Two brothers transformed their struggled family business the world's most recognized company

Even as children, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata believed that their business was worth fighting for. Established at Nagoya, Japan back in 1936 in 1936, the Hijikata family's casting iron foundry was renowned for its extreme exactness. In the beginning of the aughts the future of the company was uncertain. Being the inheritors of the long-running business, Kuni and Tomo knew they had the responsibility to keep their cast iron craft in the present.

The two brothers had stable jobs with Toyota in Japan, as well as Toyota Tsusho, but they saw an opportunity in designing cast iron cookware designed to be passed down through generations. So, each brother quit their jobs full-time to go full-time into saving the family business. They were trained at the bottom of the foundry, as craftsmen before launching the company in 2010. Vermicular was created. The first time their cast iron pot was introduced to the market, it was so high that they had to create a 15-month backorder, fueled largely through enthusiastic word-of-mouth.

Ten years later more than a decade later, Vermicular is now a decade old. Vermicular team is setting their targets for expansion across the globe, currently offering their goods in markets like the U.S., China, and even beyond. To better communicate the worth of their cookware in emerging markets around the world, Vermicular has invested heavily in video to increase awareness. "Without the videos we'd be having a harder time expanding our business," says Mark Hayashi who is Vermicular's Chief of the U.S. Office. We spoke with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to learn more about Vermicular's strategy to expand globally with video. Check out their video above, and read the full interview here.

"We often believe that our videos should be an extension of our products and brand. Video is always more efficient over the written word. And that is particularly true in the realm of cooking."   Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of U.S. Office

 How did you come up with this product?

Tomo: "I thought that we could make use of our company's casting iron know-how to make enameled cast iron containers that have lids perfectly fitted. But there was no precedent of this process in Japan. It was clear that we'd have to pioneer this process ourselves.

To learn everything we could, Kuni and I apprenticed in the foundry. Kuni became a casting craftsman while I became a equipment master. It took us 3 years and over 10,000 iterations before we came up with a concept that delivered on our goal."

 How did you go about creating your brand's image in Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been the foundation of our communication and marketing strategies. The telling of stories about our distinctive tradition and dedication to quality was a hit with our customers and helped us connect with our customers on a more personal level.

The first step was to create videos that reflected our brand mission. Whether creating a brand story video or how-to-product videos ensure that our content reflects who we are. We began by saying that we weren't focusing too heavily on sales in the short term, but instead prioritized maximizing the customer's satisfaction from a longer-term perspective."

 What has been your biggest hurdle in building Vermicular? Vermicular brand outside of Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the language barrier. Since the launch of Vermicular in 2010, we've had a lot of challenges. Vermicular brand in the year 2010 We've built a strong brand presence in Japan but none of that could be transferred outside of Japan. The only thing we had to do was start developing the Vermicular brand from scratch this was difficult and took lengthy pre-launch preparations."

 Where did you invest first when looking to build the global recognition for your brand?

 The content you have created for your brand is clearly stunning. How did you achieve this level of quality?

Mark: "We partnered with the advertising agency for the brand video and we spent quite some time deciding on the look and feel' lighting, casting and wardrobe, and food design. We also spent quite some time working between us on the creation of video storyboards that became the primary guideline throughout the process including the day of shooting.

There are so many individuals involved on the set, there's the possibility of unexpected setbacks, which can result in onset delays. Having a solid narrative that is accompanied by a precise shoot schedule helps establish clear expectations and guide everyone involved in the shoot to follow the identical direction. The storyboards did not just become a precise map for the shoot but they also assisted us to avoid post-production woes. This step I believe is especially important for smaller brands that have a small budget."

 How are you spending your money to produce while you expand?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was creating a product video along with a series of how-to videos to allow our customers to experience the full capabilities of the induction cookware. According to our brand policy, we don't end when customers make purchases of our cooking equipment.

Our goal is to make sure that our customers be able to cook with Vermicular cookware for in the longest time is. We've noticed clear results from these how-to-videos as they not only help educate the owners but also help shoppers have a better understanding of the usage of the cookware."

 Has video assisted in building an image for Vermicular globally?

Mark: "Definitely! There's a lot. We always consider our videos to be the extension of our brand and products. We may not have the largest budget, but we're spending many hours trying to find the structure and narrative of videos that will best tell our story. Visuals always work better than words which is especially applicable to cooking."

 What is the reason why we utilize HTML0 to host and embed your videos?

Mark: "We prefer for various reasons, with the most important is the customizable capabilities to embed video. The clutter-free and ad-free experience provides seamless user experience across the site and safeguards the "touch and feel' of our name.

Also, it allows us to share documents between our teams in Japan and the U.S. and Japan, so it's easy to get feedback even if we're located 5,000 miles away."

 What's next in the future for Vermicular?

Kuni: "More innovative products are in the works and we will be expanding our range of offerings across the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently developing our strategy for video content that ranges from branded content that includes various chefs and farms to product explaining videos, as well as instructional videos that are going to be our most valuable assets over the next few years."