How two brothers turned their family's struggling business into a global name

When they were children, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata knew that their family firm was worth fighting for. Established in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936, the Hijikata family's foundry made of cast iron was known for its meticulous precision. In the beginning of the aughts its future at risk. Being the inheritors of the long-running company, Kuni and Tomo knew they had the responsibility to ensure that their iron casting craftsmanship alive.

The two brothers had stable jobs in Toyota as well as Toyota Tsusho, but they saw a potential in the design of cast iron cookware meant to be passed down through generations. So, each brother quit their full-time jobs to go full-time into saving the family's company. Brothers trained on the floor of the foundry, as craftsmen, and in 2010, Vermicular was born. When their first cast iron pot hit the market, demand racked up a whopping 15 months of backorders, which was fueled by the enthusiastic spread of word.

10 years on, more than a decade later, the Vermicular team has set its targets for expansion across the globe, currently offering their goods in markets like the U.S., China, as well as beyond. In order to best convey the benefits of their cooking equipment to the emerging markets around the world, Vermicular has invested heavily in the creation of videos that spread the word. "Without the videos we'd have a much tougher to expand our operations," says Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of U.S. Office. We caught up with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to find out more about Vermicular's plan to go global by using video. See their stories above and read the full interview here.

"We often think of our video assets as become an extension of our products and brand. Visuals are always more effective than the written word. And this is especially true in the realm of cooking."   Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office

 How did you develop this product?

Tomo: "I thought that we could use our firm's cast iron expertise to create enameled cast iron containers that have lids perfectly fitted. But there was no precedent of this process in Japan. We knew then that we'd have to pioneer it ourselves.

To master everything that we could about the subject, Kuni and I apprenticed on the floor of the foundry. Kuni turned into a casting craftsman and I became a precise equipment specialist. It took us 3 years and more than 10,000 iterations to develop a design that delivered on our goal."

 How did you go about establishing your brand in Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been at the basis of our communication and marketing strategies. Sharing stories that reflect our distinct tradition and dedication to quality was a hit with our customers and made us feel more connected to the audience on a deeper scale.

The first step was to create 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. In the beginning, we did not focus too long on the sales that would be made in the near future and instead focused on maximizing customer satisfaction from a long-term perspective."

 What has been your biggest issue in creating Vermicular? Vermicular brand beyond Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the difficulty in communicating. When we first launched the Vermicular brand in the year 2010 and have established a substantial branding presence in Japan but none of that was transferred to outside Japan. It was a matter of developing the Vermicular brand from scratch which was challenging and required intensive preliminary preparations."

 Which was your first investment to help build global recognition for your brand?

 Your content that you've branded is evidently stunning. What is the process that brought you to this quality?

Mark: "We worked with a branding agency for the branding video and we spent quite some time agreeing on the 'look and feel' of lighting, the casting and clothing as well as food design. We also spent quite some time working back and forth on crafting video storyboards which became the primary guideline throughout the whole process, which included the shoot days.

Since there are many different people during the shooting, there are the possibility of unexpected setbacks, which can result in delays at the onset. Making a well-constructed storyboard that includes a detailed shoot schedule helps establish the right expectations and help guide all working on the shoot to focus in the identical direction. Not only did our storyboards serve as a clear map of shooting days that were hectic, it also helped us save us from post-production headaches. This step I believe is especially important for smaller brands with a limited budget."

 Which are the best places to invest your production dollars as you continue to expand?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was creating a product video along with a video series on how-to enable our customers to enjoy the maximum capabilities of our induction cookware. As stated in our brand mission, our goal doesn't come to an end once customers have made an order for our cooking equipment.

Our goal is to make sure that our customers be able to cook with Vermicular cookware for to the maximum extent feasible. We've noticed clear results of these instructional videos as they not only help educate the cookware owners, but also aid the shoppers get a better grasp of the usage of the cookware."

 Video has helped in establishing an image for Vermicular globally?

Mark: "Definitely! A lot. The way we think about our video content as an extension of our brand and products. While we might not have the largest budget, but we spend long hours trying to determine the story and the format of the videos that most effectively tell the story of our brand. Visuals always work better than words, and this is especially relevant in the field of cooking."

 Why does the team employ HTML0 the HTML0 format to embed and host your videos?

Mark: "We prefer for various reasons, with the most important is the customizable capabilities to embed video. It is clutter-free and free of ads. allows seamless user experience throughout the website and protects the 'touch and feel' of our brand.

It also allows us to exchange the drafts of our content between teams in the U.S. and Japan, which makes it easier to obtain feedback, even though we're 5,000 miles apart."

 What's coming up in the future for Vermicular?

Kuni: "More innovative products are being developed and we'll be expanding our product offerings in both the U.S. and across various Asian nations."

Mark: "We are currently strategizing our video content strategy that includes everything from brand-name content with various partnered chefs and farms to product explaining videos, as well as instructional videos that are going to be our most valuable assets over the next few years."