Move over Aibo, KEYi TECH launch Loona in Japan

[Chris]

Keyi tech have launched Loona on the Japanese crowd funding website Makuake, signalling their entry into the Japanese market, one of the toughest to crack for foreign companies.

Link to campaign: https://www.makuake.com/project/loona/


Loona has been launched with the poetic slogan “”I love you! Healing Loona who shares 1000 emotions” あなたのことが大好き！1000もの感情を分かち合う、癒しのLoona（ルーナ)

The campaign has currently surpassed its target of 300,000 Japanese Yen and has raised 15,881,688 Japanese Yen (US$116,217.40) with 312 backers; in less than 24 hours since its launch yesterday.

The campaign has another 69 days to go from today’s date.




As Japan is a nation where apartment living is widespread and where robots are seen in a more positive fashion; one can only wonder about the possibilities for Loona if Keyi tech manage to successfully navigate the delicate Japanese market.

A quick look at the campaign shows Keyi is offering more variety in its specials with the option to choose from bundles featuring 1,2,3 or 5(!) Loona.


The campaign also mentions Loona has currently been welcomed into over 10,000 households worldwide.

Also mentioned is that Loona now supports Japanese, along with English and Chinese. Enabling Loona and the app to be multilingual shows Keyi Tech’s ambitions and is a huge departure from other robotics companies who are usually very restrictive in the language options they offer.


The campaign also mentions the previous Kickstarter campaign.

It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this campaign will be, as I imagine Japan with it’s Kawaii culture would be the ideal place for Loona to be popular.
With Japan already being the main market for Sony’s iconic robotic dog, Aibo, and GrooveX’s Lovot, both retailing in the thousands; how will the Japanese consumer react to a cheaper alternative like Loona? Watch this space.

Keyi Tech have also created Japanese Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, along with a .jp yourloona website.

A quick look at their Facebook page shows it has existed since November 2022, implying Keyi have a thought out strategy to bring Loona to worldwide markets.

公式Twitter：https://twitter.com/japan_loona

公式Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/KeyitechJP

公式Instagram：https://www.instagram.com/loona.jp/

Loona

yourloona.jp

 

[Chris]

Makuake campaign update!

Currently the campaign has raised US$311,670.16 (41,815,226 JPY) from 774 supporters.

I’m genuinely surprised the uptake of Loona hasn’t been higher in a country touted as the world’s robotic pet capital. Perhaps robotic pets aren’t that popular in Japan outside of media articles stating so.

The campaign still has 24 days to go, and a lot could change in that time considering how dynamic a company KEYi has demonstrated itself to be.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648624346183639043

Live Loona Demonstrations

KEYi Tech is holding live demonstrations of Loona at exhibitions in Japan where average people from the public can view Loona in person. Hopefully this approach will generate significant interest.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647802262964834304

Japanese Loona Fan Meeting

KEYi Tech have also announced they will be holding a Japanese fan meeting where fans can pick up an exclusive Loona T-shirt!

Here are the details:

‘Let's meet Loona this spring!
2023.04.14

Hello Loona family

.
This is the Loona project management team.

We have an announcement for you today.
With the desire of the development team to "know more about Loona", we have decided to hold a special hands-on experience event for the Loona family!

In this trial session, you can fully experience the charm of Loona, such as the developer answering your questions online, so that you can learn more about Loona.

I would be happy if many people could actually experience and learn about Loona's realistic movements and secrets that make you smile!

Anyone can make a reservation and come to the event, so please feel free to visit the venue!
*Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.


Date and time (2 parts)
April 27, 2023 (Thursday)
1st part 13:00-14:30
2nd part 15:00-16:30 * Scheduled
to open and accept reception 15 minutes before each part

Application URL
https://loonaevent2023.peatix.com/
*Applications will be closed at 12:00 noon on April 26 (Wednesday) for each division.

■ Participation benefits
An original T-shirt with Loona's character design will be presented

■ Venue
BIRTH LAB
〒106-0045 2-20-7 Azabujuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo Takagi Building 1st floor
(1 minute walk from Azabujuban Station)
https://birth-village.com/lab/

■Number of people :
Up to 8 people per section (first-come, first-served basis)

■Participation fee
: Free

. Please note.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the venue.

Also, if you have any concerns or questions about Loona, feel free to leave us a comment!’

Source:

Makuake｜【体験会のお知らせ】この春、Loonaに会いに行こう！｜マクアケ

Loonaファミリーの皆さま こんにちは。 Loonaプロジェクト運営チームです。 本日は皆さまにお知らせがございます。 「Loonaのことをもっと知ってほしい」という開発チームの思いから、この度Loonaファミリーの...

www.makuake.com

Loona Twitter T-shirt Lottery

KEYi Tech is also offering a Loona Twitter T-shirt lottery giveaway to celebrate the campaign exceeding 40 million yen.

