Brewing new ideas with Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate
We receive all sorts of inquiries through our website—branding, design, web development, video production—you name it. But this one stood out: “Tokyo Innovation Safari.”
Naturally, we set up a call to learn more.
Enter Ross Taylor from Bettys & Taylors, the company behind Yorkshire Tea—now the UK’s #1 tea brand. Their innovation team regularly embarks on “innovation safaris” around the world, seeking fresh perspectives and inspiration. This time, Japan was in their sights.
The Mission: A deep dive into Tokyo’s retail landscape
From luxury department stores to everyday shopping destinations, the goal was to immerse themselves in Japan’s unique retail environment and uncover insights to take back home. Our role? Curate a two-day itinerary packed with discoveries.
Celebrating our 33rd year in business here, we know Tokyo inside out—and exactly where to look for retail inspiration.
We took them on a whirlwind tour across Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Ginza, and Toyosu, stopping at Mega Donki, Seijo Ishi, Kaldi, and Isetan, while also exploring all the major conbini chains along the way. For lunch? Modern kaiten sushi with huge interactive touch screens in Shinjuku, and cutting-edge food courts in Toyosu.
And, of course, no Tokyo experience is complete without vending machines—where the sheer variety of drinks and snacks never fails to amaze. One of the team was even brave enough to try a sweet potato–crème brûlée concoction served warm in a can—for the first, and almost certainly last, time.
Decoding packaging: understanding the fine print
One key area of interest was packaging—and Japan leads the way in F&B packaging design and manufacturing. Beyond aesthetics, understanding how products communicate their value to consumers was crucial.
That’s where we stepped in—not just as guides but as interpreters: helping explain messaging, decode packaging content in Japanese, and provide cultural insights throughout the safari.
Bringing Fresh Ideas Back to Harrogate
By the end of the trip, the team left full of insights, ready to let new ideas percolate and take shape back in Harrogate. Tokyo retail safari, done proper!
“A perfectly curated dose of ideas and inspiration”
“It’s one thing to see the need to expand your horizons by immersing yourself in a very different place, but actually making it happen brings loads of challenges. Thankfully, we found Paradigm to act as our partners on the ground and they did an absolutely brilliant job of solving all these questions for us in advance – turning what would have been an impossibly messy job into a perfectly curated dose of ideas and inspiration.”
Dom Dwight, Strategy & Innovation Director, Bettys & Taylors
