No.9 May 10, 2004
Contents
1) Column: Mobile for Media <Part 8>
2) Case Study 1: Real and Virtual Promotions
3) Case Study 2: Making Extensive Use of Mobile Marketing
4) Industry Report: Enhanced Use of Java-based Applets
5) Mobile Research: Most Used Java-based Applet
6) Carrier Trend: Japan Launches Flat Fee Charging for Data Communications
7) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data
1) Column: Mobile for Media <Part 8>
Mobile Marketing Conference 2004
Recently, the number of Internet-capable mobile phone users in Japan has reached nearly 70 million of the country's population of 120 million, and mobile has been proved itself a powerful medium. Mobile has been widely used as marketing tool by making maximum use of its interactive features.
In light of this, it is fitting that Japan will be the venue for the largest ever mobile marketing conference, to be held on June 10th at the ANA Hotel Tokyo. It will be attended by hundreds of advertising agents, advertisers, SPs, marketers, and telecommunications people. Among the highlights will be a discussion at the event's Leader's Forum about the potential of using contactless technology for traditional mobile advertising and marketing. The event will also feature the announcement of the Grand Prize winner of the 3rd Mobile Marketing & Advertisement Awards.
PROGRAM:MMC_program.pdf
SPONSERS:MMC_sponsers.pdf
Those interested in participating should please contact Miho Yamamoto of D2 Communications Inc. (miho@d2c.co.jp)
2) Case Study 1: Real and Virtual Promotions: GignoSystem Japan, Inc.
Period: December 2003
One of the major issues facing mobile marketing is how to effectively combine virtual media with real world media.
One case worth looking at is the mobile site called Pro Wrestling DX, operated by GignoSystem Japan, Inc. This site conducted a campaign to boost site membership through collaboration between the mobile site and an actual pro wrestling competition. The promotion accordingly boosted interest in pro wrestling itself.
Pro Wrestling DX has been ranked as one of the most accessed sites among various other wrestling sites on the operator portal. One of the keys to it popularity is its rich content. The site includes detailed information about Japan's major pro wrestling organizations, news flashes about competitions, original wallpapers of pro wrestlers, ringers featuring the voices of pro wrestlers, personal diaries by pro wrestlers and referees, and more.
The emergence of this site has enabled many fans to enjoy pro wrestling beyond the confines of daily competitions and traditional broadcasting.
The mobile site also served to connect fans with actual wrestling events at a competition held on January 4th 2004. A promotion was held on the Pro Wrestling DX mobile site to boost interest in pro wrestling, centering on a contest with prizes to predict the winner of the match. In combination with the actual event, an ad campaign was launched centering on a contest called TOTO BATTLE to predict the winner of the match. By using a Toku Number (*) published not only in magazines but displayed on wrapped bus advertisements, brochure, and on the pathway leading to the ring, so-called Hanamichi, the campaign made it possible for any of the 70 million Japanese with an Internet-enabled mobile phone to access all kinds of pro wrestling information and participate in the voting competition on the site.
Previously, mobile has been used as a way of drawing attention to real events, such as shops (Click & Mortar). On the other hand, this promotion drove mobile users at the real event to participate in the virtual one.
All 53,000 seats were sold out for the pro wrestling event, and 6300 people participated in the TOTO BATTLE voting on the mobile site. In allowing fans to share the fervor of the event via their mobiles, the site helped stimulate participation by the community of pro wrestling fans. The ultimate target of this campaign was to acquire more paying members, but the most effective result was to revitalize the pro wrestling fan community.
Many companies have established communities centering around their products or brands to strengthen customer loyalty. This particular case serves as an important example to how this can be achieved.
* Toku Number: A short code that when input into any of Japan's 70 million Internet-enabled mobiles connects the user directly to a designated mobile campaign site or clients' mobile site.
3) Case Study 2: Making Extensive Use of Mobile Marketing: Nitten Co., Ltd.
Period: September 22 to November 24, 2003
Numerous case studies of Japan Mobile Marketing Magazine have shown the effectiveness of mobile marketing for organizing events. Such events have tended to be music concerts and movies, whose audiences consist in Japan primarily of younger people. Yet how effective is mobile marketing in organizing more traditional events, such as art exhibitions?