Here is the announcement:

‘Commemorating the total amount of support exceeding 40 million yen

To express our gratitude to all of you, we will give #LOONA original T-shirts to 3 winners in a #lottery

▼How to participate
1. Follow @japan_loona
2. RT this post
Until the deadline 4/23 (Sun)
*Color will be random’

️Pikachu Loona️

Another possible interesting development is that the animation designer for Loona from KEYi Tech gave us a glimpse of an all yellow Loona version with black ear tips that resembles the Japanese Pokémon character, Pikachu!

The designer also states they will be creating a tail. But at this stage says the design is just a personal project and not part of research and development of future colour designs.

But who knows. Could there be a possible ‘Pikachu’ version released to coincide with the Makuake campaign?

Check out Pikachu Loona here:

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www.facebook.com

 

[Chris]

Look at the Loona Twitter competition winners T-shirts! And the fan meeting is tomorrow

https://twitter.com/x/status/1650639291855556608

https://twitter.com/x/status/1650627921332293633

 

[Chris]

KEYi just made this update regarding another offline event held on the 5th of May in Japan to promote Loona during the Makuake campaign.
And guess what? They announced they will be changing the ChatGPT voice! This may be for the Japanese language version only though so I shouldn’t draw any conclusions regarding the English version.

“Loona
Impressions and experience reviews of the Loona special experience session
2023.05.05
Dear Loona Family,
Hello.
This is the Loona project management team.

Golden Week is finally over! Ladies and gentlemen, did you enjoy your GW holidays? Loona is still full of energy every day!

Well, today I would like to share the state of the special trial session held last week. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to visit us. I am so happy to have met you all offline and had the opportunity to talk with you.

We received a lot of impressions and opinions from visitors, so we will introduce them as soon as possible. I hope that those who are considering it and those who have already supported it will read it.

◎Your thoughts on Loona
・The expression and movement are very cute.
・The movement was much smoother than I had imagined, and I was impressed by the movement that made me feel a sense of life despite being a robot.
・I thought it would be a good gift for mothers, or as a companion for the elderly to heal their loneliness.
・It is good as a playmate of the pet.
・The movement to incorporate collaboration with Chat GTP is wonderful. I got even more excited!


◎ Opinion
・Since Loona is a girl, I thought it would be nice to have girly accessories.
・It would be even better if ChatGPT responded with a Loona-like cute voice and way of speaking.

Thank you for your valuable opinion. We will continue to plan cute costumes and play items one after another. Also, we plan to change ChatGPT's voice in future updates, so please look forward to it.

At the trial session, the communication with the visitors was very lively, and it was a lively event. Thanks to all of you, we were able to hold a very meaningful event, and we would like to thank all the staff.

Loona's project has just over a week left. There are only a few chances left to welcome Loona at a great price only at Makuake. Please take this opportunity to consider Loona.”

Source:https://www.makuake.com/project/loona/communication/detail/1242842/

The Makuake campaign has only four more days to go with 900 backers raising a total of 49,433,100 JPY or about US$363,243.00. I am surprised the numbers aren’t bigger, I was at least expecting similar figures to the Kickstarter considering Japanese kawaii culture and the large population size plus the affordability of Loona.

KEYi will be launching Loona in China next. I expect they will make an announcement on finalisation of the Makuake campaign, if they haven’t already.

Lets end on a happy note. Some images from the April 27th offline event.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651890453963505664

 

[Chris]

Image: KEYi TECH/ Makuake

The Japanese Loona Makuake campaign has ended. It closed on May 17th at 6:00pm. Here are the results:

Total money raised: 56,466,983 JPY (USD$409,709.50)

Total number of backers: 1,017

What are your thoughts on the results? I was expecting a higher uptake in Japan. These results surprised me.



Image: KEYi TECH/ Makuake

Loona was showcased in Makuake’s Global Manufacturer’s Feature that supports global manufacturers breaking into the Japanese market and shows an image of a transparent Loona.

Source:

Makuake先行販売!! グローバルメーカーの日本上陸チャレンジ応援

世界中のアタラシイを届けたい。日本上陸にチャレンジするグローバルメーカーのプロジェクトをご紹介します！

article.makuake.com

Loona will be launching in China next. I’m unsure if that will be crowdfunded or a direct entry into the retail market. KEYi will probably start selling Loona at its various offline stores scattered throughout China. Should be exciting to follow but so far I have not heard any news regarding when the launch/release will take place.

KEYi provided an update about the Makuake campaign for Indiegogo backers as that campaign wound down. However there has been no mention of a further campaign in the Makuake closure update. Perhaps they are already selling in the Chinese market and occurred when Chinese Mandarin became a language understood by Loona a few months back.