Cinderella on high heels in Japan

(Photo © CBS Press)

By Claus Rosenkrantz Hansen

The 2012 cinderella-smile.com campaign, designed by a newly-established Ecco Japan management team in the attempt to change Ecco’s image in Japan, is still available for viewing.

The Cinderella aspect should be taken quite literally. With plentiful references to Cinderella, the campaign was much like the fairy tale, replete with a throne, well-dressed admirers and Japanese women smiling shyly as they tried on the glass slipper as though they might perhaps win the prince and live happily ever after.

Westerners thought the campaign was adorable, or kawaii, as it’s called in Japanese.

But perhaps just a tad too adorable. At least that’s what Ecco Japan’s Danish management thought when marketing manager Fumie Miyaki initially presented the campaign to them. Understanding how a cutesy Cinderella campaign could generate a needed image change for Ecco Japan was a cultural challenge for the Danish management team.

Miyaki refused to budge, however. She insisted on the campaign. As a Japanese person, she both knew the Japanese consumer and how important kawaii is. Her insistence and cultural knowledge convinced the Danish management team to give the campaign the go ahead. The campaign then became a reality. 

Get your team members on board
Assistant Professor Lisbeth Clausen from the Department of Intercultural Communication and Management does research on multicultural teams and her new book, Team Dynamics and Diversity: Japanese Corporate Experiences, examined a variety of multicultural teams to find out what made them perform.

She explains that the Ecco case is an example of how resistance occurs within a team and how that opposition can act as a disincentive, inhibiting team performance. The Ecco case also demonstrates, however, how resistance can be surmounted.

“The Ecco case shows what happens when a team encounters resistance that must be negotiated internally before it can be overcome. In Ecco’s case it was cultural differences and the natural resistance to change that originally challenged the team’s ability to perform. The resistance could be prevailed over because the management analysed the resistance and made an effort to understand it, and also because the Danish CEO was keen to get the individual team members on board,” explains Clausen.

The clash between local and global
Clausen emphasises that the Danish director was facing a clash between local and global considerations. On the one hand, it was necessary to show respect for the newly started Japanese team and also to get team members to buy into being part of the team.

“The preliminaries especially involved getting individual team members to look beyond their own professional areas so everyone was working toward the same goal. If Ecco’s image in Japan were to change, it was important for everyone to focus on more than just their local expertise,” says Clausen. 

On the other hand, Ecco’s global brand, which Ecco Japan was expected to adhere to closely, also had to be considered. In many ways, Ecco’s global image appears more streamlined and clear-cut than the fairy tale campaign Ecco Japan ended up running. 

“The Danish management was able to veer away from global alignment in the recognition that the campaign would not appeal to the Japanese target group. Consequently the initially culturally based resistance within the team was transformed into an active resource for the team. Management must be given credit for this development. By identifying with the local team’s roots, management turned it into a strength for the team,” believes Clausen.

Danish teams with HR support deserve praise
Teams and teamwork are quite commonly found in most companies and teamwork is well-known as conducive to innovation in companies.

But more emphasis must be placed on supporting teams organisationally. This is Clausen’s overall message to companies that choose to work with teams.

“Working with organisational units like teams only makes sense if you support them and you make sure you recognise a team’s strengths and weaknesses. The influence of teams receiving HR support is especially prevalent in Danish teams. Danish companies are able to verbalise conflicts and disagreements and that’s beneficial for team dynamics and team performance.”