British heritage brand Hunter has launched a series of collaborations featuring today’s hottest young artists and designers around the world since Fall 2022.
In March 2023, Ripples was excited to participate with one of these activations at the Hunter Ginza Flagship Store in Tokyo, Japan. We spoke with Aki Hsegawa, from Hunter Japan Public Relations, about the program.
First of all, please tell us about the event.
To celebrate the launch of our 2023 Spring/Summer Travel Collection, we collaborated with BEY, a fantastic illustrator. Bey drew an emotive design celebrating Spring Travel for our window display, featuring a picture of Spring travel and a couple drawn in the Ukiyo-e style but dressed in the Hunter Travel Collection and traveling from the countryside of Japan to the streets of Tokyo and then to London. BEY also designed a limited-edition cherry blossom Hunter Logo, and her art series, “HUNTER HANAFUDA, which features Hunter items on traditional Japanese playing cards, was exhibited and sold.
What was your introduction to Ripples?
Hunter’s US team used the Ripple Maker at a pop-up event. It was shared with our entire team, and I thought it would be fantastic for Japan. I looked you up and was so excited to find that you had a Japanese office. I thought Ripples would be an excellent way to enhance our culture of hospitality.
Now this is one of our first big, fun events since the pandemic and I immediately thought of Ripples. We set up a Ripple Maker and milk foamer near the checkout counter, and our entire team became experts at making perfect milk foam.
How did you use the Ripple Maker for the Spring Travel Campaign Launch?
We printed lattes with our special-edition logo and the “Hunter Hanafuda” artwork for the customers that visited the store. Ginza is in a fantastic neighborhood so we had a great variety of customers – including tourists from overseas. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
Unfortunately, our sales were so high that week (especially since the Spring rainstorms brought us many customers looking specifically for our rain boots) so my team and I were so busy serving customers we didn’t have a chance to relax with a cup of coffee (laughs). When customers came in on a dreary day and I offered a hot coffee with a Ripples print, they were always very happy and had amazing feedback. It was a fantastic addition to our activation.
Now that your campaign is over – please share your impressions on the Ripple Maker and its impact on your activation.
I was surprised that anyone can operate the Ripple Maker with a single tap, and that it prints in just 10 seconds. It was an easy addition to our team’s flow, and it meant we could print BEY’s work even more beautifully than I had imagined. Next time I’d like to try adding custom messages or logo frames so we can create personalized drinks for our customers as well.
Hunter has a 160 year old history, but now that we’ve started these collaborations with young artists and creators new doors are opening up for us – we didn’t expect that but it’s fantastic. Ripples is a wonderful tool that uses the latest technology, that helps us make connections with new customers.
