JaM Japan Marketing LLC

The Dec. 7th column titled “How much can companies commit to social media strategy?” of monthly Nikkei BP Column, NetMarketing Online (in Japanese) “US NetMarketing Chawa” covers the heavy use of social media by companies for the U.S. holiday shopping season and is analyzed from both corporate and consumer standpoints. According to Deloitte’s 24th Annual Holiday Survey of 10,000 US adults issued on Nov. 11th, almost 1 in 5 people (17%) said they would use social media tools for holiday shopping for the following reasons:
・60% to get coupons and sale info
・53% to get gift ideas
・52% to check what gifts friends and family want

Companies are aggressively utilizing social media to meet these consumers’ needs. An excerpt in English follows below, and the column (in Japanese) can be found at the Nikkei site.

Dec. 7: “How much can companies commit to social media strategy?“

Unfriend: the word that represented 2009

Excerpt: On Nov. 16th, the New Oxford American Dictionary selected “unfriend” — to remove someone from one’s social network’s friend list — as the word to represent 2009 （http://blog.oup.com/2009/11/unfriend/）. Unfriend was first used in January for a Burger King campaign “Whopper Sacrifice,” where a Facebook app was used offering a free Whopper coupon by unfriending 10 people from one’s Facebook account. Since notices were sent to those who were unfriended, there was a huge outcry by the participants, and Facebook asked BK to stop the campaign due to privacy violations.

This provocative word created much buzz and media coverage, and according to TechCrunch, the campaign was halted after just 10 days. In the end, 82,771 participants unfriended a total of 233,906 people from their friend lists. This showed the anxiety of users whose number of SNS friends were out of control enough to want to unfriend some of them, and was a glimpse into how SNS was an integral part of consumers’ lives. The British English “Collins English Dictionary” announced on July 6th that it was adding “Twitter” to it’s next edition. As seen by these new official terminology, social media is increasingly becoming a critical component in consumers’ lives. (The column continues in Japanese.)

We attended the 3rd annual “Fujitsu North America Technology Forum 2009″ hosted by Fujitsu Laboratories of America in Sunnyvale, which has been posted in the latest blog (in Japanese). This year’s theme was “Innovation for Sustainability” which struck a chord even with a non-techies like myself, with notable products and technology based on “Human-Centric Computing” being of particular interest.

Fujitsu North America Technology Forum 2009

Fujitsu Laboratories of America’s （FLA） 3rd annual Fujitsu North America Technology Forum 2009 on November 4th began at 9am and continued past 8pm, which included time for networking among the Silicon Valley attendees. The full day forum had a substantial agenda (PDF) and it was stimulating to see the possibilities of Fujitsu’s new technologies.

The Open House format had a relaxed and open atmosphere compared to typical hotel venues, using the company’s own conference rooms and cafeteria, and invited a wide range of attendees from VCs, academia, engineers and even non-technical marketers like ourselves. This year’s theme, “Innovation for Sustainability” was introduced by FLA President Hitoshi Matsumoto, with the “triple bottom line” being key for their cleaner, greener and less wasteful business. And that “our health is our wealth” was a point that really made an impact.

• Planet (Environment)
• People (Social)
• Profit (Economic)

(continued in the blog in Japanese.)

The Nov. 2nd column titled “Analyzing Facebook as an Advertising Platform” of monthly Nikkei BP Column, NetMarketing Online (in Japanese) “US NetMarketing Chawa” covers the power of Facebook, which accounts for 25% of total page views among all US Internet users. The notion of “Owned Platforms” or “Private-Label Media” has captured the attention recently in US marketing circles, where advertisers can directly communicate with users and manage the platform, with Facebook being the ideal space used by companies. Latest trends in engagement ads for product samples to metrics such as the new affiliation with “Nielsen BrandLift” on Facebook is analyzed in detail.

This is a rather late notice about the monthly Nikkei BP Column, NetMarketing Online (in Japanese) “US NetMarketing Chawa.” The Oct. 5th column titled “Twitter Boom Reality Check 3: Marketing Strategy’s Essential Media” analyzes the growing importance of the role of social media. The column includes Twitter users’ high receptivity to ads, behavioral comparisons with non-Twitter users, T.G.I. Friday’s promotion that acquired one million Facebook fans, as well as latest data and case studies.

The 4th JaM Media Session in Tokyo on Sept. 11th proved to be another valuable event with pointed questions and opinions by the attendees. The 1-1/2 hour presentation involved 58 slides with abundant videos and data along with speed talking. Like last time, tweets were being sent live during the session, with the hashtag “#JMS” for those interested (in Japanese).

