Abstract
Until now, quality and design have been important aspects for brands. However, mass production and mass consumption have led to product standardization. In this context, “social” has emerged as an essential new value. Consideration of the environment, region, living things, people, etc., and contribution to resolving social issues are spreading as new values. Regional brands include the region’s name, landscape, culture, and story, all of which create an advantage in branding. Company and consumer awareness is also changing, and such elements as regionality and resolving social issues are now required for brands as a social design. Social farming is an initiative that contributes to such issues as giving purpose in life to persons with disabilities, improving farm wages and labor shortages, regenerating abandoned farmland, and revitalizing local areas, and can therefore appeal to social value. This paper introduces a case study of branding processed products derived from social farming, which our company undertook as part of the “Japan Foods Project.” This project aims to revitalize regions and the entire country through food, in collaboration with local governments, companies, sports teams, schools, etc. Regional brands are created using local ingredients and processed at welfare facilities in various regions. The challenge this project faces is to create a distribution channel system for small-lot products.
