Kaori Fujiwara: Decupling the Sales of "Frugra"

Asahi Glass. I worked there for five years before moving to an advertising agency, and after that, I was in charge of "Volvic" at the Japanese subsidiary of a French company called Danone.

After working at foreign-affiliated companies for about four years, I started wanting to do work that broadcasts to the world from a Japanese company. Calbee happened to be recruiting at the time, so I joined in 2011.

In my first year, I was in a new business venture, entering a market similar to "SOYJOY" or "CalorieMate." It was a new product called "Hitokuchi Bizen."

Yes, it ended after just one year. Matsumoto said, "This isn't a product that will grow no matter how many years we work at it, so we're stopping." I had joined the company specifically for that (laughs).

So, when I was wondering what to do and facing "in-house unemployment," the head of the cereal business said to me, "Chairman Matsumoto is currently pushing a project to grow this, so why don't you try Frugra?" This was the project to "take Frugra's sales from 3 billion to 10 billion."

Matsumoto's observation was that the total cereal market in the U.S. is 1.2 trillion yen. Dividing by the population, they eat 4,000 yen worth per person per year.

At the time, the total market in Japan was 25 billion, and people were only eating 250 yen worth per person per year. Cereal was the only thing with such a massive gap in consumption between Americans and Japanese, and he felt that was strange. Focusing on this, he believed the Japanese market should easily reach about 100 billion.

Since we were aiming for a 10% share of that, he would say, "It'll be easy" (laughs).

But instead of suddenly saying "20 billion," he would say "do 10 billion," giving a goal that felt reachable if we worked hard. It made me feel like "maybe I can do it." When I looked at the market data, I realized that in the first place, there weren't many stores that even put it on their shelves.

It was selling quite well in the stores that did carry it, so I thought if we could get it properly stocked, we could reach 10 billion.

We reached 9.5 billion in about two years. Just when I thought, "Ah, I can see 10 billion now," he said, "Next is a 20 billion project" (laughs).

Kellogg's products. As a global company, they have a very long history with cereal, a solid product development system, and a wide lineup. Consequently, we were losing out on shelf space.

When I first started, it was almost entirely Kellogg's, and how to break into that is still a challenge today.

Initially, to create an environment where customers would say they "want" it, we put a lot of effort into PR. We got newspapers and TV to cover it to build recognition for the "granola" category. Once it became recognized, both the stores and the company's sales staff started thinking, "We have to stock this," and it spread little by little.

Next, we increased the number of new product items and pushed forward bit by bit (laughs).

It was really hard at first. Everyone joins the company because they love snacks, so they didn't eat Frugra that much. It had been that way for about 20 years since its launch in 1991.

Items like Choco Crunch & Banana seem to be popular with children. Everyone loves chocolate.

Actually, 40% of purchasers are men. Surprisingly, it seems popular with men living away from their families for work, or men whose wives don't put much effort into breakfast (laughs).

That's true. I actually want to recommend it to older men.

No, I hadn't. Coming here, my concept of marketing changed 180 degrees. Matsumoto's stance was, "We need to grow it to 10 billion. But don't spend any money" (laughs).

Normally, you run commercials and see how much you can grow your share, right? It was completely different from what I learned at the French company. I was like, "Wait, what is this person saying?" (laughs).

But working together, I learned so much about how there are ways to grow this much without spending money.

Compared to TV commercials, PR—where public relations introduces the product to the media to get it covered—doesn't cost money.

Beyond that, things like in-store tastings and getting single-serving sampling packs onto milk delivery routes, for example, are things people are very happy to do.

Yes. On the PR side, when the media picked up the image of it being a light breakfast for people working in offices, it was more effective than commercials.

Looking at the domestic market, Matsumoto calculated that since snacks were already at a saturation point, as the number of children decreases and the elderly increase, things that are good for health would grow.

I thought, "Is it really this painful?" When the numbers are bad and there's a gap with the plan, the pressure is immense. The CFO directly asks when the numbers will recover. I can't say "someone please help" anymore, so I'm standing in the line of fire.

I've had very good experiences at this company, and I have a desire to contribute more. Also, I have a vague feeling that a good time will eventually come.

Yes. I think I can work hard even when it's painful because I can see the future of the product and the potential of the market.

Fortunately, it's easy to take time off, so I use the time I'm given to go on trips. I went to Sicily in 2018. Taking a long break once a year allows me to work hard for the whole year.

Matsumoto's advice on how to take time off has been very helpful. First, divide the vacation into three parts. If you take nine days, the first three days you'll still be dragging a bit of your previous work to wrap it up, the middle three days you think of nothing, and the last three days you gradually ease back in to return to work. We have to become good at taking time off.

I think everyone is probably thinking, "Why her?" (laughs).

I was allowed in from the Department of Political Science. During my first and second years at Hiyoshi, I didn't find studying very interesting, but Professor Tamura's law classes were interesting. So, even though the seminar looked tough, I thought I'd give it a try.

The Tamura seminar was one that did a lot of debating, and Ms. Ishihara, you were always logically defeating the opposing team.

On the other hand, even when I was called on in a debate, I would pass it to the kid in the team who could talk the most, and the professor often got angry at me, saying, "You should be the one speaking." I was really bad at speaking.

The Christmas party, I think. Even though it was after the bubble burst, it was a very "bubbly" party. "Play hard too" was the professor's policy.

But it was fun. That might be how he builds loyalty among the seminar students.

Yes. I feel I met people I can be friends with for a long time. Even if I go to an alumni meeting and see a senior for the first time in 10 years, the conversation flows naturally.

Yes. You can associate without any vested interests.

A corporate executive I met at a recent alumni meeting is someone I normally wouldn't be able to meet, but after exchanging business cards, he immediately said he would introduce someone to me for business. Because I'm a junior from the seminar, he was very kind despite being extremely busy, and I'm very grateful for that.

Mr. Forest is amazing too. Being the manager of the Keio High School baseball team and making it to the spring and summer Koshien while working as a teacher at the Yochisha Elementary School.

In university, you played tennis in a circle, didn't you?

Yes, a hard-court tennis circle called Sunny. We made it to the finals of the tournament for all circles within Keio.

My high school was a prefectural school in Saitama called Urawa Ichijo (Urawa First Girls' High School), and I was aiming for the Inter-High in soft tennis.

I end up doing things with all my might. By creating some kind of goal.

Actually, before you joined Calbee, I felt like you were a bit lost in your career, so I really feel that you've finally found the right place.

Currently, the business in China is growing significantly, but I think we can grow in even more countries overseas. So, rather than other products, I want to grow Frugra more.

Matsumoto has retired as Chairman of Calbee, but while he was in office, I was following his instructions, so I didn't need to think much. Therefore, I've started thinking a lot for myself now, and I think my experiences so far have been good for my own growth.

That's right. It feels like everything I learned from Matsumoto is stored inside me, and I'm drawing from that stock as I work.

The domestic market has been a bit stagnant in 2017 and 2018, so I'm preparing to drastically change our strategy for 2019.

At Calbee, marketing handles capital investment. We say, 'Based on these reasons, we will sell this much, so please allow this amount of capital investment.'

Even when faced with opposing opinions from various angles, I say, 'I absolutely commit to this.'

In those moments, it won't pass unless I change my persona (laughs). I also consider the production facilities. We currently have a Frugra export factory in Kyoto for the Chinese market, but we have to keep increasing production efficiency, so the pressure is immense.

However, the profit-generating side—making money—is fun, so it's very rewarding.