Two brothers set the course to turn the family enterprise that they fought to turn into the world's largest company

At the age of a child, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata believed that their business was worth fighting for. It was founded in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936. The Hijikata family's casting iron foundry was renowned for its exact accurate measurements. In reality, however, as it was in the early 90s, its future was uncertain. As the heirs of the company's history, Kuni and Tomo knew that their job was to guarantee that the casting iron was made is in its original state.

The two brothers were employed in Toyota and Toyota Tsusho However, they recognized an opportunity to create cast iron cookware that could pass down the generations. The brothers quit their regular jobs and dedicated all their time to help save the family owned business. Brothers worked at the foundry, as crafters, prior to establishing Vermicular in the year 2010. Vermicular began to grow. The first cast iron ceramic came on the market and there was such a demand that they had a 15-month backorder, fueled mostly by enthusiastic word-of-mouth.

Ten years and more than 10 years after The Vermicular team has defined goals for their growth across all over the world, that includes their own countries of China, the U.S., China, in addition to other countries. To communicate better the benefits of their kitchen appliances to markets that aren't in their home country of the U.S. that aren't yet available, Vermicular has invested heavily in creating videos to promote their products. "Without the videos we'd have no way to broaden the reach of our business," says Mark Hayashi Vermicular's Director of U.S. Office. We talked to Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to learn more about the plans of the company to expand internationally using video. Read their personal stories here as well as the complete interview they conducted below.

"We often think of the videos we make as the extension of our company's brand and product. Visuals are always more effective over written content, and that is especially true particularly in relation to cooking." Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of U.S. Office

What was the process behind developing the product?

Tomo: "I thought that we could use our firm's knowledge of casting iron in order to produce enameled cast iron pots which include lids that perfectly fit. But, there wasn't a precedent for that process in Japan. We realized that we'd have to pioneer this method by ourselves.

In order to learn all we could, Kuni and me sat in the locatery. Kuni transformed into a casting craftsman, and I changed into an expert in machine technology. The process took three years, and more than 10,000 iterations until we got the idea that was in line with our objectives."

HTML0What is the method to establish your own brand in Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been at the center of our communication and marketing strategies. The telling of stories about our unique heritage and our commitment to excellence has been a huge hit among our clients, and has helped us connect with them on a deeper level.

We began by creating videos that reflect our mission statement , which defines our company. Whether creating a brand story video or an instructional tutorial on how to make it, the content we produce reflects our beliefs and what we truly are. We started out by saying that we stated that we weren't focusing too much on short-term sales but rather on enhancing the satisfaction of our customers in the perspective of a long-term view."

     What's been the most difficult hurdle in the development of Vermicular? The Vermicular name isn't restricted to Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the issue of communicating. As we began Vermicular in the year 2010, we've encountered a variety of issues. The Vermicular brand was launched in 2010. has earned us a good brand name across Japan however we haven't seen any transfer across to Japan. The biggest challenge was creating the Vermicular brand entirely from scratch which was challenging and required an extensive preparatory phase prior to the launch."

HTML0What was the initial source of capital that you invested into to make your name internationally known?

     Your content and marketed is amazing. What was the procedure that led to this quality?

Mark: "We worked with an agency that created the film for our company and we spent lots of time deliberating the appearance and feel of lighting clothes and food style. Additionally, we took numerous hours in collaboration to develop video storyboards. These were central to the entire process, which included the day of shooting.

There are numerous individuals in the area when shooting, there's the occasional unanticipated setbacks which cause delays in the beginning. A well-constructed storyboard and an organized schedule for shooting helps set the right expectations for every person involved in shooting to work in the same direction. Storyboards don't just give an outline of our hectic shoot day and also help prevent any issues with post-production. Particularly essential for smaller businesses that have budgets that aren't as big."

Where do you invest your earnings to ensure that your growth continues to increase?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was that the development of a video related to our product with an instructional series could allow our customers to enjoy the best capabilities of our cooktop induction. We state that the goal of our company does not come to an end with the completion of the mission, once we have placed orders for kitchen appliances.

We'd like to see customers cooking with the Vermicular cookware in the most time. We've seen clear outcomes of the instructional videos since they aid in teaching the cookware's owners in addition to providing customers with a better understanding of the usage of cooking equipment."

Did video aid in the creation of Vermicular all over the globe?

Mark: "Definitely! Many. The way we think about the content we create for our videos is as the extension of our products as well as our branding. While we might not have the largest budget, but we spend hours trying to figure out the narrative and format of our video content to be most efficient in telling the tale of our brand. Videos work better than words. This is particularly relevant in the field of cooking."

What's the motives why this team uses the HTML0 format for embedding and hosting the video?

Mark: "We prefer for numerous reasons, with the most important factor being the possibility of modifying the options to embed video. A clutter-free, ad-free user experience offers seamless user experiences throughout the site , and also ensures the "touch and feel" of our logo.

Furthermore, it permits us to exchange drafts of documents between teams in the U.S. and Japan, which makes it simple to get feedback, even when the distance is hundreds in miles."

HTML0 What's next to be the next stage in the Vermicular process?

Kuni: "More inventive products are being created and we'll be continuing to broaden our offerings across both in the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently planning our strategy for videos that range that is brand-name content which includes a variety of chef and farmer videos, and educational videos that will eventually become our valuable assets in the future."

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