How two brothers turned their struggling family business into an international company

When they were young, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata believed that their company was worth fighting for. The company was established in the Hijikata family from Nagoya, Japan back in 1936 in 1936, the Hijikata family's casting iron foundry was famous for its extraordinary quality and precision. In the beginning of the year, however, it appeared that the future of the company was in doubt. Being the inheritors of the long-standing business, Kuni and Tomo knew that it was their responsibility to maintain their cast iron technique in the current.

At the time, both brothers were working at Toyota and Toyota Tsusho but they saw a potential in designing cast iron cookware meant to endure generations. each brother quit their jobs entirely to focus in the upkeep of the family-owned firm. Brothers trained in the foundry, as craftsmen before setting up the company in the year 2010. Vermicular was invented. The first time their cast iron pot hit the market, the demand shot up a whopping 15-month waitlist, largely due to the spread of news.

In the tenth decade, 10 years after 10 years later, the Vermicular team has set the goals of expanding globally. Now, they offer their products in the U.S., China, and further. In order to best convey the benefits of their cookware for foreign markets which aren't yet accessible, Vermicular has invested heavily in the creation of videos that will help increase public recognition. "Without the videos , we'd be facing an even more difficult time expanding our company," says Mark Hayashi director of Vermicular's U.S. Office. We talked with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to gain a greater idea of how Vermicular is moving into the world through video. Watch their video below as well as the full interview here.

"We often consider our video assets as being part of the product's branding and brand. Visuals are always more effective over writing, and this is true especially when it comes to cooking." Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office

     How did you come up with the idea that led to the creation of this item?    

Tomo: "I thought that we could utilize our company's knowledge of casting iron in order to produce enameled cast iron pans with lids that are suitable. There was nothing precedent for that process in Japan. It was clear that we'd need to invent the process our own.

To learn as much as possible, Kuni as well as I took a seat in the casting facility. Kuni transformed into the casting craftsman, and I went on to become a machine master. It took us 3 years, and over 10,000 iterations to create an idea that was able to meet our goals."

     Was the procedure for creating your brand's image in Japan?    

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been the foundation of our marketing and communication strategies. The telling of stories about our distinctive heritage and our commitment to excellence was a hit with the audience and allowed us to feel in touch with them on an even deeper level.

We started by crafting ideas for videos based on our mission statement for our company. If we're creating a branding story video or how-to product videos, we must ensure that the videos depict the persona we're. At the start the company, we were not focusing so heavily on sales on a short-term basis rather, we focused on increasing customer satisfaction by taking an overall perspective."

     What has been your biggest issue in creating Vermicular? Vermicular brand in other countries than Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was communication. The first time we launched Vermicular in 2010, we had to overcome a number of challenges. Vermicular brand in 2010. We've had the brand's presence Japan however, none of it could be transferred outside of Japan. All we needed to create was the Vermicular brand completely from scratch that was a challenge and demanded long-lasting preparations."

     Was the first place you invested when looking to establish the international recognition of your brand?    

     Your content that you've branded is breathtaking. What is the process that led you to this quality?

Mark: "We collaborated with an agency for advertising to design the film for our company and spent a lot of time discussing the overall style and feel of lighting as well as wardrobe and casting, and food style. We also spent quite some time talking about the development of storyboards for video which served as our primary guidance throughout the whole process, even the day of shooting.

There are so many individuals involved on the set, there's almost always unexpected setbacks resulting in delays in the beginning. Making a well-constructed storyboard, which includes a clear shoot schedule helps establish specific expectations. It also helps everyone on the production to focus in the identical direction. Not only did our storyboards give us a clear plan for our hectic shoot days and helped us avoid post-production woes. I think this step is crucial for smaller companies with a limited budget."

     Which are the top areas to place your money to produce in order to keep growing?    

Mark: "Our hypothesis was making a promotional video with a video series that explains the best way to allow our customers to experience the maximum capabilities of our induction cooktop. According to our brand statement, our mission does not end when customers purchase our cooking equipment.

We want to see our customers enjoy cooking with the Vermicular cookware for the longest time possible. It is clear that there are benefits to these how-to-videos as they aid in the education of cookware owners, but they also help the customers gain a better understanding of how to use the cookware."

     Video is a key element in establishing an image for Vermicular worldwide?    

Mark: "Definitely! There's lots. Video content is an expansion of the brand as well as our products. Although we may not have the most budget, but we do devote a lot of time to determine the best structure and narrative of videos that will best tell the story of our brand. Videography is always better than wordsand is especially applicable to cooking."

HTML0 What's the purpose for using the HTML0 format to embed and host your video content?

Mark: "We prefer for various reasons, the primary reason being the flexibility to modify the capabilities of video embedding. A clutter-free, ad-free user experience guarantees seamless user interactions across the site and safeguards the "touch and sensation" of our name.

Also, it helps us share documents between our teams in Japan as well as the U.S. and Japan, which makes it easier to obtain feedback even if we're located 5,000 miles away."

     What's the next stage to Vermicular?    

Kuni: "More innovative products are on the way and we'll continue to increase our range of products across the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently strategizing our video content strategy that ranges from branded video content produced by various chefs and producers, as well as explanation videos and how-to-videos that constitute our primary assets for the future."

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