Abstract:

This paper attempts to describe changes in the Japanese lifestyle focusing on the idea of life images pursued by consumers and suggests a life image to develop creative concepts. The Japanese lifestyle has been strongly affected by the social and economic changes in the past 10 years, such as the aging of the population, the advance of women into business communities, the concentration of business and population in big cities, the escalation of land and housing prices, and sustained economic growth. The changes in lifestyle are summarized as a) from a conservative attitude toward consumption to a positive attitude toward consumption b) from preference for traditional life to preference for liberal or modern lifestyle c) from hard-working type to a "my pace type". These changes in attitude affect the ideal life image pursued by consumers ("life model"), from the "American middle class life models" to the following four models. "Achiever" model, "intelligent" model, "group merit" model and "membership dependent" model. It is suggested that creative concepts based on life models is effective in terms of attractiveness, persuasiveness and arousal of consumer behavior.