floortok Perspectives — signed opinion on brands, retail and luxury in Japan

floortok

Perspectives

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Signed opinion and analysis from people who have spent their careers building brands in Japan. Alongside the Journal's reporting, these are arguments: what the facts mean, and what leaders should do about them.

B-League × Business

Richard Gustafson

A follow-up to the B-League × Luxury series. Under the new salary cap, every Premier club faces the same ceiling on player pay, and only a strong business can reach it.

  1. Every Club Gets the Same ¥800 Million. Only Some Can Spend It.

    The B-League's salary cap puts every Premier club under the same ceiling on player pay. Whether a club can actually reach it is decided by sponsors, ticket buyers and fans. A great team now starts with a great business.

    9 min read

B-League × Luxury

3 parts · Richard Gustafson

Japan's top basketball league now admits clubs on crowds, revenue and arenas, not wins. A three-part series on what that means, and what clubs can learn from the way luxury houses build and protect desire.

  1. Part 1

    The B-League Bets Everything on Brand

    Japan's top basketball league now admits clubs on crowds, revenue and arenas, not wins. A team can lose and survive. A team nobody cares about cannot.

    8 min read
  2. Part 2

    Every Club Has a Brand Account. Most Are Overdrawing It.

    In luxury, brand equity behaves like an account: discounts and overexposure are withdrawals that show up as revenue, while craft and service are deposits that show up as costs. B-League clubs now face the same ledger.

    12 min read
  3. Part 3

    A Ten-Year-Old League Needs a Heritage Strategy

    Great brands need heritage, quality and innovation, all at once. The B-League already has a remarkable origin story. The work now is to protect it.

    12 min read

Lessons from luxury

3 parts · Richard Gustafson

Brand equity as a balance sheet account, customer feedback as an operating system, and the three things every great product needs. Three essays from three decades inside the industry.

  1. Part 1

    Desirability Is the Asset. Everything Else Is Accounting.

    Brand equity behaves like a balance sheet account. Every decision is a deposit or a withdrawal, and the financial statements most companies read cannot tell the two apart.

    13 min read
  2. Part 2

    NPS Is Not a Number. It Is a Way of Running the Business.

    Closing the loop, fixing root causes, coaching teams, and why the best customer experience starts with the people who deliver it

    9 min read
  3. Part 3

    Heritage, Quality, Innovation: Why Great Brands Need All Three

    A lesson from my years at LVMH, and how new brands can build their own version of heritage

    9 min read