Once when asked by his boss to introduce a Japanese product to the American market, Jerry Della Femina reportedly announced that he had the perfect slogan for the product launch: “from the people who brought you Pearl Harbor!”  His boss fired him.  Jerry went on to become an advertising legend pioneering dozens of famous campaigns for many companies (one for a Japanese car company was the most memorable –remember Joe Isuzu?)! 

But did you know that five decades ago, Japan’s name was synonymous with crummy mass-produced products of the shoddiest quality?  That’s right.  And I can personally attest to this.  When I was a kid, my friends and I would actually make fun of the transistor radios that you could count on breaking in a week.  Japan’s goods were a worldwide joke.  Fifty years later this is hard to believe because today the Japan brand makes us think the exact opposite.  Sony!  Toyota!  Quality! 

It seems like we’re talking about two, completely different brands here.  But really we’re not.  You, your company, your country has got one brand!  It is unique.   It can’t be two completely different things.  You can neglect your brand or misunderstand it, but you’ve got a brand like it or not and it has qualities that you need to discover and promote. 

So, Tantillo, what happened with Japan? 

I’m not a manufacturing guru and never play another expert’s game, but I will say this: Japan re-discovered its core brand features and then learned to promote the hell out of them!  Japan had always cared about the details and had a tradition of the highest quality hand craftsmanship and metalwork going back centuries –think the Samurai sword!  Point is, that once they applied these high standards to making cars and later to high tech where attention to quality and details really matter, Japan became a world beater!  In other words, they listened to their brand and we eventually bought that brand and, wow, how we bought it!  It’s easy when you keep marketing in mind