One thing I like about Japanese confectionary company Chateraise is just how pretty their display shelves are, and how well stocked they always seem to be.
There has been seldom, or never even, a time when I've seen their shelves devoid of cute, pretty little cakes in all kinds of colors and all kinds of flavors.
It's so pretty that I always try to take a picture.
So far, none of the staff have ever tried to stop me.
Maybe they- as a company- understand the power of user-generated content.
It's like they're not hesitant to let just about anybody take a picture of their products on their display shelves and then share those pictures online.
Maybe because they're not hesitant to interact with them either.
Chateraise utilizes a very personal, a very engaging technique in their social media strategy.
It's not a technique I often see.
For instance, the Chateraise Singapore Facebook page often has a hi and hello post from a lady named Katsumata. I know it's a lady because she posted a picture of herself- in uniform- and mask- in her very first post on the page.
Miss Katsumata's posts aren't just about the newest products in the store, she does a bit of a cultural exchange too.
It's like she'll introduce the culture of Japan (through the cakes and the confectionary) but she'll ask about the culture of Singapore too.
There's a post where she says she's at a new store opening in Hiroshima prefecture because Chateraise hopes to bring happiness to their customers through their sweets.
In another post she asks what gifts we give our teachers on Teacher's Day (a cake from Chateraise will do fine!) because they don't really celebrate Teacher's Day in Japan.
She makes you feel like she's genuinely interested in Singapore.
In fact she's so engaging that I almost thought the company would do a fan meet (at a Singapore store) for Miss Katsumata when she came to the country. After all she had asked local users for a list of suggested places she should go.
Of course the fan meet didn't happen. (We're not there yet)
But she did come to Singapore, she did visit a couple of stores, had durian, and went back home.
To be honest I wasn't intending to write about Chateraise's social media technique.
I was just going to talk about their cakes and their brand new (more atas) store at Millennia Walk.
But it came out anyway.
You can say I'm a fan of Chateraise.
Because they make their cakes so fresh, so tasty, so pretty, and so affordable.
It doesn't mean that I don't like old school cream cakes or cakes from other bakeries.
It just means that they appeal to my senses in a way different than how the others do.
I don't know just how many times my spirits have been lifted just by looking at their cakes.
I don't know how many times I've wanted to buy their strawberry cakes, their orange cakes and their adorable little mille crepes.
Not to mention their soft cheesecakes, their cute looking animal cakes and their ice creams.
I've been to their outlets at Chinatown Point, Square 2, Parkway Parade and NEX.
I've also been to their new Yatsudoki at Millennia Walk.
It's very classy, this premium Chateraise, with clean lines, lovely decorations all around and darker tones on the walls. There is also a dine-in area, shelves offering their confectionaries gift-bag style, and larger displays holding full-sized cakes for sale.
I'd hoped to take a closer look at the elegant-looking, rich colored cakes on display but there were customers in the queue- and I didn't want to stand in the way.
But I'll come back another time.
And this time, I'll want to have one of their delish-looking chocolate cakes in-store, together with their baked buttery-rich apple pie and maybe, a glass of peach wine.