1) Case Study 1:Benesse Corporation launches mixed media campaign with mobile core
2) Case Study 2:Nichirei drives mobile campaign with transportation and magazine advertisements
3) Industry Report:D2C Mobile Marketing and Advertising Awards Competition
4) Mobile Research:68.9% sent e-cards for New Year’s, of which 98.4% used i-mode
5) Carrier Trend:Mobile drives spread of e-cash
6) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data

1)Case Study 1: Benesse Corporation launches mixed media campaign with mobile at center

Benesse Corporation, which offers correspondence school courses, launched a campaign timed for the start of the school semester to attract high school students as new prospective students. This particular campaign went beyond the usual mailing of brochures to offer prospective students a free book gift featuring the experiences and other information collected from students who had previously participated in Benesse's study programs. The aim was to use the book to arouse interest and strengthen the target group's awareness as prospective students.

 

Previously, school brochures had simply been sent in direct mailings, but in this case, the mailing part of the campaign was complimented by outdoor advertising placed near radio stations and college campuses favored by middle school students. People wishing to receive the free gift could apply via postcard, telephone, mobile Internet, and PC Internet.

 

To drive more accesses via mobile, a special Tokunumber was used to allow users to jump directly to the campaign site. The Tokunumber was promoted on campaign posters and radio commercials. In addition, a variety of other means were also used to facilitate mobile access, including 2D bar codes, push-style “Message Free” direct mobile email, as well as links from the mobile sites of radio stations. Thanks to these techniques, the portion of mobile applications in the campaign far surpassed expectations.

 

This campaign was the first one in which Benesse directly used mobile Internet. The reason for implementing a mobile campaign was the extremely strong results shown by the mobile sites already being offered to students taking courses. These sites have been used for mobile mail magazines dealing with respective magnet universities, requests for exam prep materials, English language vocabulary quizzes, and have received strong reviews from students. By developing a mixed media campaign with mobile at the center and targeting the right high school students, this promotion was able to bring about good results in driving more applications and increasing the number of students signing up.

2)Case Study 2: Nichirei drives mobile campaign with transportation and magazine advertisements

Increasing attention is being paid to the use of transportation advertisements to drive mobile promotions that capitalize on the time people spend standing in trains or waiting on platforms, since there is extremely high mobile usage by people who are out and about with their phones. One example of this is the foods company Nichirei, which carried out such a promotion in a campaign to promote a new diet drink product, using transportation advertising to drive customers to its mobile campaign site.

 

The campaign product, branded "GooDiet," is a health and diet drink that contains a combination of L-Carnitine, which supports fat burning, and natural acerola vitamin C.This campaign was primarily targeted at health-conscious males aged 20-30, and consisted of advertisements placed in male-oriented magazines, public transportation, along with a mobile promotion. According to a company spokesman, the goal of the mobile promotion was to take advantage of the fact that mobile phones have been widely adopted by the target group as a key means of personal communication and to reap the benefit of word-of-mouth communication to help drive the mobile campaign.

 

A special gift campaign was also combined with the PET-bottled version of the product. People who signed up for the gift also were entered in a drawing to receive tickets to the premier opening of the film "The Terminal," starring Tom Hanks. This information was promoted both in magazine and public transportation advertising, and supported by the use of by a simple Tokusuru number that users could type into their phones to access the campaign site directly.

 

In order to sign up for the promotion, users were required to type in the name of the ingredient L-Carnitine, which was devised as a way to strengthen awareness of the product's uniqueness and its main ingredient. In carrying out this promotion for only 2 weeks, the mobile promotion succeeded in attracting 1.5x the usual number of valid participants. In addition, the campaign did not suffer from having the number of participants fall off steeply in the days after it was launched. Instead, the numbers steadily rose as time passed, demonstrating the important contribution of the public transportation advertisements.

 

This was the first time Nichirei carried out this type of promotion. According to a company spokesperson, the mobile component offered several merits to the campaign, particularly in enabling them to measure numerically the impact of magazine and public transportation advertising, which was previously very difficult to do. In addition, Nichirei was particularly struck that it can now interact with its customers directly via the mobile channel, which is opening up new possibilities for the expanded use of mobile in future promotions.

3)Industry Report:The 4th International Mobile Advertising Awards

As part of its efforts to further the development and broader adoption of mobile advertising communication and marketing, D2C Communications (D2C) is sponsoring the Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards competition for the 4th consecutive year since it introduced the event in 2002 and is announcing its call for submissions for the 2005 round.

