Our regular feature, brought to you in association with Strange Nature gin from New Zealand celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns related to the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
JAPAN. Today’s images serve as a prelude to a forthcoming Moodie Davitt exclusive dedicated to the ‘SK-II Secret Key House’, a marvellous multi-dimensional art exhibition from the Japanese skincare brand which showcases the long-held secrets behind the brand’s exclusive ingredient Pitera, writes Martin Moodie.
I was privileged to be on location today as the global prestige brand unveiled this stunning installation at the Standby, Ba-Tsu Art Gallery in Tokyo. The exhibition is open to the public with limited access this weekend. You will have to wait a few days for the official photos and my full report but I promise you the wait will be worthwhile.
Besides gaining a sneak preview of the exhibition, I enjoyed a second privilege, that of interviewing Global SK-II CEO Sue Kyung Lee, a dynamic business leader whom I last met on stage at last year’s Trinity Forum in Singapore. The setting, shown in the photos below, was almost as impactful as a terrific interview.
SK-II Secret Key House is a big step up from last year’s World Pitera Day event, a one-day global celebration of SK-II’s star ingredient. This year, SK-II has created World Pitera Month, with SK-II Secret Key House the central focus.
“Today is a very, very special day. There’s huge excitement and huge anticipation,” Sue Kyung Lee told me. “We decided to make it World Pitera Month because we realised from last year that a day is not enough.”
Pitera, the heart of SK-II’s products, has remained unchanged for 40 years (no ‘latest improved’ versions here), yet until now little has been publicly revealed about the science that powers its efficacy. The opening of SK-II Secret Key House changes all that, with ten of SK-II’s best-kept beauty secrets revealed.
The intriguing installation allows visitors to unlock the secrets by interacting with a series of multi-sensorial artistic installations featuring Pitera. The experience is compelling, educational and at times beautiful.
The SK-II story is really two tales in one. The brand’s success iover the past 40 years is a great business case study in its own right. But the unrelenting focus on a single ingredient, Pitera, over those four decades is far more than a sub-plot but a journey into science, efficacy, marketing savvy, consumer understanding and much more.
I closed out my interview (I prefer to call it a conversation for that’s what it was) with the Global SK-II CEO by asking what drives her every morning in terms of the brand’s current position and potential. The answer was revealing.
“First of all, I see a huge possibility,” she replied spontaneously. “When I came into this role, I loved the brand – I had always been using it. But as I got to know the essence of the brand, that excited me more and more because the business that we have is big but the business that we can have is humungous.
“How do I really do justice to the brand? What is it that this brand has? How do I communicate it? How do I really let consumers know? How do I really help them experience this amazing brand? So I see a huge, huge potential geographical expansion with more consumers getting to know and to experience more products – and more Pitera.”
Look out for my report coming soon, complemented by my full interview with the marvellously engaging (and perfectly initialled) Sue Kyung (SK) Lee. ✈
