1) Case Study 1:Integrated Campaign uses Mass Media,PC, and Mobile / Toyota Motor Corp
2) Case Study 2:Mixed Media Campaign/Dunlop
3) Industry Report:NTT DoCoMo's Message F as a Mass Medium
4) Mobile Research:Criteria for replacing a mobile phone
5) Carrier Trend:Disaster Alert System
6) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data

1)Integrated Campaign uses Mass Media, PC, and Mobile/Toyota Motor Corp

This spring, Toyota Motor Corp began selling it new "passo" model car, targeted to females in the 20-30 age groups. At the same time, it launched a marketing campaign geared to appeal to new customers ordinarily not interested in cars. The campaign used not only traditional mass media, but also included a new entertainment-oriented website accessible by both PCs and mobile phones titled "Petit Toyota Theatre".

 

The site was created to ensure that users could enjoy themselves even if they used only the mobile site. Using the built-in camera on the phone, users were allowed to send their photos to a special email address where an application would combine their nose on the face of the well-known "Petit Tomato" character and send it back to the user as a mobile phone screensaver or which could also be forwarded to a friend. In addition, by enabling users to generate their own avatar and send it via email, the site enabled users to encounter information about passo in a fun and entertaining way.

 

Meanwhile, users of the PC Internet could access similar content via the PC-web version of the Petit Toyota Theatre. As with the mobile site, the PC site enabled users to get on stage with their noses attached to a little Petit Tomato face hear an explanation of passo.

 

According to one PR spokesman for the company, "Many women find mobile phones much easier to use than PCs. This is why we set thing up so they could first access the site casually via their mobiles, and also later visit the passo PC site to actively and repeatedly enjoy it. It works extremely well with a PC that has an attached web cam."

 

To promote the mobile site, associated Tokunumbers were published in newspapers and magazines. In the six weeks after the start of the campaign, the mobile site received some 550,000 accesses while the PC site had about 400,000. By using the mobile site as an entry point and providing entertainment content, it excited a lot of interest. In combination with the trustworthiness of the Toyota brand, the campaign succeeded as in making the Toyota brand every more familiar.

2)Case Study 2:Dunlop's Mixed Media Campaign

For tire makers, it is important not only to appeal to auto manufacturers, but also to drive demand for replacement of parts among distributors of car accessories and consumers themselves. Dunlop Tires is focused not only its distribution strategy which includes retailers, but also on communicating with consumers. While previous campaigns have carried out promotions via traditional mass media, store front ads and the PC Internet, this campaign for its new product line was the first to ever incorporate an integrated mobile strategy. Participants in the campaign were collected not only via traditional means such as special postcards and the PC Internet, but via mobile as well.

 

To drive participation via mobile, Tokunumbers were used to enable users to jump quickly to the campaign mobile site. The campaign site number was publicized on TV, posters, and at store points-of-sale to drive users to the mobile site. This not only made it easier for users to access the site, but also helped to plan for interactivity across other media.

 

In last year's campaign, postcards and the PC Internet were used to collect some 100,000 participants. This year however, the mobile component of the campaign alone gathered 42,000 responses for a total of 150,000 participants. According to a company spokesman, "I think we can get even more users to access the site easily with higher awareness of Tokunumbers." From a cost perspective, in comparison to last year's campaign which made use of search engine portals on the Internet, the acquisition cost of each participant via mobile was only 2/3 the previous year, making for greater cost effectiveness.

 

In future campaigns, in light of the crucial role played by in-store communication with customers, planning is underway to use the campaign to increase purchase activity in the store and enhance interaction between customers and store personnel.

 

In this case study of Dunlop Tires, we have seen how mobile can be skillfully combined with a variety of high-contact media such as TV commercials, store points-of-purchase, posters, and others to build an integrated campaign to reach the target audience.