Th 35th Nihon Art Exhibition (Nitten) was held at the Tokyo Museum from November 2-24th, 2003. Although this show has been the most famous exhibition of its kind in Japan for decades, attendance has been on a decline. Therefore, the organizer, Nitten Co., Ltd., was eager to extend the makeup of its audience art lovers to include young people, who are infrequent visitors to museums.
This is where mobile could play a key role.
Nitten published its exhibition announcement on the Tokusuru Menu (*) of the i-mode portal site on two occasions, from September 22nd-28th and from October 20-27th. Via a mobile sweepstakes, 600 lucky mobile users were able to win free digital tickets to the exhibition. These digital tickets were delivered as QR codes, two-dimensional codes that hold a considerably greater volume of information than a conventional bar code and are easily interpreted by scanner equipment.
Emails containing specific URLs were sent to those winners of the sweepstakes. By
Clicking the URL, users accessed Nitten's site and got a QR code containing their personal information. Winners kept the data on their mobile and brought their phones to the entrance. By holding up their mobiles to a bar code reader, it was possible to recognize each two-dimensional code as ticket and let them enter. Using such digital tickets reduced mailing costs while arousing interest of mobile users.
Another key feature of this campaign was usage of a Toku Number, a short code that when input into any of Japan's 70 million Internet-enabled mobiles connects the user directly to a designated mobile campaign site or clients' mobile site. Listing Toku Numbers in traditional media like TV, magazine, newspaper, radio makes for a smooth mixed media campaign.
In this case, users input the Toku Number listed in City Living, a lifestyle information publication targeted at female office workers. The listing was geared to draw young females as well as to encourage them to use the museum as a place to bring their dates.
At the exhibition, the number of visitors reached 186,000, showing the first increase within four years, and proving the value of mobile for distribution of questionnaires, tickets, and delivering event information to the target audience.
Another distinctive feature seen in this case was the rise in digital ticket users appearing toward the end of the event. Digital tickets are easily stored in mobile phones, and it is presumed that winners who held on to their digital tickets made the trip to the museum later on when they became free. This easy storage feature is no doubt one of the added merits of digital tickets.
This case showed how the power of mobile marketing can be harnessed even in unexpected cases, such as by combining traditional media like art exhibitions with cutting-edge mobile phone technology.
* For detail, please see Our Lines of Business
4) Industry Report: Enhanced Use of Java-based Applets
NTT DoCoMo's latest 3G phones, known as the 900i series, have expanded the usable file size of Java-based applets to a capacity of 100K, enabling more complicated and richer expression than otherwise possible with other Java-based applets. Research has shown that around 70% of i-mode handset users are using Java-based applets. The enhancement of mobile terminals is expected to further increase the size of the mobile applet market and the number of applet users. Applets are most widely used by mobile game players, who know best the entertainment value it provides.
In this context, this is leading to an increase in Java-based applets for mobile marketing purposes. One example of such a Java-based applet is the so-called "Standby Screen (or Phone-Wallpaper) Slots", developed by SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
This is a kind of standby screen (or phone wallpaper) with a slot-machine function in which the slots start to spin when people finish talking on their phones. Via the game, winners can win presents, and this is used for mobile marketing purposes. As the number of calls increases, so does the user's chance of winning, encouraging customers to use "Standby Screen (or Phone-Wallpaper) Slots" machine game as their standby screen (or phone wallpaper) all the time. Clients and sponsors are able to change the images displayed in the Standby Screen (or Phone-Wallpaper) Slots, enabling them to display their brand image at all times to user. This is one example of an application that meets the needs of both the client and user.
Likewise, Java-based applets are being effectively used in other segments of mobile marketing. With further ingenuity, we expect to see a number of novel applications emerge, for mobile CRM and other purposes.
5) Mobile Research: Most Used Java-based Applet
In Japan today, a wide variety marketing surveys are conducted directly via participant's mobile phones. These surveys can prove extremely valuable in collecting otherwise inaccessible information about new consumer markets. The survey featured below focuses on the usage of most popular Java-based applets.
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Result of 91st Survey September 2, 2003
Most used i-appli (*) are game, ringing tones, and either clock or phone wallpaper (standby screen).
