Justin Yoshino
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For Justin Yoshino, it doesn’t look like the party is going to stop anytime soon, and from a business standpoint that’s good. Yoshino started more than a decade ago planning and coordinating some of Oahu’s most creative and exclusive parties, and he has now taken that experience and intuition to found Market Advantage Inc., working to promote and coordinate nightclub events, restaurant openings, high-end spirits and liquor launches, and other wild reasons to celebrate the good life.
“When I wake up I am already at work, there is no real time schedule,” says Yoshino, who was on the MidWeek cover in May 25, 2005. “Sometimes you are having so much fun, you forget that you are working.”
Lately Yoshino has had the privilege of working with Pernod Ricard, the premium spirits and wine supplier in the U.S.: “I’ve been doing basically all of their marketing statewide, helping promote their new liquor releases which includes Absolut, Malibu, Jameson and many more.”
He also has worked with master gin distiller Desmond Payne in helping to roll out Beefeater’s newest flavor Beefeater24. The next event Yoshino and Market Advantage are working on is the release of Absolut Vodka’s new Wild Tea flavor, set to take place at Longhi’s Ala Moana this month.
Yoshino also has branched out, planning and executing eight to 10 events on Neighbor Islands each year. He recently coordinated the grand opening of the Japengo restaurant at Maui’s Hyatt Regency hotel in Kaanapali.
As the launches and release parties have expanded, so has Yoshino’s need for help. “Five years ago I think I had about a dozen Aloha Island Girls helping me promote,” he says. “Now we have 72 spokesmodels on four islands.”
He also knows the importance of using technology: “Everybody is so tech-savvy now, the whole promotional side of the game has changed. You cannot just go and hand out fliers anymore. You have to be able to reach people in different and unique ways.
“The most important part of my job is to create excitement, and when you see everybody together having fun it is all worthwhile, it all comes together.”
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