KAPOK KNOT and I vol.2 | Community management/PR Kaoruko Uchida
nice to meet you. This is Kaoruko Uchida.
I am writing this article after receiving the baton for the second edition of the blog about people inside the brand.
I usually work as a web writer for a human resources company, but for some reason I decided to get involved with KAPOK KNOT as a side job.
In this article, I would be happy if I could convey a little bit of KAPOK KNOT 's values by introducing how someone like me got involved with the brand .
[Area of responsibility at KAPOK KNOT]
I am mainly in charge of community management and PR. I am trying out various activities to spread the brand and its values, such as creating press releases, contacting the media, and hosting an Instagram live (!). By the way, I have written several articles for this owned media, so please take a look.
[Encounter with KAPOK KNOT]
Summer 2020. It all started when I received a direct message from the representative, Kisho Fukai, asking if I could help him with his work. LINE arrived at a time when I was reconsidering my way of working as I was afraid to go out freely. When I think about it now, I think it was quite fateful (lol)
Kisho was originally a senior in a university seminar. We were studying a subject called "Social Marketing" together. Roughly speaking, it is a study that considers how to continuously manage the activities of organizations whose primary purpose is not to pursue profits (for example, NPOs and local governments). When I was studying, the overwhelming majority of success stories were from overseas, and at that time, I still didn't think the day would come when I could put it into practice in Japan.
KAPOK KNOT is an organization that creates environmentally friendly products using plant-based materials. At the same time, it is a brand that can continue to operate by selling clothes. After learning about this, I realized that Kisho was seriously trying to put ``social marketing'' into practice. Being able to put into practice a field that I have been interested in since my student days. I also felt attracted to the opportunity to take on the challenge of this field now that there are trends such as the SDGs, so I decided to get involved with KAPOK KNOT .
[Interesting things about KAPOK KNOT]
Most of the management members of KAPOK KNOT are people who have side jobs like me. People live in different countries and regions, and each has different values. I find it interesting that such diverse members collaborate using slack, zoom, etc. to create a brand in real time.
One of KAPOK KNOT 's concepts is to "lower the cost of participating in sustainability," and I really like that idea. We aim to create a world where people who want to do something good for society and the environment can easily take action. I believe that this worldview can be realized because we are a brand created by members with diverse values who respect each other's ``want to do'' things.
[What we want to achieve with KAPOK KNOT]
KAPOK KNOT celebrated its 1st anniversary in October 2020, and recently we have had more opportunities to be featured in media such as TV and newspapers. However, I want more people to know about this wonderful brand. We would also like to increase the number of fans who sympathize with the brand's philosophy. I'd like to continue my activities, dreaming of the day when conversations like "What's your favorite brand? Is it KAPOK KNOT" will become commonplace?