The opening topic showing data that “consumers are very skeptical and distrustful of ad agencies and the media, and believe that part of the blame for the global financial crisis lay on them” — was a bit of a shock to the many agency and media people in the audience. Then with the latest data on Facebook and Twitter, I continued to explain the issues of social media from my own point of view as a consumer or user, and talked about how as marketers, we need to avoid activities that betray the trust of this ecosystem.

I’d like to give my heartfelt thanks to all the participants for their valuable feedback and opinions from this session. Everyone’s involvement and interaction are what make JaM Media Session such a great event. All those with curiosity and an open mind are welcome to future sessions!

This is what I believe defines Social Media that I had in the last slide of my deck:
Social Media = a new media fueled by people sharing their emotions and thoughts

A bit late in reporting, but ad:tech tokyo on Sept. 3rd ended with great success. As the first ad:tech conference held in Japan, there were more than 3,000 early registrations, and was THE event for the Japanese advertising and marketing industry, causing a massive slowdown in regular business during the two days of Sept. 2 – 3. It took tremendous effort to put together by the all-volunteer Japanese staff, including dealing in English for foreign visitors, to whom I would like to give much thanks again.

I participated in the panel “Adding Mobile to the Mix,” moderated by D2C’s president, Akihisa Fujita, who had the difficult task of managing a panel discussion for the less-than-one-hour session. My remarks were kept to a minimum as to allow enough time for my fellow panelists, Hiroto Ebata, Director of iMarketing of Coca-Cola Japan, and Olivier Legrand, General Manager of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Asia. I found out later there was a tweet saying the Obama campaign was an unexpected topic for a mobile panel discussion, so I guess I was an unusual panelist. The PPT (in Japanese & English) should be up on the ad:tech website for those who are interested.

After the panel, my comment that “the point is to create products and ads that can be recommended to moms,” apparently made an impression to someone in the audience. This is a key point in order to engage with “consumers who don’t like to be marketed to.” The marketing industry tends to use gimmicks, but I believe that using the trust-based “Peer to Peer” communications as a basis, and the “kind of marketing that you can tell your own mother without embarrassment” are crucial to success.

The rise of Twitter in the U.S. shows how social media is becoming more entrenched in consumers’ lives and is clearly changing their purchasing and other online behavior. Consumers are content creators, distributors, critics, observers and marketers, yet also don’t like “being marketed to.”

This seminar explores how US marketers continue to test the market through trial and error with risk taking as part of the process.

Attendees are limited to 40 people, and the last session proved to be an interactive and stimulating session. All are welcome.

When: Friday, Sept. 11, 2009, 6:30pm registration, 7:00-8:30pm Seminar

Where: Tokyu Agency Headquarters 2nd Floor, Large Conference Room (map)

Cost: 5000 yen (payment & receipts at registration)

Register by Sept. 8th at: http://bit.ly/15fY2h
*Limited to 40 attendees, first come first served
*Attendees will receive Hisami’s book, “The Presidential Elections in the YouTube Era - Documenting 700 Days of the Obama Campaign.”

The clip of Hisami Ohshiba’s cable TV interview (in Japanese) that aired Aug. 5th in Japan introducing her book, “The Presidential Elections in the YouTube Era” is now on YouTube. Never mind Hisami’s expression on the screen shot, it was a pleasant interview.

The clip is also found on Tokyu Agency’s official site for the book.

We still need to reach a wider audience, so we ask those who read the book to please support Hisami by spreading the word (WOM)!

The JaM Report Vol. 5 “Latest US Marketing Trends” (in Japanese) is finally available, after many inquiries about “is it ready yet?” Since 2007, JaM has issued a series of bi-annual reports which our repeat customers say are “invaluable for keeping current on the latest trends and issues in the constant, ever-changing US marketing industry.” Topics include the continued growth of social media such as Facebook’s changing user base and how Twitter is being used. The report includes numerous examples of case studies and up-to-date data, analyzing the on- and offline life of consumers and the role of marketing. To order this 83-page report (in Japanese), contact jaminquiry@jamjapan.com.

Global interactive and digital marketing conference ad:tech will be held in Japan for the first time this year.

ad:tech Tokyo, to be held at the Prince Park Tower in Shiba Koen (Shiba Park) Tokyo September 2 – 3 with attendees from Japan and worldwide, is a marketing conference providing high value and vital information to keep abreast of the latest marketing trends and issues. Hisami will be a panelist in the session, Adding Mobile to the Mix at 1:30 – 2:25pm on Sept. 3. Details of the session and discussions will be updated later. Hisami will be in Japan again for this event and will stay until Sept. 16, so please contact us for requests for F2F meetings with her during this time.