3)Industry Report:NTT DoCoMo's Message F as a Mass Medium

Many people have different ideas about the exact definition of the word "marketing".Although grammatically the term suggests bringing something to market, marketing guru Philip Kotler has called it the "Aha Experience." In any case, marketing can certainly be regarded as the process of penetrating daily life. Introducing a product or service can have an impact on the daily lives of consumers (generating affinity or desire), and eventually becomes absorbed into their lifestyle (via purchase or habituation). This process can be carried out highly effectively via traditional media that are already an integral part of our daily lives (with which we have regular contact).

 

Mobile phone ringing tones are on example of a product that has become integrated into many people's daily lives. Recently, ringing tones on mobile phones have been used in combination with alarm clock functions and have taken the place of the traditional alarm clock. As a result, ringing tones have become an important tool in marketing. Nobody can ignore the fact that mobile phones have become a crucial medium embedded in daily life, in effect, a new mass medium.

 

Another important mobile channel is NTT DoCoMo's so-called "Message F" . Message F is a push-medium platform that enables the reception of free messages (the user pays no data transport charges to receive them) by specific user groups based on sex, age, region, date or time.

 

By making contact with appropriate user groups at the appropriate times, it is possible to integrate a campaign seamlessly with people's daily lives. "Recency, referring to effect on purchase behavior that can be exerted by exposure to advertising immediately preceding the purchase, has become influential in marketing planning. This approach has become established in a variety of industries such as food and drink, distribution, and entertainment. In this regard, mobile phones are an extremely valuable tool for marketing, especially given the fact that they usually lie within 30 centimeter's reach of the average user 24 hours per day.

 

Since October 2004, pre-registration for MessageF has been phased out and is now automatic. There are currently some 3 million MessageF recipients, and emailings reach some 1 million persons monthly, and are expected to reach around 10 million individuals in 2004. In the future, MessageF is expected to reach half of NTT DoCoMo subscribers, or some 25 million users. There is no question that the emergence of such a powerful tool will unleash enormous potential for players in the world of marketing.

 

With growing concern over how to boost brand and sales response in marketing, mobile offers a number of mutual benefits. In this way, the Japanese definition of “marketing” implies an integrated approach that adds mobile to IT solutions.

4) Mobile Research:

In Japan today, a wide variety marketing surveys are conducted directly from 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 frequency with which i-mode users visit mobile Internet websites.

***********************************************************
Result of 138th Survey July 5-12, 2004
Respondents: 24,653 i-mode users
***********************************************************

The following is a survey conducted to study the number of people who participated in mobile campaigns they discovered through channels other than i-mode. It was conducted by the Internet-based research service INFO PLANT Co., LTD (Head office: Tokyo, Japan; Masaki OTANI, President). Survey data was collected via the "Tokusuru Menu (*)" on i-mode based on valid responses from 24,653 i-mode users during a one-week period between July 5-12, 2004.

 

<Survey Results Summary>
Criteria for replacing a mobile phone: Males buy phones with large, colorful screens, and females are attracted by phone model designs and colors.
=====================================================
<Survey Results Overview>
=====================================================
Overall, the most widely used phone was the 505i series (26.6%).Among males, the most popular was the 505i(27.1%),followed by the FOMA 900i series(21.9%),the 504i series,(15.7%),and other FOMA models(13.5%).Among women, the most popular handset was the 505i series(26.7%),251i/252i series(18.1%),the 504i series(17.7%),and the FOMA 900 series(16.3%).If one combines the number of users of the FOMA 900i and other FOMA devices FOMA, one can see the percentage of male FOMA users is 35.4%,and 27.0% of females.<Table1>

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32.4% of users plan to replace their handset within 3 months

 

Asked if they plan to replace their handset within 3 months, 9.2% said they would definitely change it, while 23.2% said they probably would, while 32.4% of all respondents said they had an intention to replace their handset. By contrast, 15.2% said they did not really want to replace their handset, and 38.3% said they would not get a new handset. There was no real notable difference based on gender. Looked at by gender, as age increases, there is an increase in the proportion of those who plan to change handsets. Among women, there is an increase among those who plan to replace their handsets in the over-50 group.

