This episode explains strategies for acquiring new customers and re-engaging former customers by analyzing successful marketing approaches of two popular Japanese snack brands: Baby Star Ramen and Apollo chocolate.
It emphasizes that increasing sales involves either attracting more customers or boosting the average spend per customer. It illustrates how creating new uses for a product, like Baby Star Ramen being used as a cooking ingredient, can expand its appeal beyond its original purpose. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of revitalizing dormant or lost customers by generating brand recall through initiatives such as unexpected collaborations, as seen with Baby Star Ramen's ventures into sneakers and ice cream.
Finally, the Apollo chocolate case demonstrates how understanding new customer contexts and adapting product features—like Apollo My Style's larger size, reduced sugar, and re-sealable packaging for adults—can successfully bring back lapsed consumers and maintain product relevance over time.