How two brothers helped turn their struggling family business an international company

When they were young, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata were convinced that their business could be worth fighting to protect. The company was established in the Hijikata family in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936. In 1936, the Hijikata family's cast iron foundry was known for its remarkable high-end and precise work. At the start of the year however, it appeared like the fate of the company was in doubt. Being the inheritors of the company's longstanding history, Kuni and Tomo knew it was their duty to keep their casting iron method in the present.

At the time, both brothers were working for Toyota as well as Toyota Tsusho but they saw a potential in designing cast iron cookware that would be used for many generations. Both brothers quit their positions entirely to focus in the upkeep of the family-owned company. Brothers were trained at the foundry, as crafters, and then set up the company in the year 2010. Vermicular was created. When their first cast iron pot came on the market, their demand shot up a whopping 15 months waitlist because of the widespread stories.

In the tenth decade, 10 years after 10 years later The Vermicular team has established as their goals to expand globally. They now offer product in their markets in the U.S., China, as well as other countries. In order to best convey the benefits of their cookware for foreign markets, which aren't yet readily available, Vermicular has invested heavily in creating videos that will help increase popularity. "Without the videos , we'd be facing an even tougher time growing the company's reach," says Mark Hayashi director of Vermicular's U.S. Office. We spoke to Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to have a clearer picture of how Vermicular is moving forward with video. You can watch their interview below and their full interview on this page.

"We often consider the video content we create as an element of the company's branding and branding. Video is always more efficient over written content, and this is true especially when it comes to cooking." Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office

How did you think of the idea that led to the creation of this item?

Tomo: "I thought that we could make use of our firm's knowledge of casting iron to make enameled cast iron pans that have lids that meet the requirements. There wasn't any precedents to this process in Japan. It was evident that we'd need to invent the method on our own.

In order to learn as much as I could, Kuni as well as I went to the casting plant. Kuni transformed into the casting craftsman, and I became the machine master. It took us three years, as well as more than 10,000 times to come up with the idea to meet our goals."

Was the procedure for developing your brand's image created to be done in Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been the basis of our communication and marketing strategies. Stories about the uniqueness of our heritage as well as our dedication to quality was popular with the public as it allowed us to be connected to them on more of a degree.

The first step was to brainstorm the ideas for our videos on our mission statement for our business. If we're creating a branding story video or how-to product videos, it is essential to ensure that the videos depict the character that we're. When we first started the business, we were not focusing too much on sales in a short-term manner, rather our focus was on increasing the satisfaction of our customers by looking at the view from a global perspective."

     What has been your biggest issue in creating Vermicular? The Vermicular brand is available in countries other that are not Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was communication. Our first attempt at launching Vermicular in 2010, we had to overcome several issues. Vermicular is a name that was launched in the year 2010. The brand has been around since Japan but none would be able to transfer it to outside Japan. The only thing we had to develop is the Vermicular brand entirely starting from scratch, and that was an enormous undertaking and required long-term preparations."

was the first thing you invested when looking for international recognition of your brand?

     The quality of your content that you've made is breathtaking. What was the procedure that led you to this level of quality?

Mark: "We collaborated with an agency that specialized in advertising to design the film for our firm and took a long talking about overall design and look of lighting and wardrobe and casting, and food style. We also spent quite some time discussing the creation of storyboards for video which were our guide through the entire process, and even during the shooting day.

There are so many individuals who are involved in the production There are always unplanned delay or setbacks that cause delays at the beginning. A well-crafted storyboard which includes a clear shoot schedule helps establish specific expectations. It helps all the people on the production to focus in the same direction. Not only did our storyboards give us a clear plan for our hectic shoot days and helped us stay clear of post-production problems. It is crucial for smaller companies that have a small budget."

 What are the most desirable areas to place your money for production in order to keep growing?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was to create a marketing video that included an instructional video series. The videos explain the best way to allow our customers to enjoy the best capabilities of our cooktop induction. According to our brand statement Our mission doesn't cease when consumers purchase our cooking equipment.

We would like to see our customers love cooking with the Vermicular cookware for as long a period of time that they are able to. It is clear that there are many benefits of these instructional videos since they help in the education of cookware proprietors, but they also help the customers gain a better understanding of how to use the cookware."

Video is the most important aspect in the creation of an image to Vermicular all over the world?

Mark: "Definitely! There's lots. Videos are an extension of the brand , as and our offerings. Although we may not have the biggest budget, however, we invest lots of time and effort to find the ideal structure and narrative of videos which best convey the story of our brand. Videography always is better than the written word and is particularly useful for cooking."

HTML0 What's the reason for using the HTML0 format to embed and host video content?

Mark: "We prefer for various reasons, the primary reason being that it is flexible enough to change the capability of embedding video. A clean, uncluttered user experience guarantees seamless user interactions across the site and safeguards the "touch and feel" of our name.

It also lets us share documents between our teams from Japan along with those in U.S. and Japan, making it much easier to receive feedback even if we're located 5,000 miles away."

What's next towards Vermicular?

Kuni: "More innovative products are on the in the pipeline and we'll be continuing to increase our range of products in both the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently developing our video content strategy that ranges from branded video created by various producers and chefs along with explain videos and instructional videos that constitute our primary sources for the coming years."

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