Creative Advertising Assignment for Masters Degree in Manchester Metropolitan University.
Task: Introduce Ted Baker to a country of your choice.
Challenges:
Challenges:
Ted Baker is continuing its plan for global growth, with new locations opening in China, Japan, the USA and the Middle East – each time taking a little bit of Britain with them. When opening a new location in another country, it’s not easy for a brand like Ted to translate its unique cultural flavour. It’s your job to bring its British sense of humour and unique approach to fashion to another country – which country is up to you. Your campaign will need to activate potential shoppers to visit Ted Baker stores and Ted Baker online; interact with the brand; and most importantly, to shop and share.
Ted’s Tokyo Bakery
I. Inspiration: Japan’s ‘Engrish’ culture + Kawaii Culture (the Japan ‘cute’ culture)
II. Proposition: To integrate the ‘Engrish’ culture into Ted Baker stores in Japan.
III. Brief of the idea:
It is a common stereotype that the proficiency of English in Japan is limited, this often results in direct translations from English to Japanese which end up being hilarious. For example: The Japanese word “kirei” has multiple meanings in the Japanese language; it can either have the meaning of clean or beautiful. When translating into English, sometimes the wrong meaning is translated into English, resulting in this hilarious consequence as shown below. ‘Please use the rest room beautifully’, when it is supposed to be ‘Please use the rest room cleanly’.
It is a common stereotype that the proficiency of English in Japan is limited, this often results in direct translations from English to Japanese which end up being hilarious. For example: The Japanese word “kirei” has multiple meanings in the Japanese language; it can either have the meaning of clean or beautiful. When translating into English, sometimes the wrong meaning is translated into English, resulting in this hilarious consequence as shown below. ‘Please use the rest room beautifully’, when it is supposed to be ‘Please use the rest room cleanly’.
I drew inspiration from this comedic cultural experience, and that is why I embraced the ‘Engrish’ of Japan and directly translated ‘Ted Baker’ to ‘teddy’ and ‘bakery’. I found greater significance after merging these two words, because to me, ‘Teddy’ draws reference to their ‘Kawaii’ culture and ‘Bakery’ to the UK’s traditional vintage bakeries. Combining ‘Teddy’ and ‘Bakery’, I introduce elements of both words into the store design. Ted Baker store will be built out of a design of a traditional baking oven. On each side of the ‘baking oven’ store, there will be a ‘teddy’ with a country flag. One being the Japanese flag and the other being the Union Jack. These two differing ‘teddies’ represent the merge of both cultures. The interior design of the store will be built using ‘Japan Chiharada House’ architecture concept.
Ted’s Tokyo Bakery will be placed in Shibuya street in Tokyo, Japan. This is because Shibuya is the fashion centre of Japan. Ted Baker can reach out to wider range of target audience.