Respondents: 22,699 i-mode users
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In Japan, 21,608,000 i-appli capable handsets sold by end of December 2003. This means more than half of i-mode handsets are i-appli capable terminals. (NTT DoCoMo's Operational Data: 3rd Qtr of 2003) The following is a survey conducted to study the usage tendencies of i-mode users. It was conducted by Internet-based research service INFO PLANT Co., LTD (Head office: Tokyo, Japan). Survey data was collected via the Tokusuru Menu (**) on i-mode from 22,699 i-mode users between August 11 to 18, 2003.
* Java-based applet. For more information on i-appli, see http://www.nttdocomo.com/
** The Tokusuru Menu is an original service developed by D2C, accessible by selecting item no. 4 from the i-menu of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service portal. It carries premium information such as campaign information.
<Survey Results Summary>
78.9% of respondents had i-appli capable terminals, and there were no distinguishable differences between gender and age. (Table 1-1)
76.7% responded they had experience using an i-appli service. 31.4% respondents said they used i-appli services all the time while 45.3% said they used them sometimes. 15.8% said they used to use them before but no longer used them now, while 7.5% replied that they knew about i-appli services but had never used them. There were no distinguishable differences between genders, however, in terms of age, users under 19 showed a high rate of usage compared to other generations; more than 80% of under-19s use i-appli services. Among males, as age goes up, the number of people who use i-appli decreases. On the other hand, huge differences were not seen among generation for women: average of 70% of upper-20s use i-appli services. (See Table 1-2)
Most used i-appli used are games with a rate of 75.6%, followed by i-appli for ringing tones (34.8%), and third were functional applications such as a clock or phone wallpaper (standby screen) (28.8%). By gender, males make more use of map and traffic information i-appli than female. By contrast, females more frequently used i-appli for ringing tones and fortune telling or horoscope applications.
When looked at both from a gender and generational perspective, as age goes up, so does the rate of usage among both genders for i-appli for ringing tones, train timetable and transfer information, weather, map and traffic information, and news. More females used clock and phone wallpaper i-appli, while there is higher usage by males of stock information. Games on the other hand, showed decreased usage in proportion to higher ages. (Table 2)
68.7% of respondents said they get i-appli information from i-mode sites. 36.6% said from they get it from the "i-appli Search" function on the official portal, which let mobile users to search the portal for sites that provide i-appli service. 24.3% said they got their i-appli information from the DoCoMo brochure. By gender, more males choose magazines as an information resource. However, as age goes up, fewer male get their i-appli information from magazines. No such major differences were seen for females. On the other hand, the number of people using the DoCoMo brochure increases as age goes up (for both genders). For the under-19 group, word of mouth (WOM) was the most popular method of getting information. (Table 3)
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<Survey Description>
Questions:
(1) How often do you use i-appli services? (Choose one)
(2) Choose the i-appli services you use most. (Choose three)
(3) Where do you get information about i-appli? (Choose three)
Survey method: open survey, using Tokusuru Menu on i-mode site.
Survey period: August 11 to 18, 2003 (one week)
No. of valid responses: 22,699
Rate of valid response by gender: male 34.1%, female 65.9%
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Q1) How often do you use i-appli services? (Choose one)
<Table 1> i-appli capable terminals or not
By gender and age
| i-appli Capable Terminals | Not Capable | |
| All | 78.1% | 21.1% |
| Male | 82.8% | 17.2% |
| Under 19 | 84.3% | 15.7% |
| 20-29 | 82.4% | 17.6% |
| 30-39 | 82.1% | 17.9% |
| 40-49 | 84.0% | 16.0% |
| Above 50 | 87.8% | 12.2% |
| Female | 76.9% | 23.1% |
| Under 19 | 80.0% | 20.0% |
| 20-29 | 75.7% | 24.3% |
| 30-39 | 77.1% | 22.9% |
| 40-49 | 80.0% | 20.0% |
| Above 50 | 76.5% | 23.5% |
<Table 1-2> By gender and age
*Population parameter: those 17,903 who have i-appli capable terminals
| Use All the time | Use Sometimes | Used to Use Before but Not Anymore | Know but Have Never Used | |
| All | 31.4% | 46.3% | 15.8% | 7.5% |
| Male | 31.4% | 46.3% | 15.5% | 6.8% |
| Under 19 | 39.3% | 45.5% | 13.2% | 2.0% |
| 20-29 | 33.1% | 45.3% | 16.6% | 5.0% |
| 30-39 | 31.5% | 45.5% | 16.3% | 6.7% |
| 40-49 | 26.2% | 50.8% | 12.3% | 10.7% |
| Above 50 | 27.7% | 44.1% | 15.4% | 12.8% |
| Female | 31.5% | 44.8% | 15.9% | 7.8% |
| Under 19 | 37.7% | 46.1% | 13.0% | 3.2% |
| 20-29 | 30.6% | 45.4% | 16.9% | 7.1% |
| 30-39 | 30.6% | 43.6% | 16.0% | 9.8% |
| 40-49 | 33.7% | 43.6% | 12.7% | 10.0% |
| Above 50 | 26.1% | 50.5% | 13.5% | 9.9% |
2) Choose the i-appli services you use most (Choose three
<Table 2> By gender and age
*Population parameter: those 13,754 who are using i-appli service.
