Two brothers transformed their family's struggling business into the world's most recognized brand

When they were young children, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata were aware that the family company was worthy of fighting for. Founded in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936 The Hijikata family's casting iron foundry was known for its meticulous precision. In the beginning of the aughts its future uncertain. As the heirs of the long-standing company, Kuni and Tomo knew that it was their responsibility to preserve their casting iron craft intact.

In the early days, both brothers were employed at Toyota and Toyota Tsusho however, they saw an opportunity to design cast iron cookware that would be passed down through generations. So, the brothers quit their full-time jobs to go completely focused on the preservation of the family business. They were trained at the bottom of the foundry as artisans then, in the year 2010, Vermicular began to take shape. Their first cast iron pot went on the market, it was so high that they had to create a 15-month backorder, fueled largely by enthusiastic word of mouth.

A decade later, Vermicular is now a decade old. Vermicular team has set its sights on global expansion, currently offering their goods in the U.S., China, and beyond. To best communicate the value of their cooking equipment to the foreign markets that aren't yet available, Vermicular has invested heavily in the creation of videos that promote their products. "Without the videos we'd have a tougher to expand our operations," says Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office. We caught up with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to get a better understanding of Vermicular's approach to going global by using video. Check out their video above, and then read the entire interview here.

"We always think of our video assets as serve as part of the brand and products. Video is always more efficient over writing, and this is true especially in the realm of cooking."   Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of U.S. Office

 How did you come up with this product?

Tomo: "I thought that we could make use of our company's cast iron expertise to create enameled cast iron pots that have lids perfectly fitted. However, there was no precedent of this process in Japan. We were aware that we'd be required to create it ourselves.

To master everything we could Kuni and I sat on the floor of the foundry. Kuni became a casting craftsman and I became a precise machine master. We needed three years, and 10,000 times before we came up with a concept that met our goals."

 What was the procedure for establishing your brand within Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been at the core of our marketing and communication strategies. Telling stories of our unique tradition and dedication to quality was a hit with our customers and helped us connect with the audience on a deeper scale.

We began by creating ideas for videos around our mission statement for our brand. When we create a story about our brand video or how-to-product videos, we make sure the contents represent who we are. At the start, we weren't focusing too much on short-term sales and instead focused on maximizing the customer's satisfaction from a longer-term standpoint."

 What's been the biggest hurdle in building the Vermicular brand beyond Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the barriers to communication. When we first launched Vermicular in 2010, we've had a lot of challenges. Vermicular brand in 2010 We've built a strong brand presence in Japan but none of that transferred over outside Japan. The only thing we had to do was start creating the Vermicular brand completely from scratch that was a challenge and demanded lengthy preliminary preparations."

 What was the first place you invested to help build your brand internationally?

 The content you have created for your brand is clearly beautiful. What is the process that brought you to this level of quality?

Mark: "We collaborated with an branding agency for the branding video and spent a lot of time deciding on the look and feel' lighting, the casting and clothing and food design. Additionally, we took a long time working back and forth about creating videos storyboards, which were the mainstay throughout the process including the shoot days.

With so many people involved in the shoot, there's often unexpected setbacks that result in onset delays. Making a well-constructed storyboard with a thorough shoot schedule helps establish the right expectations and help guide all involved in the shoot to follow the same direction. Our storyboards not only provide a detailed plan for the shoot and helped us avoid post-production woes. It's crucial for smaller companies who have limited funds."

 How are you spending the money you earn in order to continue expanding?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was the creation of a product-related video with a series of how-to videos to enable our customers to enjoy the full capabilities of the induction cooker. In our mission, our goal doesn't end when customers make an order for our cookware.

Our desire is to have our customers enjoy cooking with the Vermicular cookware as long as possible. There are clear benefits of these instructional videos as they aid in the education of owners but also help shoppers have a better understanding about the use of the cooker."

 Did video aid in creating a name for Vermicular globally?

Mark: "Definitely! There's a lot. Our videos as an extension of our branding and products. We may not have the most budget, but we spend long hours trying to determine the narrative and structure of videos that will are most effective in telling our story. Visuals always work better over the written word, and this is especially relevant in the field of cooking."

 What is the reason why we use to host and embed your videos?

Mark: "We prefer for various reasons, the primary being 's customizable features to embed video. The clutter-free and ad-free experience ensures seamless user experiences throughout the website and protects the "touch and feel' of our brand.

It also allows us to exchange draft contents between our teams in the U.S. and Japan, so it's easy to get feedback even if we're located 5,000 miles away."

 What's the next step to be the next step for Vermicular?

Kuni: "More innovative products are in the works and we'll be expanding our range of offerings across both the U.S. and across various Asian countries."

Mark: "We are currently strategizing our video content strategy that ranges from branded content with various partnered chefs and farms to product explainer videos as well as how-to-videos which will become our valuable assets over the next few years."