Suntory
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Nihongo is a Japanese brewing and distilling company. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages. Its business has expanded to other fields, and the company now offers everything from soft drinks to vintage wines. Suntory is headquartered in Dojimahama, Kita-ku, Osaka, Osaka prefecture.
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History
Suntory was started by Torii Shinjiro, who first opened his store Torii Shoten in Osaka on February 1, 1899 to sell imported wines. In 1907, the store began selling a sweet tasting red wine called Akadama Port Wine. The store became Kotobukiya company in 1921 to further expand its business. In December 1924, Yamazaki Distillery, the first whiskey distillery in the country, began its production of malt whiskey. Five years later Suntory Whiskey Sirofuda (White Label), the first single malt whiskey made in Japan, was sold.
Due to wartime shortage of World War II, Kotobukiya was briefly forced to halt its development of new products. In 1961, Kotobukiya launched the famous "Drink Tris Whiskey and Go to Hawaii" campaign. At the time, a trip abroad was considered an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In 1963, Kotobukiya changed its name to "Suntory", taken from the name of the famous whiskey it produces. In the same year, Musashino Beer Factory began its production of the Suntory Beer. In 1997, the company became Japan's sole bottler, distributor, and licensee of Pepsi products.
Joint Ventures
From the early 1990s, Suntory has collaborated extensively with Melbourne biotechnology firm Florigene (formerly Calgene Pacific Ltd) in the development by pioneering and patented genetic engineering methods of the world's first blue rose, long synonymous with the impossible. In 1991, Calgene Pacific - with the help of Suntory - won the intense global race to isolate the gene responsible for blue flowers. With this breakthrough patented, Calgene acquired its main rival, Dutch firm Florigene, giving it a strong European base. Calgene Pacific became Florigene Ltd in 1994 to capitalise on the latter firm's international branding and has since developed a range of genetically modified flowers expressing colours in the blue spectrum, including carnations, along with other breakthroughs associated with extending the vase life of cut flowers. It exports to the US, Europe and Asia.
In 2003, Suntory acquired a 98.5% equity holding in Florigene. Prior to this, Florigene had been a subsidiary of global agrochemicals giant Nufarm Limited since 1999.
In July 2004 Suntory and Florigene scientists announced to the world the development of the first rose in the pipeline to a true blue rose. It is expected to be commercialised in the coming years.
In the media
Suntory was one of the first Asian companies to specifically covet American celebrities to market their product. In the late 1970s, Akira Kurosawa directed a famous series of commercials featuring American celebrities on the set of his film Kagemusha. One of these featured Francis Ford Coppola (an executive producer of the film), which later inspired Sofia Coppola in the writing of Lost in Translation. The plot of that film focuses on an American actor filming a Suntory commercial in Tokyo.
A Reuters photo by Toshiyuki Aizawa from July 2003 showed Suntory's unusual marketing strategy of TV helmets. In this scheme, advertising company employees wear televisions on top of helmets, as well as orange jumpsuits. These televisions broadcast wide-screen digital feeds of the brewing company's commercial.
Suntory operates two museums, the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo and the Suntory Museum Tempozan in Osaka, as well as other "cultural activities" in Japan.
There is also a variation of the video game Tapper which features the Suntory logo, and was supposedly made by Sega, which they deny.