Panasonic Well

Modern families are drowning in isolation. Two generations ago, your village was extended family down the street. One generation ago, it was neighbors who knew your kids' names. Today? Parents are raising children surrounded by strangers, with no support system in sight.

We saw this crisis as an opportunity to rebuild the village for modern families. But to succeed, Panasonic Well needed more than good intentions. We had to deliver something that made an impact in their busy lives.

I was responsible for marketing, strategy and design as we began working the problem space. One of the first moves was to hire our first Global Head of Consumer Insights, who immediately grounded everyone’s thinking in human truths and the stories of the challenges we’re all feeling. The Foundational Family Wellness revealed the truths: families today aren’t just isolated, they’re overwhelmed and their rates of stress are rising dramatically.

The business space we were given to work within was anchored in Panasonic’s long-time focus on the kirashi principle—the commitment to use technology to make a meaningful impact in people’s lives. We worked closely with the Panasonic Strategy org to identify core technologies and sectors to win in. And this led us to building the singular AI-powered interface integrating everything into a single family experience.

The vision for the future of the business became Umi: a superapp strategy that stopped being a brand trying to market a product, but instead a product experience that brought the brand to life.