7-1 | Looking at the 'Turning Points' of Successful Companies - What Happened the Moment They Changed Their Decisions? (1/3)

In the chapters up to this point,
we have organized the reasons why judgment becomes distorted
and the design for making judgment easier,
based on theory and practical experience.

In Chapter 7, we will shift our perspective slightly
and list examples of 'where' currently successful companies changed their decisions,
identifying those turning points.

Rather than analysis,
this is a chapter for 'sensing commonalities'.

① Case studies of success through changing naming

Naming is not about the 'content' but a 'judgment device'.

Naming is not a matter of taste.
For the customer,

it is a device that determines
whether they can understand it in an instant

and whether they can make a decision.

Oi Ocha

This product was originally sold as 'Sencha' (green tea).
However, by changing it to the call-out style name 'Oi Ocha' (Hey, Tea),
• Life scenes could be immediately imagined
• It became approachable
• It required no explanation

and sales grew significantly.

The content has hardly changed.
What changed was the ease of judgment.

Hana Celeb

Previously, it was sold under functional descriptive names
such as 'Moisture Tissue'.

By changing the name to 'Hana Celeb' (Nose Celeb),
• It is instantly clear what the product is for
• The state after use can be imagined
• It can be judged by experience rather than function

As a result, consumers
immediately understood the value of being 'gentle on the nose,'
which led to purchases.

Purchasing is made of a three-layer structure

Purchasing consists of the following three-layer structure:
• Lower layer: Awareness
• Middle layer: Interest
• Upper layer: Demand (Purchase)

Many products
only increase explanations for the middle and upper layers.

However, what happens with a naming change
is breaking through the bottom layer of 'awareness' in an instant.

A famous executive I know, when placing a TV commercial,
instructed that the company name be written in Katakana.
Why use 'Katakana' when the English name fits well?
When asked, they said that the company name is only displayed for 1 or 2 seconds in a TV commercial,
so they used 'Katakana' to make it easier to recognize.
This is truly a management decision conscious of 'awareness'.

② Case studies of success through changing the target

Workman

The Workman case
shows the essence of 'changing the target' very clearly.

Originally,
the products were completely for professionals.

However, a newly appointed executive
noticed that they were selling in unexpected ways.

• Non-slip shoes made for doctors/nurses → Seniors
• Cold-weather gear for mid-winter work → Riders
• Aprons for the service industry → Home gardeners

In other words,

the person it was made for and
the person who actually judged and bought it
were different.

At this point, Workman

re-examined 'who is buying it,'
and carved it out to redesign it.
That resulted in

• Workman Joshi (Workman Girls)
• Workman Plus
They did not change the products.

They changed the subject making the decision.

What they changed
was simply incorporating apparel store elements into the store design

because it was for general consumers.

③ Case studies of success through changing the way of selling

Huis Ten Bosch

Huis Ten Bosch had weak customer attraction due to its location.
The evaluation was that 'once is enough'.

Therefore, triggered by a business acquisition,
they steered away from customer attraction toward designing reasons for repeat visits.
• Changing the flowers that bloom every month
• No flowers in winter → Illuminations
• Functional separation of paid and free areas
• Added villa areas
• Marketed its size as being the same as Monaco, turning it into a demonstration experiment site

This is not facility expansion.

It is a shift in judgment design

where they did not fix the reason for coming to just one thing.

④ Case studies of success through changing the advertising tone

Universal Studios Japan

USJ,
in its Christmas season TV commercials,
moved away from the conventional

'the illuminations are beautiful'

functional appeal.

Instead, what they captured was
a moment of emotion.

A father and his elementary school daughter watching the night parade
The father's inner voice:
'How many more times can I come here with you like this?'

This is not persuasion.
It is an advertisement that makes the judgment process unnecessary.

What the turning points have in common

What all these cases have in common is not
• Improving something
• Adding functions

It is simply

making judgment easier.

Chapter 7 is not a chapter for 'understanding' but for 'internalizing'.

This chapter
is not a chapter for learning theory.

It is a chapter for you to feel
'it's all the same structure'.

And in the next chapter,
we will break down the design of judgment into reproducible models.

Next,
I will explain why companies that changed their company names and ideas survived
- Where do companies move when the market shrinks? -