Guest Lecturer: Junichi Kamei（General Manager of the Marketing Promotion Department and Product Planning Department at Kikkoman Soy Foods Co., Ltd.）

On May 25, as part of the “Marketing Strategy” course (taught by Professor Kenichiro Kuroiwa), we invited Mr. Junichi Kamei, General Manager of the Marketing Promotion Department and Product Planning Department at Kikkoman Soy Foods Co., Ltd., to give a lecture on marketing strategies for soy milk.

In the first half of the lecture, Mr. Kamei discussed specific marketing activities and explained how Kikkoman Soy Foods, a top brand facing a shrinking soy milk market, managed to increase its sales. The key to this success was a focus on marketing activities aimed at market expansion—a standard strategy for market-leading companies. He explained the process by which the company’s sales and market share naturally increased as the market expanded.

In the second half of the class, we focused on market expansion strategies employed by market-leading companies and shared case studies from various industries that the students had researched in advance. We examined a wide range of patterns, from classic examples such as Lion and Yakult to the recent case of Kracie’s “Nerunerunerune.” Following this, based on these case studies, we held group discussions and presentations on the market expansion measures Kikkoman Soy Foods should implement in the future.

Through the lecture and group work, students gained an understanding of real-world marketing practices and deepened their understanding of marketing strategies for market expansion.