Building the future begins with visualizing the will of the future. [7]Kewpie Mayonnaise 100th Anniversary. How to Envision an Exciting "Mayonnaise of the Future"
Born in 1925 and supporting Japanese food culture for many years, Kewpie Mayonnaise celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2025. To mark this milestone, Kewpie aimed to create future-oriented value by implementing a workshop incorporating Dentsu Inc. Future Business Creation Lab's "Future Craft Process" and "Expert Idea 500."
The "Future Craft Process" is an approach that creates future corporate value from two perspectives: "future societal realities" and "future consumer insights" (details here ). "Expert Idea 500" is a service that collects over 500 ideas from experts and uses them to derive new business domains and concepts (details here ).
This time, we held a roundtable discussion with participants from the actual workshop: Mr. Noriaki Takada, General Manager of the Corporate Planning Department, Management Promotion Division, Kewpie Corporation; Ms. Yumi Nakamura and Mr. Noriaki Takada from the Household Team, Seasoning Strategy Department, Marketing Division, Kewpie Corporation; and Mr. Takashi Igami and Mr. Kentaro Yoshida from Dentsu Inc. Future Business Research Institute. Reflecting on the workshop, we discussed the potential for future-oriented product and service development and the path for corporate evolution.
▼100 Years Since Its Birth: Aiming to Create New Value for the Future Without Stopping Evolution Igami: First, congratulations on Kewpie Mayonnaise reaching its 100th anniversary in 2025. I imagine you've been advancing various initiatives leading up to this milestone. Could you share the background and specific details? Nakamura: Thank you. The theme for Kewpie Mayonnaise's 100th anniversary is "still in progress." This embodies the meaning that "evolution never stops." Since the launch of Kewpie Mayonnaise in 1925, we have been cherished by many customers for a century. We view this milestone as an opportunity to advance into the next era without halting our evolution. Guided by this spirit, we are implementing diverse initiatives focused on the future. Igami: So, the concept of "evolution" directly connects to the workshop we conducted together this time. What was the background for choosing "Mayonnaise of the Future" as the theme for this discussion? Nakamura: As we looked toward the future on the occasion of our 100th anniversary, we considered "what kind of future we want to create together with our customers." What kind of life do consumers hope for in the future? Our starting point was envisioning that future and considering what Kewpie could do to contribute. We actually undertook a similar initiative for our 90th anniversary, but over the past decade, times have changed significantly, and customer needs have evolved. To continue addressing consumers' food and health needs going forward, we saw further evolution beyond our 90th anniversary approach as a key challenge for our 100th anniversary. Takada: For our 90th anniversary, our approach was primarily "Issue Driven," focusing on solving near-term challenges. However, as we moved toward our 100th anniversary, we shifted our thinking toward a "Vision Driven" approach—one focused on creating value rather than merely solving problems. With the next 100 years in sight, we have switched to a future-oriented approach and advanced our initiatives accordingly. Igami: This workshop involved participants from diverse departments like marketing, advertising, and R&D. Using the "Future Craft Process," we first held a three-day workshop starting with defining the "Future Persona" – a vision of a person living a healthy, well-being lifestyle through mayonnaise consumption. What were your thoughts on this approach? Takada: To be honest, setting a future persona before generating ideas was an approach we hadn't experienced before, so initially I had concerns like, "Will ideas really come out?" However, as we actually progressed, I was surprised by how many ideas emerged one after another, and ultimately, I believe we achieved results far exceeding our initial expectations. While we often set our main target as family life stage groups centered around child-rearing households, deliberately creating and considering a wide range of personas across various life stages allowed us to gain a new perspective focused on the future. Igami: Following that, using the 20 Future Personas created in the workshop, we employed "Expert Idea 500" to collaborate with external experts in generating ideas for the future of mayonnaise. We then refined the highly rated ideas, ultimately resulting in 11 new product and service concepts. Takada: The process of envisioning the future while actively incorporating external perspectives yielded many new insights and was extremely valuable. While we generated around 50-60 ideas internally, we also received numerous proposals from external experts, ultimately gathering 544 ideas. Seeing so many ideas we never would have thought of ourselves was incredibly exciting. Yoshida: The workshop truly generated an abundance of ideas. As the ideas accumulated, I felt a natural atmosphere emerged where people felt comfortable sharing their opinions. Nakamura: That's right. I believe the atmosphere became more conducive to freely sharing opinions precisely because there was a mindset of not dismissing ideas but positively refining them. We are truly grateful to the Dentsu Inc. team for fostering that environment. Igami: The ideas generated this time were exhibited at "Mirai Mayo Farm," a 100th-anniversary internal event for Kewpie Mayonnaise that explored its past and future. Could you share which ideas stood out most to you? Nakamura: "Personalized Mayo Dressing" was an idea for a food printer that creates your own customized mayonnaise or dressing tailored to your mood or physical condition with the push of a button. Since it was an idea aimed at a slightly tangible future ten years from now, it received the most enthusiastic response from visitors at the event, with many saying, "I want this!" Other memorable concepts included "Communicating Through Food: Colorful Drawing Mayo Pens" and "My Chicken's Egg Mayo! Kewpie Craft Mayo Fan Club," which starts by becoming a small-scale owner of a chicken farm and then creates your own preferred mayonnaise. Both ideas were proposals responding to the unique needs and values of our time, grounded in societal trends like the progression of individualized eating and demographic shifts. Igami: Both ideas were uniquely focused on expanding food's potential through enjoyment. I feel they symbolize the possibilities for how we will engage with mayonnaise going forward. Yoshida: The idea behind the "Colorful Drawing Mayo Pen" stemmed from the theme of children eating alone. In modern times, households with only one child, or single-parent families with fathers or mothers raising children