 

<Table 2>

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In terms of the criteria for purchasing a mobile phone, the majority of males prefer phones with large, colorful screens, while most females are attracted by phone model designs and colors. The most popular features among men were the large and vivid screens (49.8%),while among women the most popular points were handset design and colors (57.5%). The next most popular among men were handset design and colors (41.6%),and among women, large and vivid screens(46.0%). In addition, more men cited "ease of operation" as an important point while more women cited sited a built in camera, with responses between men and women showing a 10% difference
<Table3-1>

 

Looked at by age, the most popular points among men under 20 and women under 30 were handset design and colors. Among men over 30 and women over 40, the most popular points were large and vivid screens.
<Table3-2>

=====================================================

<Survey Description>
Questions:
1)Please select the type of handset you currently use (select 1)
2)Do you plan to replace your handset over the next 3 months? (select 1)
3)When you select a new handset, what are the most important points? (Select up to 3)

 

Survey method: open survey, using Tokusuru Menu on i-mode site.
Survey period:July 5-12, 2004(1 week)
No.of valid responses:24,653
Rate of valid response by gender: male 34.3%, female 65.7%
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Q1)Please select the type of handset you currently use (select 1)
<Table1-1>(By Gender/Age)

 

Q2)Do you plan to replace your handset over the next 3 months? (select 1)

 

<Table 2>(By Gender/Age)

 

Q3)When you select a new handset, what are the most important points? (Select up to 3)
<Table 3-1>(By Gender)

 

<Table 3-2>(By Gender/Age)

 

<Trend Data>(July 2003,April 2004,July 2004)

 

** 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
**********************************************************

 

5)Carrier Trend:The Role of Mobile as Social Infrastructure in Emergency Situations/Disaster Alert System

On the evening of October 23, a large scale earth quake struck Niigata Prefecture in the central Japan region region. The quake measured the maximum of 7 on the magnitude scale, followed by multiple large intermittent tremors. The day after, the aftershocks continued. The quake caused major damage, leaving 37 dead and 2442 people injured, as of November 3rd.

 

At the time of a disaster, one of the key priorities is to confirm the safety of friends and relatives, although it becomes harder to get through via phone lines in a disaster and it is generally hard to make contact.

 

As one counter measure, phone companies are providing message services. NTT offers a voice-based message service, which in the 24hours after the quake recorded some 70,000 sign-ups and 140,000 messages delivered. However, message services which rely on fixed-line phones can pose problems when homes have collapsed and people cannot use their phones.

 

By contrast, mobile phones, if their battery power can be conserved, can easily be used from shelters.NTT DoCoMo offers messaging services not based only on voice, but established a "Disaster Bulletin Board" on the top of the i-menu, enabling messaging via the mobile Internet. For users in the affected areas, the service allows people to set one of four preset statuses, including "safe," "hurt," "waiting at home," and "at a shelter", as well as enabling them to leave a message up to 100 characters long.

 

Since the service uses the customer's unique user ID, there is no need to register one's phone number. For users who want to confirm the safety of others, they have only to input another person's phone number to be able to search for messages from them. At present, registration is only possible via i-mode, but moving forward users will be able to check messages via the networks of other mobile operators as well as from their PCs. Some 50,000 people signed up for the service in the 24 hours after the disaster.

 

NTT DoCoMo launched the "i-mode Disaster Bulletin Board" in September of this year, with the plan to offer the service in the event of quakes measuring higher than a magnitude of 6. Presently, the Disaster Bulletin Board is only available via NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, but given its importance as critical social infrastructure, there is hope that the service will be made available to users across all Japan's mobile operator networks with full interoperability.

 

*Japan uses the Magnitude scale, where as the Richter Scale is used in the West.

6) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data

Here is the latest Japan cellular subscriber data for your reference.
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