Daisuke Sakamoto, Executive Officer and Marketing Manager, DyDo DRINCO Inc.

Not just buying, but the fun of choosing with vending machines

Daisuke Sakamoto, Executive Officer and Head of Marketing, DyDo DRINCO, Inc.

■ Profile
Joined Dydo DRINCO Inc. in 1997. After gaining experience in route sales, he was primarily involved in new product planning and development, marketing strategy, and advertising. He then served as the development manager at group company Daido Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., before becoming the marketing manager at Dydo DRINCO in 2023 and an executive officer in 2025, a position he holds to this day. His current areas of responsibility include brand strategy, market research and analysis, product development, advertising and sales promotion campaigns, etc.

Daisuke Sakamoto has been involved in marketing for many years, without ever changing jobs since joining the company. He started out in product development and now oversees all of DyDo DRINCO's marketing, including marketing strategy and advertising. He was also an early adopter of collaborative products with the hit anime "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba," which he led to success. We spoke to Sakamoto about the ingenuity behind product development and the strengths of DyDo DRINCO.

When I was job hunting, I felt that I wanted to "leave something behind as an individual" in my work. For that reason, I was attracted to companies that I could take on challenges at a young age, rather than judging by the size of the company or whether I could make money. Then, when I thought about things that were close to me and things that interested me, what came to mind was the deliciousness of the canned drinks I used to drink after playing baseball as a student. I have never forgotten that feeling, and I joined the company with the desire to be able to contribute to the happiness of many people in the beverage industry, which holds so many meaningful moments.
When I joined the company, the manufacturing department and the sales department were not separated like they are now, so everyone was assigned to sales department from their first year, and we went around to vending machines to refill drinks, etc. After that, I was immediately involved in product development and marketing, and now I've been here for 29 years.
Our marketing department is involved in all aspects of marketing, including marketing strategies, product planning and development, market research, advertising, and sales promotion campaigns. While some companies have each of these functions as a separate department, ours is a company where each is called a group, and they are all collectively organized as the marketing department. I oversee and manage the entire marketing department.

■What we keep in mind when developing products

One thing we keep in mind when developing products is to uncover customer needs from data. Our group is responsible for various analyses, such as changes in consumer trends and best-selling items, and we consider what kind of products we will offer in the future. However, data is merely a record of the past, and we ourselves must think and decide how to predict the future. Therefore, the strategy team and development team are constantly coming up with new product ideas in parallel with data analysis, and by effectively combining the two, we explore the possibility of commercializing them.
We also actively incorporate customer feedback. We conduct online consumer surveys asking, "What would you think if there was a product like this?" and ask customers to rate it, such as whether they would like to buy it. We narrow down the candidates based on various evaluations, such as products that our company had high hopes for but that were not rated highly by consumers.
However, care is required not only in coming up with ideas, but also in actually commercializing them. Because beverages have low unit prices and are based on mass production, the hurdles are high when it comes to securing factory equipment and quality assurance. No matter how interesting a product is, as a food manufacturer, we have no choice but to be strict about quality. Furthermore, because we are a fabless company with no factories of our own, we must work with external manufacturing partners to maintain quality while realizing new challenges. In other words, we believe that simultaneously overcoming these two stages of "coming up with ideas" and "making them a reality" is both difficult and important.

■The secret behind the popularity of this beverage manufacturer that has been in business for 50 years

Above all else, we are committed to "taste." Since our founding, our main product, the Dydo Blend coffee drink series, has pursued the taste of authentic coffee by carefully brewing drip or espresso from coffee beans without using any artificial flavorings. Many of our customers who have supported us for many years say they love the taste of Dydo coffee. In order not to disappoint such customers, we work every day to create products with the desire to ensure that the taste is second to none.

■ Differentiation from other companies

DyDo DRINCO's sales share from vending machines is approximately 9%, a high percentage compared to other companies, and vending machines are our primary sales outlet. For us, vending machines are our "own stores," and we believe it's important to create an attractive product lineup. To that end, we actively offer unique and interesting products to encourage customers to purchase beverages from vending machines rather than convenience stores. Currently, we offer products such as "Basque Cheesecake" and "Spicy Yukgaejang Soup." We also offer vending machines with roulette wheels, which we hope will spark conversations like, "DyDo DRINCO has a roulette wheel, right?", "If I'm going to buy a bottle, I'll buy it from DyDo," or "I won, so I'll give one to someone." Our goal is to create an exciting sales floor where customers will think, "Maybe there's something interesting or unique that can only be found here" or "There might be a collaboration." Recently, we've expanded our offerings to include snacks, masks, and baby wipes, striving to make vending machines more accessible, fun, and convenient.

■ What I want to challenge in the future

Our goal is to make vending machines a store where customers can "enjoy choosing." Our goal is to create a sales floor where customers can feel the excitement of discovering something new when they visit a Dydo vending machine through unique products and collaborations. We also plan to respond to the needs of environmentally conscious companies and promote efforts to conserve resources by offering products in aluminum bottles and thin, lightweight steel cans to reduce plastic waste.

■Message to university students

I want you to have the experience of seriously considering even just one thing you like or are interested in. If you get serious about something, you're bound to hit a wall and worry. At times like that, I think thinking seriously and getting to the bottom of it will lead to all your future experiences.
I would also like people to think about why they work and what it means to work before they enter the workforce. For example, there is a term called work-life balance, but our company values ​​work-life synergy. Since most of the day is spent at work, we aim to balance both our work and private lives, not separating them, but rather creating relationships in which we can have a positive influence on each other, and I personally respect this idea.

Interview with Student Newspaper Online on October 28, 2025 by Aoi Watanabe, a first-year student at Hosei University

Ishii Seizo, 1st year student at Musashino Art University / Watanabe Waka, 3rd year student at International Christian University / Erikawa Ayuki, 1st year student at Information Management and Innovation University / Watanabe Aoi, 1st year student at Hosei University