1) Case Study : Capturing the youth market via TV, PC and Mobile: TV Asahi and the Hitachi Group
2) Industry Report: 5th International Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards
3) Mobile Research: Mobile Online Shopping
4) Carrier Trend: Launch of the NTT DoCoMo FOMA 902iS Series
5) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data

The "Hitachi Three Tours" Golf Championship marks the first attempt to play off teams of male and female senior top golfing professionals, including top prize-winning and invited players, organized via special cooperation of the Hitachi Group. To promote the event, TV Asahi developed a campaign utilizing PC and mobile in combination with broadcast television programming. Although cross-platform campaigns had been carried out in the past, this was the first one to be combined with mobile.

Both before and after the television program, advertisements were shown on the TV Asahi mobile site. In addition, while the program was airing, viewers were shown how they could access both the official PC site and the mobile sites in order to drive users to the program's official mobile destination. Via the mobile site, users were able to download the latest event information and Java-based golf games, both of which were made available only on mobile.

This mobile promotion was rolled out across all three Japanese carriers. This enabled anybody watching the live broadcast to participate. One of the aims of this mobile-centric campaign was to draw the attention of younger generations to golf programming as well as to show the appeal of the Hitachi brand. According to a spokesman for TV Asahi, "There are many people who are interested in the game element of the competition even if they're not very interested in golf itself. Entertainment content is a key factor in reaching new audiences." Naturally, this campaign also enriched the content offering for existing golf fans. The mobile site offered a wide variety of features including participating players' profiles and analysis as well as real-time scores via unique URLs. The latter information was targeted at spectators at the actual golf tournament so that they would know all the players' scores no matter where they were at the event. According to a company spokesman for TV Asahi, "We were able to deliver better value-add to the program and client branding by this kind of differentiation in terms of rich information and a sense of being closely connected to the event."

This cross-platform campaign was very successful in driving traffic to the mobile site during the program and creating a strong sense of appeal. In addition, by offering Java-based downloadable games, the campaign was able to secure new audiences. In Japan, digital terrestrial broadcasting service to mobile devices kicked off in April 2006 thereby merging the two platforms of Internet and television. More cross-platform media promotions are likely to be carried out in the future, making this campaign all the more significant as a case study.

This May, the Screening Committee of the Mobile Marketing&Advertising Awards convened in Japan to grant prizes to 19 companies competing in the leading industry competition for the best advertising and marketing campaigns using mobile. The Screening Committee was headed by Professor Mitsuaki Shimaguchi of the Keio Business School Graduate School of Business Administration. There were some 210 entrants, marking a vast increase over last year and illustrating the rapid expansion of mobile advertising. The Mobile Marketing&Advertising Awards have been held every year since 2002, when the competition was first established in Japan. The 5th annual event gave consideration to advertising and marketing campaigns utilizing mobile carried out in the period from April 2005 to March 2006.

This time around, new awards were established in the Creative category for Content Advertising and Push Advertising. This change was due to the diversification of mobile advertising that has taken place with the expansion of 3G terminals. The rise of 3G was also a major factor in the rise of entrants from185 last year to 210 in 2006, which included many applicants from overseas. The 19 prizes were awarded as follows: 7 Marketing prizes (Marketing category), 7 Picture Advertisement prizes (Creative category), 3 Content Advertisement awards (Creative category), and 2 Push Advertisement awards (Creative category).

In the Marketing category, special recognition was given to campaigns that took maximum advantage of integration with the mass media, the immediacy of mobile, and the utilization of digital premium gifts.

According to Screening Committee member Risa Tanaka (Editorial Chief at Senden Kaigi Magazine), "In a number of campaigns you could see very effective use of the core elements of brands on mobile." In addition, Koshi Uchiyama (GT, Inc.), a judge for this award event since 2002, stated, "In comparison to traditional mass media advertising, which emphasizes pages and volumes, mobile advertising exploits the ability to convey information instantly. This use of "instantaneity" is going to become even more powerful in the future."

In the Creative categories, recognition was given to campaigns that made use of innovations such as Macromedia Flash in advertisements, especially those that were highly polished, well designed, and featured innovative copy. According to Screening committee member Gugi Akiyama (Daily Fresh), "A strong sense of story is becoming increasingly important in campaigns. This is likely to be carried off better when the creators are involved in mobile." A similar opinion was voiced by Chair of the Screening Committee Atomu Suematsu (Atom) who said, "We're seeing the rise of really good creative people. With mobile advertising becoming a standard feature in companies and the establishment of flat-plan pricing for mobile data usage, creative people will enjoy even more freedom in this medium." Concluding remarks were given by Professor Shimaguchi, Head of the Screening Committee, who commented, "Recognition for mobile advertising is growing rapidly and being put to use by major media. This year, irrespective of the scale of campaigns, we've seen consistent use of the instantaneity and immediacy of mobile. The winners have been those campaigns that made the best use of these features and achieved the deepest communication with the end users. In addition, we were very impressed by the submissions from overseas entrants and expect to see the number of foreign applications increase in the future, while hoping to see Japan stay on the cutting edge of these campaigns."

