms what it has valued since its founding as its purpose and values and expressing the content and will of its top management. In response to changes in society and people beyond our expectations, it is oriented to flexibly respond to changes in the world, while keeping the new management philosophy at the core.
In particular, Suntory is making company-wide efforts on a global scale to address the long-standing issues of coexistence with the global environment and society, while keeping an eye on changes in the challenges faced by people today. Furthermore, it is evolving itsl corporate branding efforts on a global scale to become a world-leading brand not only by responding to change, but also by creating change by itself.
Ajinomoto
Ajinomoto promotes management based on ASV (Ajinomoto Group Creating Shared Value), a basic policy that aims to co-create social and economic value through its business.
In April 2023, the company announced its new purpose, “Contribute to the well-being of all human beings, our society, and our planet with ‘AminoScience’,” and is promoting company-wide Purpose branding, from management to employees worldwide. This is aimed at meeting the expectations of multi-stakeholder groups.
As one of its practical activities, Ajinomoto established the Marketing Design Center, which integrates three departments: the Advertising Department, the Consumer Analysis & Business Creation Department, and the Owned Media Department.
It is also working on innovation oriented toward transformation into an organization that co-creates experience value by strengthening the connection that makes consumers think of the Ajinomoto brand from the moment they make a purchase.
New Entrants
Takeda (100th)
Takeda’s raison d’etre is “Better health for people, brighter future for the world.” In its communications, Takeda states: “Serve the world, Takeda. Be innovative. With integrity.” Takeda’s corporate stance of tackling the various challenges facing mankind in innovative and diverse ways is conveyed in an easy-to-understand manner through the activities and thoughts of individual employees on its website.
The Hirameki – Inspiration Plaza, a space that embodies Takeda’s corporate philosophy, enables visitors to experience and understand the company’s corporate culture.
