Muji, the No-brand brand, has announced the winners of its third design award “Found MUJI”.

The gold prize has been awarded to “Straw Straw” by Yuki Lida of Japan; the silver prize to the American couple Ken and Eri Sugimoto’s “Trash Pack for Outdoors”; while two bronze prizes were given to Joohhyun Kim of South Korea for his “A Precise Stapler” and “Grandpa’s Nail Hook” by Masashi Watanabe of Japan. 

The newly consumers co-designed products look simple, neat and perfectly in line with the Muji style.

Mujirushi Ryohin – this is the full name of the popular Japanese brand founded in 1980 – literally means "No label, quality goods". In fact, the Muji products are supposedly not branded.

But is Muji really a no-brand? Muji is synonymous for sleek design, simplicity, quality, and a unique look and feel – the latter the real magnet to Muji price premium.

Muji design award is another practical expression of this being a no-brand brand. Involving brand loyalist and non in creating unique design products, Muji leaves the freedom to people to reinterpret the brand while reiterating its essence: quality without label (still the products are branded even if you don’t see it at first sight).

The latest Muji design competition collected almost 2,000 entries from 35 countries.

Being a no-brand seems to be working pretty well as a differentiating factor for Muji: thousands of brand loyalists and little expenditure on advertisement or classical marketing. Muji's success is attributed to word-of-mouth and the unique feel of the brand that attracts customers that are not attached to the label but rather to the promise the label represent.

How could Muji be more a brand than by being a no-brand?