SNS for manga artists from Futabasha Press

Manga publisher Futabasha recently established an SNS community for would-be manga artists. “Manga Yomou!” (“Let’s read manga!”) allows members to post their own original work on the site with the aim of getting a readership and feedback from peers. However there is more to this basic Myspace for manga concept, the editor of Futabasha’s monthly comic magazine Comic High will have a presence on the site, offering evaluations of select works and even picking some up for publication in the magazine.

The site, billed as “Social Networking for Comics,” is organized into sections for user-made “indies comics” and illustrations displayed by ranking, plus space for reviews of new published series, member blogs, and a BBS.

With mobile phone novels like Koizora (which started out as a user generated story on the mobile phone homepage portal site Maho no iRando) becoming best-sellers in print, publishers have done well to take notice of this reader trend. In fact, it was Futabasha that published the highly successful manga series of Koizora last year.

While it might seem odd to buy a hard version of something you’ve already read for free online, sales figures prove otherwise. One reason for this is that readers have been said to want a souvenir of the work in the form of a printed version because they felt part of its discovery and success. Through Manga Yomou, Futabasha dangles the carrot of published success to draw members, who will then become an established readership for whatever the publisher chooses to bring to print.

Tags: Koizora, magazines, manga, Publishing, SNS, UGC, Web 2.0
Category: Marketing & Ad Trends
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Press coverage

Japan Inc. - July 2008: Digital Shopping

Now that the Japan Inc. magazine has gone monthly once again, CScout Japan’s contributions will be ramped up as well. Look out for us every month in the Trends in Japan column, but be sure to check out the entire magazine as well by getting a subscription.

In the recent July 2008 issue of Japan Inc. we talk about the intersection of online shopping with the real world fitting room experience. Can an avatar try on an outfit the same way the user can?

If you have any suggested topics for our column, feel free to let us know!

Tags: Japan Inc., Retail, Web 2.0
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Press coverage
Other categories: Technology & Gadget Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends

Awaseba, the virtual fitting room

Online shoppers have been waiting for this: a software application that allows users to virtually try-on clothing and accessories on their personal computer. Now Avielon Co. is debuting one, called Awaseba.

The product is being marketed to online retailers, who can then feature the Awaseba service on their sites. A one-year rental fee for the program costs ¥630,000 (about $6,000).

In exchange, the service is free for the online shoppers, who create an account with an email address and password login. First-time users simply upload a photo of themselves onto the Awaseba server that will function as their virtual self inside the virtual fitting room.

Luxy Coordinate Collection, a junior ladies fast fashion retail site, and Upsold.com, a general “design goods” online shop, have already signed on to make the service live in the near future.

Some online sites, like stylewalker.com have avatar components for their own sites that users can dress, experimenting with different outfit combinations.

A program like Awaseba, however would not only allow users to use a real image of themselves but also maintain only one profile image for multiple shops.

We can hope (and expect) that this will catch on soon!

Posted by Rebecca Milner

Tags: Fashion, Retail, Web 2.0
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Technology & Gadget Trends
Other categories: Marketing & Ad Trends, Press coverage

Uniqlo continues into digital territory

Surely no stranger to digital integration with shopping and branding, casual fashion (and T-Shirt innovator) Uniqlo is now working directly with web and mobile companies to further brand themselves as modern and hip.

Right now Uniqlo is offering special Google-branded goods to selected users who install the Uniqlo button for the Google Toolbar. Products range from keitai straps to special Google bags.

Japanese brand Cecile may have launched their way into Second Life, but Uniqlo has taken a practical approach to dressing up avatars in an SNS that people actually use! The mobile game-centered virtual community Mobage Town developed by DeNA has been an enormous success in Japan, and now users can dress their avatars in Uniqlo fashions with specialized backdrops. The campaign started on March 4th and continues until April 6th.

To celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the decidedly analog Shonen Sunday and Shonen Magazine mangas, Uniqlo is releasing classic character t-shirts on a gradual basis. As usual, the web interaction is engaging, and the interface quite similar to the touchscreen displays they utilize in the Harajuku UT store.

Of course, one of the best showcases of Uniqlo’s enthusiasm for the web is the “blog part” and masterful viral campaign piece Uniqlock (below).

Tags: Google, Mobage Town, Mobile, Uniqlo, Web 2.0
Category: Fashion & Lifestyle Trends, Marketing & Ad Trends, Technology & Gadget Trends
Other categories: Press coverage