 

The 4th Intenational Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards is divided into two main categories, namely Creative and Marketing. Prizes will be awarded after screening by a panel judges for the best expression in advertisements disseminated via or distributed to i-mode and other Internet-enabled mobile phones as well as for marketing activities that utilize mobile phones.

 

The submissions will be evaluated by the Mobile Advertising Awards Selection Committee, which consists of a panel of judges made up of industry experts and leaders in creative, SP and marketing from top advertising agencies. This year's competition will be open to entries in mobile advertising and marketing distributed or executed between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005.

 

Submissions will be accepted starting February 3. Screening will take place in May and the prize winners will be announced at the beginning of June. The competition will continue to be held once each year hereafter to help drive the development and adoption of mobile in advertising communication.

 

4th International Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards

1.Mission
To promote and develop excellence in advertising communication and marketing via mobile phones

 

2.Competition Name
4th International Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards

 

3.Sponsor
D2C Communications Inc.

 

4.Prizes

<Creative Division>
-Picture Advetisement Prize
Recognition will be given to picture-based advertisements that demonstrate excellence in visual effects, expressiveness, and design.

 

Advertisements executed in .gif, .bmp or .png format that have been developed to include a click-phone-mail response format will be considered.

 

-Infotainment Prize
Attention will be given to excellence in advertisements designed to promote a particular product or service that utilize platforms such as Java applets, flash, i-motion, or BREW and that offer consumers outstanding expression, entertainment, or convenience in a visual or dynamic fashion.

 

*Infotainment is a hybrid word that brings together elements from information and entertainment, and refers to information that is provided with an entertaining element.

 

<Marketing Division>
-Marketing Prize
Recognition will be given to campaigns that best utilize the features of mobile, that show effective promotion of sales, linkage of the four mass media channels, and that make use of premium rewards to users in ways that produce clear positive results.

 

5.Scope of Submissions
Consideration will be given to marketing and advertising campaigns launched between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005 that utilize Internet-enabled mobile phones ("browser phones")

 

6.Selection Process
Selection will be made by panel of judges that makes up the Mobile Marketing and Advertising Committee

 

7.Schedule (Tentative)
Submissions accepted / Feb 3,2004(Thurs)
Submission deadline / April 30 (Saturday)
1st Screening Round / Early May
2nd Screening Round / Late May
Prize Announcements/Award Ceremony / June 6, 2005 (Monday)

 

*The Awards Ceremony will be held at the ANA hotel in Tokyo on Monday June 6, during the D2C 5th Year Founding Anniversary Party.

 

8.Submission Process
Applicants are required to complete an application form and submit it along with examples of their work via email or postal mail to the Secretariat's Office. Applications may be downloaded from the D2C website http://www.d2c.co.jp/english/award4th.php

 

9.Mailing Address
MMA Secretariat's Office
D2C Communications Inc.

 

Siodome Sumitomo Building 18F
1-9-2 Higashishinbashi,
Minato-ku,Tokyo 105-0021 Japan
Phone:+81-3-6252-3100
Fax:+81-3-6252-3111
Email: award@d2c.co.jp

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 159th Survey Sept. 13 - Sept. 20, 2004
Respondents: 10,885 mobile users
***********************************************************

The following is a survey conducted to study people's usage of e-cards and i-mode phones in Japan during the New Year's season. 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 10,885 i-mode users during a one-week period between December 27 - Jan 3, 2005
=====================================================
<Survey Results Overview>
=====================================================

68.9% sent 2005 New Year's e-cards, of which 98.4% sent via i-mode.

 

68.9% 7,505

 

In terms of the method for sending e-cards, 98.4% said they sent them from their mobile phones, as compared to only 10% sending them via a PC. Looked at by age and gender, more than 90% of all groups reporting sent their e-cards from i-mode. By contrast, as age increased, so did the number of those sending e-cards from their PCs.
(Table 1-2)
"Sent via i-mode" and "Sent via PC" both include people who responded "sent via i-mode and via PC")

------------------------------------------------------------------------
94% sent an e-card to a friend via i-mode

 

Of those sending e-cards via i-mode, 94.4% send them to a friend, followed by users sending them to people from work (28.2%) and lovers (25.9%). Looked at by gender, there were no noticeable differences. Looked at by age and gender, the portion of those sending to friends decreased as age increased. Further more, the number of those sending e-cards to family and relatives was highest among men and women 50 and over.
(Table 2)

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Of regular post cards sent, 89.5% went to friends, 63.8% to colleagues, and 61.7% to family.

 

83.4% (9,073of all respondents sent New Year's postcards via regular mail. Looked at by age and gender, men 19 and under and in their 20s comprised the smallest group.