| Game | Ringing Tones | Clock orPhone Wallpaper | Train Time Table or Transfer Info. | Weather | |
| All | 75.6% | 34.8% | 28.8% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| Male | 75.6% | 29.5% | 27.0% | 15.4% | 17.4% |
| Under 19 | 91.3% | 28.4% | 28.7% | 14.7% | 12.9% |
| 20-29 | 82.9% | 27.7% | 26.7% | 12.9% | 13.5% |
| 30-39 | 74.4% | 29.5% | 27.3% | 15.3% | 17.2% |
| 40-49 | 65.0% | 31.8% | 26.4% | 19.0% | 23.1% |
| Above 50 | 43.6% | 36.4% | 26.4% | 25.0% | 35.7% |
| Female | 75.7% | 37.8% | 29.9% | 12.9% | 11.6% |
| Under 19 | 88.4% | 34.6% | 28.1% | 11.3% | 6.7% |
| 20-29 | 80.3% | 35.3% | 28.5% | 11.8% | 10.4% |
| 30-39 | 69.2% | 40.4% | 30.7% | 13.5% | 13.1% |
| 40-49 | 57.1% | 47.4% | 36.2% | 19.4% | 17.9% |
| Above 50 | 40.0% | 50.6% | 44.7% | 25.9% | 30.6% |
| Map or Traffic Information |
News | Fortune telling/ Horoscope | Stock | Other | |
| All | 8.4% | 6.6% | 11.5% | 1.4% | 29.0% |
| Male | 12.9% | 9.7% | 5.7% | 2.9% | 32.1% |
| Under 19 | 6.0% | 5.7% | 8.4% | 0.9% | 32.0% |
| 20-29 | 8.6% | 7.7% | 5.1% | 1.4% | 34.9% |
| 30-39 | 13.8% | 9.6% | 5.2% | 3.4% | 31.6% |
| 40-49 | 19.8% | 13.0% | 7.2% | 4.1% | 30.1% |
| Above 50 | 20.7% | 22.9% | 4.3% | 9.3% | 22.1% |
| Female | 5.8% | 4.8% | 14.8% | 0.5% | 27.2% |
| Under 19 | 3.3% | 1.7% | 15.6% | 0.1% | 30.6% |
| 20-29 | 4.9% | 3.6% | 13.7% | 0.5% | 25.8% |
| 30-39 | 7.0% | 6.1% | 15.6% | 0.6% | 28.7% |
| 40-49 | 10.4% | 10.4% | 17.1% | 1.3% | 26.2% |
| Above 50 | 8.2% | 15.3% | 17.6% | 3.5% | 23.5% |
3) Where do you gain information of i-appli? (Choose three)
<Table 3> By gender and age
| Maga zine |
TV | Internet | i-mode | iappli Search(Official Site) | Broche of DoCoMo | WOM | Shop | Other | Get no infor mation |
|
| All | 17.4% | 3.7% | 9.3% | 68.7% | 36.6% | 24.3% | 9.3% | 1.2% | 5.3% | 12.3% |
| Male | 24.1% | 3.3% | 13.5% | 68.9% | 38.2% | 21.9% | 9.7% | 1.0% | 6.4% | 11.6% |
| Under 19 | 27.2% | 4.5% | 20.3% | 77.3% | 36.2% | 16.7% | 23.8% | 1.9% | 9.0% | 6.4% |
| 20-29 | 27.6% | 4.1% | 13.3% | 70.2% | 36.9% | 20.6% | 12.4% | 0.9% | 5.1% | 11.6% |
| 30-39 | 23.1% | 2.5% | 12.3% | 67.2% | 38.9% | 21.9% | 7.4% | 0.6% | 6.6% | 12.5% |
| 40-49 | 20.6% | 3.3% | 13.8% | 68.1% | 40.1% | 25.1% | 6.2% | 1.8% | 7.7% | 11.4% |
| Above 50 | 15.8% | 5.9% | 15.3% | 69.8% | 33.3% | 28.4% | 7.2% | 1.4% | 5.0% | 10.8% |
| Female | 14.0% | 3.8% | 7.1% | 68.5% | 35.8% | 25.5% | 9.1% | 1.3% | 4.7% | 12.7% |
| Under 19 | 14.7% | 5.4% | 8.2% | 75.4% | 38.1% | 21.8% | 14.9% | 1.3% | 5.1% | 8.1% |
| 20-29 | 14.3% | 4.0% | 6.5% | 67.6% | 35.9% | 26.5% | 7.8% | 1.2% | 4.6% | 12.8% |
| 30-39 | 13.4% | 3.4% | 7.0% | 67.0% | 35.6% | 26.5% | 7.4% | 1.2% | 4.3% | 14.1% |
| 40-49 | 14.8% | 3.0% | 8.9% | 71.9% | 33.2% | 27.8% | 7.4% | 1.2% | 6.9% | 11.7% |
| Above 50 | 6.2% | 4.1% | 14.5% | 75.9% | 33.8% | 28.3% | 9.7% | 1.4% | 8.3% | 13.1% |