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 the mobile online shopping.

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Result of Survey March 28, 2006
Respondents: 5,346 i-mode users
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The following is a survey conducted on mobile phone usage in Japan. It was conducted by the Internet-based DTR (Desktop Research) service INFO PLANT Co., LTD (Head office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Masaki OTANI, President, http://www.info-plant.com). Data was collected via a nationwide survey of mobile phone users from the networks of NTT DoCoMo, and based on valid responses from 5,346 users during a two-week period between February 28 - March 7, 2006. InfoPlant is dedicated to the expansion of research using mobile phones.

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<Survey Results Overview>
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60.9% of i-mode users have shopped online with i-mode and 82.5% plan to do so in the future: Survey of 5,349 i-mode users.

60.9% of respondents stated they had shopped online with i-mode and 82.5% said they planned to do so in the future. Looked at by gender, 49% of those with online shopping experience were male, compared with 67.6% female. In terms of those who plan to shop online via i-mode in the future, females made up the majority with 84.9% as compared to 78.6% males. Looked at by age and gender, the largest group at 70% were females ranging from their 20s to their 40s. In addition, over 70% of all age groups intended to use i-mode to shop in the future, with males and females in the lower age groups making up the largest group (see Table 1).

39.6% of males bought CDs, DVDs and Videos while 58.8% of females bought clothing and fashion accessories

Looked at by gender, the types of products bought via i-mode online shopping were as follows: the majority among males were CD, DVD and video (39.6%) followed by clothing and fashion accessories (34.1%), and books and magazines (30.4%). In terms of females, the majority of purchases were for clothing and fashion accessories (58.8%), followed by cosmetics (43.8%), and food and beverage (30.5%). Looked at by age and gender, the majority of males and females in higher age groups bought travel and accommodation tickets and food and beverages. Younger age groups bought CDs, DVDs and videos.In terms of those without online shopping experience or those planning to shop online in the future, the majority of males showed interest in CDs, DVDs, and videos (49.8%), followed by books and magazines (39.4%), and movie and concert tickets (37.3%). Among females, the majority showed interest in movie and concert tickets (43.5%), followed by travel and accommodation (41.1%) and CDs, DVDs, and videos (33.7%) (See Table 2)

Payment Methods: Cash on delivery (54.8%), Credit Card (39.1%) and Convenience Store (37.7%)

In terms of the payment methods used for i-mode online shopping, the most popular method was cash on delivery (54.8%), followed by credit card (39.1%) and payment at convenience store (37.7%). Looked at by gender, more women paid at convenience stores (male: 28%, female: 42%) and postal wire transfer (male: 11.6%, female: 26.6%). Looked at by age and gender, women who used payment at convenience stores tended to be in the lower age groups (See Table 3-1). In terms of the preferred payment method among those without online shopping experience or those planning to shop online in the future, the majority showed preference for payment at convenient stores (45.1%) followed by cash on delivery (39.6%) and payment on their phone bills (29.2%) (See Table 3).

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<Survey Description>
Questions:
(1)Have you ever shopped online and bought a product via i-mode?(Select one)
(2)Select all the products that you have bought when shopping online via i-mode (select multiple)
(3)Please choose the main payment method you have used when shopping online via i-mode.

Survey method: Open Survey on the i-mode Tokusuru menu
Survey period: February 28 - March 7 2006
Valid responses: 5,346 (Male: 37.8,Female: 62.2

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Q1) Have you ever shopped online and bought a product via i-mode? (Select one)

<Table 1> By gender and age

2)Select all the products that you have bought when shopping online via i-mode (select multiple)

<Table 2> By gender and age
*Survey parameters: 3,255 users who have shopped online via i-mode

3) Please choose the main payment method you have used when shopping online via i-mode. (Choose multiple)

<Table 3> By gender and age
*Survey parameters: 3,255 users who have shopped online via i-mode

** 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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Extended Capability for Transactions, Security and Music

On May 11, NTT DoCoMo announced the release of its latest FOMA handset series. According to Yoshiaki Maeda, Head of Consumer Services for the Multimedia Products and Services Divisions, the line-up of eight new handsets in the FOMA 9 Series New Modes all feature pre-installed DCMX i-appli credit services that support DoCoMo's mobile credit iD. In addition, they also include features such as an address book-saving service that allows storage of address book data on the network and a remote control lock function that enables users to secure personal data and IC card functions when they lose their phone (called Omakase Lock) using biometric security such as finger print and facial recognition. Furthermore, the new line-up includes handsets featuring enhanced music functionality such as the ability to download full-track music and playback for Windows Media Audio files just like an ordinary music player. Also, the FOMA 902iS High-Speed is the first device in Japan to be HSDPA compatible, enabling users to download musical programming during the night from new services such as Music Channel. These and other features of the FOMA 902iS series demonstrate the rapid growth of 3G usage in Japan.

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

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