 

As for the recipients of post cards, the most popular were friends (89.5%), followed by people from work (63.8%) and relatives (61.7%). Looked at by gender, more men tended to send postcards to people they knew from work while women were more likely to send cards to school acquaintances such as teachers and students, with each showing a difference of 10 percentage points variation in comparison to the opposite sex.

 

Looked at by age and gender, both males and females were more likely to send postcards to family as their ages go up.
When comparing e-cards sent by i-mode and postcards sent by mail, i-mode e-cards tended more often to be sent to friends and lovers, while post cards were more likely to go to people in the other categories.
(Table 3)

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

<Survey Description>
Questions:
1)This New Year's, did you send a New Year's card via email? (Select 1)
2)Please select the people to whom you sent your i-mail e-cards. (multiple answers)
3)Please select the people to whom you sent post cards by regular mail (multiple answers)

 

Survey method: Open Survey, i-mode Tokusuru menu
Survey period: December 27-January 3, 2005 (1 week)
Valid responses: 10,885
Rate of valid response by gender: male 28.3%, female 71.7%
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 beneficial information such as campaign information. For more information, please contact D2C Communications at press@d2c.co.jp
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q1) This New Year's, did you send a New Year's card via email? (Select 1)

 

<Table1>(By Gender/Age)

 

Q2)Please select the people to whom you sent your i-mail e-cards? (multiple answers)
<Table 2>(By Gender/Age)
Population parameters [Sent an e-card via i-mode (including those who used both i-mode and a PC to send their e-card(7,385)]

 

Q3)Where do you generally obtain your ring tone? (Select up to 3)
<Table 3>(By Gender/Age)

 

** 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: Mobile drives spread of e-cash, Family mart uses Suica, Odaiba uses Edy

Since the launch of NTT DoCoMo's mobile wallet (i-mode FeliCa), Japan has seen a rapid expansion in the use of e-cash at more shops and other companies. This autumn, JR East is expected to introduce the mobile phone version of its contactless Suica card so that compatible phones can be used for making payment when passing through ticket gates, and KDDI is planning to launch IC-card enabled phones, marking an even greater spread of e-cash usage.
Meanwhile, e-cash services that make use of FeliCa contactless IC technology are being introduced on an increasingly large scale.
In February of 2004,the Odaiba/Edy Contactless IC Project was launched with collaboration by UC Card, NTT DoCoMo, BitWallet, Sony, and All Nippon Airways. The project resulted in the equipping of 227 shops and 8 facilities in the Odaiba area with Edy e-cash services supplied by BitWallet.

 

The major facilities deployed included Aqua City Odaiba, Decks Tokyo Beach, Mediage, and Tokyo Joypolis. In all these facilities, Edy-based e-cash services can be used with an NTT DoCoMo mobile wallet, an ANA Mileage Club Car, or a UC Card "Daiba Seaside-Pass." It is the largest scale e-cash project in Japan.

 

Meanwhile JR East's existing contactless ticketing card, Suica, continues to be more widely usable at retail shops for transactions, and it is now possible to shop with Suica at shops located within the JR station buildings. Familymart has announced that by September 2005, it will support purchases with Suica e-cash at 1000 of its retail outlets. Of the some 10 million Suica cards now issued, some 5 million are enabled for use as e-cash and not just for ticketing.
In addition, smaller scale facilities and retail shops are also moving toward adopting e-cash. Sony Corp, which originally developed FeliCa, has announced a product called "FeliCa Pocket," that support the use e-cash, point cards, ID cards and more. Without the need to develop any applications, shops which wish to utilize FeliCa can simply purchase the types of cards and readers they want to use and thereby offer their own e-money services.
FeliCa Pocket is compatible with NTT DoCoMo's mobile wallet. It is not yet compatible with Edy or Suica, but this is being considered for the future.
NTT DoCoMo, which has led the industry with its introduction of FeliCa enabled mobile phones, has launched its latest 901i series with three FeliCa embedded models and announced that all future models to be developed will carry FeliCa in them. In addition, KDDI has announced plans this fall to release models equipped with a contactless IC chip and has agreed with BitWallet to offer an e-cash service based on Edy.
Up until now, there have been a number of different e-cash systems available but none were very widely adopted. By embedding e-cash in mobile phones, which nearly every consumer has, e-cash should grow to become more familiar and convenient and drive even broader adoption of this technology. For shops as well, the increase in usage by ordinary consumers will also make it easier for them to introduce e-cash services.

6) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data

Here is the latest Japan cellular subscriber data for your reference.
Please go to: Latest News

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