alone, have become commonplace. It's likely that children will spend even more time alone in the future. Amidst this, the question arose: how can we help children enjoy their time alone? That's where the idea originated: "What if mayonnaise could become something that makes eating alone enjoyable?" I thought it was really great that they approached it from the perspective of how to create future happiness. Regarding the "Kewpie Craft Mayo Fan Club," I also sensed a high level of awareness about the value chain. The ideas went beyond mere product concepts, delving into production optimization and stable supply methods. Personally, I found that perspective extremely important. Nakamura: The value chain is a key term within our company as well. In highly uncertain times, we must compete not only in sustainable product development but also within each supply chain and value chain. The question is how to create added value at every stage of the value chain. I felt the "Kewpie Craft Mayo Fan Club" idea symbolized this perspective. "Nutrition, deliciousness. All in one sprinkle. Complete Nutrition Mayo Flakes" was also a highly unique idea. At the event, with the R&D team's cooperation, we prototyped and displayed actual flake-shaped mayonnaise. When visiting employees experienced the sample's aroma, they were very surprised to find it smelled exactly like mayonnaise itself.Amidst shifting food values in society, we received many passionate comments urging us to pursue the realization of such ideas. Igami: Through this workshop, participants worked on generating various ideas under the theme of "Mayonnaise of the Future." How was the actual feedback from those who participated? Nakamura: Internally, participants shared that seriously re-examining Kewpie Mayonnaise made them realize its potential and appeal can still grow significantly. Also, members from diverse departments joined the workshop. Opportunities for such a broad range of members to gather and discuss mayonnaise together have been relatively rare. In that sense, having in-depth dialogue across departments was extremely valuable. Nakamura: By carefully decomposing Kewpie Mayonnaise into "elements that should be preserved across eras" and "elements that should evolve with the times," and then thoroughly discussing them, I believe we were able to grasp the essence and discuss it effectively. We also heard many positive comments from participants, such as "I don't want to end it here" and "I want to work hard to make this happen." As a stepping stone towards realization, I believe this was a major achievement. Igami: Kewpie Mayonnaise is currently undergoing a new phase of evolution. From a medium-to-long-term perspective, looking ahead 10 or 20 years, what kind of evolution do you envision? Takada: While advancing various initiatives toward our 100th anniversary, we reaffirmed the importance of three keywords: "Future," "Global," and "Challenge." First, regarding "Future." The future we envision now is not fixed; rather, because the future is constantly changing, maintaining an attitude of continuously thinking about the future is crucial. Regarding "Global," we currently have in-house production in 8 countries and deliver products to customers in 79 countries and regions. Our group's overseas sales ratio has been growing annually and now stands at about 20%. Going forward, we aim to implement initiatives like this one in overseas markets as well, deepening our presence in existing markets and expanding into new countries and regions. We envision a future where mayonnaise, born in Japan, is embraced more deeply and widely by consumers around the world. Regarding the third "Challenge," our current four-year mid-term management plan also carries the theme "Change & Challenge." Within this plan, "Challenge" is a crucial pillar. We believe it is vital to keep challenging ourselves to propose new value through mayonnaise that gives people hope for the future. The information published at this time is as follows. Was this article helpful? Share this article Newsletter registration is here We select and publish important news every day For inquiries about this article Kewpie Corporation Joined the company in 1999. Spent 20 years in household goods sales, focusing on mass retailers and CVS, handling promotional proposals and area marketing for household products. From 2019, served as team leader for the mayonnaise team in the Household Division, involved in mayonnaise planning and development, as well as the 100th anniversary project planning, leading to participation in this project. Currently belongs to the Management Planning Department, Management Promotion Division. Kewpie Corporation Joined the company in 2008. Engaged in research and development for 15 years, responsible for product development of baby food and pasta sauces. Later, worked in the Marketing Division on planning and development for mayonnaise and tartar sauce, participating in the Kewpie Mayonnaise 100th Anniversary Project and workshops envisioning the future of mayonnaise. Dentsu Inc. In the advertising/marketing field, I engage in communication design, marketing strategy and initiative planning, as well as related research and analysis. Handles area marketing, concept and strategy development for redevelopment areas, marketing operations for large-scale commercial facilities, and conceptual planning for major regional projects. Also conducts people flow analysis and tourism analysis utilizing location data. Since 2018, expanded into business design, supporting corporate growth through services such as assisting companies with new business/new domain development, strategic planning through management/business analysis, decision-making support, and brand consulting. Dentsu Inc. Engaged in market analysis, strategic planning, and consulting primarily focused on the mobile business and smartphone app sector. As Dentsu Inc.'s Mobile Project Leader, attended CES/MWC annually since 2011 to grasp tech trends. Established the Dentsu Group cross-organizational "Future Business Creation Lab" in 2021. Specializes in business development through backcasting from visualizing future lifestyles. Fellow of the Consumer Affairs Agency's New Future Vision Forum; Master of Business Administration (MBA).
▼544 Ideas Born from Sketching Future Personas
▼Breaking Free from Fixed Notions to Expand the Potential of Kewpie Mayonnaise
▼Proposing Future-Oriented Ideas to Deliver Happiness to People's Dining Tables100 Years Since Its Birth. Continuing to Evolve and Aiming to Create New Value for the Future
544 ideas born from envisioning future personas
We were able to break free from fixed notions and expand the possibilities of Kewpie Mayonnaise.
Proposals to deliver happiness to people's tables with future-oriented ideas
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Noriaki Takada
Yumi Nakamura
Takashi Igami
Kentaro Yoshida
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