Two brothers helped transform the family's business that was struggling to a worldwide brand

As youngsters, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata were aware that the family company was worthy of fighting for. Founded by the Hijikata family in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936. The Hijikata family's foundry , made from cast iron was famous for its incredible precision. But by the early aughts the future of the company was unclear. As the heirs of the long-standing firm, Kuni and Tomo knew that it was their responsibility to preserve their casting iron craft intact.

Two brothers were employed in stable jobs at Toyota and Toyota Tsusho They saw an opportunity in the design of cast iron cookware that would endure generations. Each brother quit their normal work and dedicated themselves to helping save the family's business. Brothers trained on the floor of the foundry as artisans before launching the company in 2010. Vermicular was born. The first time their cast iron pan hit the market, it increased to a staggering 15 months backorder, fueled largely by the widespread spread of information.

Ten years later 10 years later and more than a decade after, the Vermicular team has set their targets for expansion all over the world, and is currently offering their goods in their home in the U.S., China, as well as beyond. To best communicate the advantages of their cookware to the emerging markets all over the world, Vermicular has invested heavily in videos to help promote their products. "Without our videos, we'd have a tougher time growth of our business," says Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office. We had a chat with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to get more information about the company's plan to grow internationally using video. You can watch their video here along with their full interview below.

"We often look at our video assets to be an extension of our business's brand and our products. Video is always more efficient in comparison to written words. And this is true especially when it comes to cooking." Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office

     What made you come up with this product?    

Tomo: "I thought that we could make use of the experience of our company in casting iron in order to create enameled cast iron vessels equipped with lids that are fitting. There was nothing precedent for this procedure in Japan. It was clear that we'd have to create this process entirely on our own.

In order to learn everything we could about the subject matter, Kuni and I were seated in the middle of the casting facility. Kuni was a skilled casting crafter and I became a precision equipment expert. It took us 3 years, and over 10,000 iterations to develop a design that met the requirements of our customers."

     How did you go in creating the image of your brand for Japan?    

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been at the basis of our communication and marketing strategies. Telling stories of our unique heritage and our commitment to excellence resonated with our target audience, allowing us to communicate to them on a more personal size.

The initial step was to develop video ideas around the mission of our company. If we are creating the branding story video or how to create product-related videos, ensure that our content reflects who we are. In the beginning the company didn't put all too much on sales in the short term, but instead prioritized maximizing the client's satisfaction in the long run."

     What was your most challenging obstacle when you were trying to build the Vermicular name beyond Japan?    

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the issue of communicating. Since the introduction of Vermicular in the year 2010, we've encountered a variety of issues. Vermicular's brand name was introduced in 2010, we've established a solid branding presence in Japan but nothing was ever transferred to outside Japan. The challenge was creating the Vermicular brand entirely by hand, which proved to be a challenge and required lengthy preliminary preparations."

     Where did you invest first to secure the brand's global reputation?    

     The content you have created for your company is beautiful. What process led you to this level?

Mark: "We worked with an agency that was responsible for branding the branding video, and we had a lot of time deliberating on the appearance and feel' of lighting, casting and wardrobe, and food design. We also spent a lot of time talking about creating video storyboards that became the mainstay during the entire procedure, which included shooting days.

There are so many individuals who are involved in the shoot, there's a high probability of unexpected delay or setbacks that cause delays from the start. A solid narrative that is accompanied by a precise shoot schedule helps set clear goals and guides everyone involved in the shoot to take the same course. The storyboards we created become a precise map of shooting the days we were rushing through, but they also saved us from post-production headaches. This is essential for small businesses with a limited budget."

     What are you doing with the money you earn when you grow?    

Mark: "Our hypothesis was making a promotional video with a set of instructional videos for our customers to be able to fully experience the capabilities of our induction cookware. Our policy is that we don't come to an end once customers have made an order with us for the cooking appliances we sell.

Our goal is to ensure that customers enjoy cooking with our Vermicular cookware for in the most time. There are numerous benefits of these videos that will not just help to educate owners of cookware, but help the customers in understanding how to operate the cookware."

     Video has helped in the creation of an image of Vermicular around the world?    

Mark: "Definitely! Many. We always consider our videos as an extension of our company's brand and our products. While we might not have the biggest budget, but we spend many hours trying to figure out the narrative and structure of videos that will most effectively tell the story of our branding. Videos can be much more effective than words alone. that is particularly true when it comes to cooking."

What are the reasons the team use to embed and host your video?

Mark: "We prefer for numerous reasons, with the most important one being the options to customize embedding video. A clutter-free, ad-free user experience ensures seamless user experiences on the web and preserves the "touch and feeling" of our brand.

Additionally, it permits us to collaborate on documents between our teams from the U.S. and Japan, making it easy to receive feedback even if we're 5,000 miles apart."

     What's the next step for Vermicular?    

Kuni: "More innovative products are being developed as we continue to broaden the range of items we offer across both the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently creating our video strategy media that encompasses everything from brand-name content that features various chefs and farmers to explaining videos, as well as instructional videos that are our primary assets in the next couple of years."

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