** Questions and Interviews for this survey**********
INFO PLANT CO., LTD.
Email:info@info-plant.com
TEL :+81-3-3367-1967, FAX :+81-3-3367-1961
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6) Carrier Trend: Japan Launches Flat Fee Charging for Data Communications
In Japan, the number of Internet-enabled mobile phone subscribers reached 70 million at end of April 2004 (population: 120m). Data communication charges, which are generated when downloading and uploading content to and from the Internet via mobile phones, is the second largest source of profits for Japanese mobile operators after voice calling charges. Nonetheless, there are people who are reluctant to use the mobile Internet due to concerns over high data communication charges. There are also people whose data communication charges are unexpectedly high due to overuse of mobile Internet services. Some mobile operators issue warnings to customers or stop their service when usage charges reach certain limits..
Under such circumstances, there have been calls for fixed fees on data communications, not only by mobile users, but also by content providers who would like to see user data fees reduced to encourage greater consumption of content services. In response to this, the first move was made by KDDI, which initiated fixed-fee charging starting in November 2003 with the launch of its broadband mobile CDMA 1WIN service, which is based on a CDMA 2001 1X EV-DO system. Maximum downstream data transfer speeds are said to be 2.4Mbps, and users get unlimited data traffic and email usage for a flat fee of 4200 yen monthly in addition to base charges.
Following suit, NTT DoCoMo announced last month that starting in June 2004, it would introduce flat-fee charging for data communication, calling the package "Packet Hodai ("unlimited packet use"). This service will however be limited only to FOMA (3G) users whose usage charges are already above a certain level. Additionally, NTT DoCoMo announced it would reduce data communication charges by up to 50% starting in May 2004.
By contrast, Vodafone has not yet introduced any flat-fee charging for data communication. However, Vodafone has provided an 80% discount on data communications since last November, called its "Happy Packet" plan. This discount package is available both to users of Vodafone's next-generation VGS（Vodafone Global Standard）service and to its 2.5G PDC customers..
More advanced, richer content via 3G services have been anticipated for a long time. There is no doubt that a flat-fee charging system will encourage mobile customers to use richer content and thus generate higher volumes of data traffic.
7) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data
Here is the latest Japan cellular subscriber data for your reference.
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