Skall Headz will be performing too!
Showing posts with label InterFM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label InterFM. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
I'll be Hosting Bam! on 76.1 InterFM Tonight 9 pm ~ 11pm
Tonight and every night this week, I'll be hosting an underground music / comedy show called Bam! on 76.1 InterFM (Monday ~ Friday 9 pm ~ 11pm.
And we give away free booze every night! Yes! We can!
The good folks at iwine.jp are providing two bottles of Chile wine from the Emiliana Vineyards for some lucky winners who can send in some e-mail concerning something we talk about on the show. If the email is very funny or interesting, that listener wins a free bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon!
REPO-MAN
IF YOU LIKE THIS MOVIE, YOU'LL LIKE OUR RADIO SHOW
Bam! Only plays the coolest and newest underground music and Punk in Japan. We play the new stuff before anyone else in the country. Check the playlist here (scroll to bottom of the page).And we give away free booze every night! Yes! We can!
The good folks at iwine.jp are providing two bottles of Chile wine from the Emiliana Vineyards for some lucky winners who can send in some e-mail concerning something we talk about on the show. If the email is very funny or interesting, that listener wins a free bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon!
The program can also be tuned into on Rajiko (http://radiko.jp/).
Check out iwine.jp for great wines deals online. Join as a member and win free wines every month!
Monday, May 2, 2011
A Real-Life Example of Why Branding Matters and an Example of a Branding Failure!
Last night, I sat and drank next to a guy at my local watering hole. I had seen him there before and last night was really the first time we had spoken. I didn't know who he was, or what he did, but was very surprised to find out that he is the program director of one of the top, and most famous AM radio stations in all of Japan. Now before you say, "Hold it, Mike! AM radio!? Boooooring! I'm turning it off!" Then let me ask that you read this story to see an example of how not to do things.
I had gone to one of my favorite drinking holes in Yoga, a Izakaya named Sakura. Sakura has been in the same place for nearly 30 years. It is a very old fashioned neighborhood drinking hole in the wall.
I always like to go to these places like Sakura early as that allows me to drink quietly before the crowds, to talk to the owners about what's really going on with the Japanese people in the neighborhood (I've never seen any foreigners there), and it allows me to reflect on various things.
When I entered the bar, there was one other gentleman sitting there drinking. I had seen him there before. And, as with the last time I saw him, he was already pretty drunk when I entered.
Since I had seen him before, and since Sakura is a very friendly place with a "family" type of atmosphere, I said, "Good Evening" to him. He was, as before, pretty fashionably dressed (for a nearly 65-year-old guy) and was deep in conversation with the bar owner. I started listening to their conversation. He was talking to the "Momma" of the joint and explaining something about a sponsorship with a world famous sports wear maker - thereby explaining why he was so fashionably dressed. He explained how the sports wear maker traded clothes for advertising and how the old model of advertising (paying for commercials) was dead.
I knew from just hearing a bit of his conversation that he must have been in broadcasting and knew what the hell he was talking about. I joined into the conversation. I was surprised to find out that he was working at one of the most famous AM radio stations in Japan.
I asked what he did and he told me what his position was at the radio station. I was shocked when he told me his title and job and gave me his card. Now, don't misunderstand, this is not some crummy little radio station in Japan; there's not a person over the age of 12 who hasn't heard of this radio station. They broadcast horse racing and professional baseball too. This station is one of, if not thee, most famous of the (generic) AM radio stations in Japan.
Well, the old guy went on and told me all about his problems at work with declining revenues and sponsorships. I listened and didn't say anything about having worked at an FM station before (actually, in the late 1980's, I did host a radio show for three years on that very same AM radio station... I think... Or was it the competing station? I can't remember because in Japan they all sound alike.
In fact, all of the radio stations in Japan all sound exactly alike, be they AM radio or FM radio. The only way anyone can tell the difference between one station to the next is by looking at the number on the radio tuner or waiting until that station's call letters and name are announced.... Yawn....
Anyway, the guy went on and told us about how, about 4 years ago, that this station had made the genius move in a policy switch to target only 35 ~ 55-year-old people with a emphasis on mostly males. This little tidbit of information just floored me. Why?
Well, because, here is a very old school AM station that's been around since the late 1950's. They are one of the four or five dominant radio stations that everyone has heard of. All cars in Japan have AM radios (FM radios are rare). Everyone knows this particular station.
With that ancient history and the fact that this station broadcasts boring stuff like professional baseball and horse racing that interests old people, you'd think that their policy was always to target 35 ~ 65-year-old men. But no, you'd have thought wrong.
So why is this interesting and why is this an example of how not to do things with an emphasis on branding? Well, because, it's not so much that this old, dusty, tired and worn out old war-horse of a radio station picks such a policy, it's because, about 4 years ago, about the same time that this old guy says his AM radio station embarked on this policy, a FM radio station announced that they were doing the exact same thing!
Yes. About 4 years ago, the so-called international FM radio station in Tokyo, InterFM, proudly announced that they were going to target 35 ~ 65-year-old males. Talk about a bunch of parrots!
AM radio is supposed to feature talk radio and target older people. FM radio is supposed to feature music - and, in the case of a supposed "International radio station" like InterFM, they're supposed to target a younger audience and not broadcast things like horse racing.
But, unbelievably, InterFM did start broadcasting horse racing! Have you ever heard of such a thing? A FM radio station broadcasting horse racing? And not in the native language of the host country. Absurd.
So, InterFM continues to lose a million (USD) a year. Is it any wonder? They are dead as a doornail come this July. I wrote about that in One More Phase in the Shattering of Main Stream Media here.
Now, considering the above, you can see why this is a lesson in how not to do things.
If your company is a smaller or a newer company in a well-established market and you want to succeed in that market, if everyone is selling turnips, you'd better find something else to sell or you will be out of business.
InterFM? Targeting 35 ~ 65-year-old males? What a brilliant - and so incredibly original - business strategy.
Why do they even bother? If they are not going to even try to make money or set out a niche in their market then it's time for them to shut the power down and go off air.
-----
For more on the death of major broadcasting in Japan here's more information:
SPIKE JONES - BEETLEBOMB
WHO IS THIS GUY? DON'T KNOW,
BUT LOOKS LIKE THE TYPICAL FM RADIO LISTENER
This is a real-life example of failure. Not of the AM radio station, but of stations that mimic them.I had gone to one of my favorite drinking holes in Yoga, a Izakaya named Sakura. Sakura has been in the same place for nearly 30 years. It is a very old fashioned neighborhood drinking hole in the wall.
I always like to go to these places like Sakura early as that allows me to drink quietly before the crowds, to talk to the owners about what's really going on with the Japanese people in the neighborhood (I've never seen any foreigners there), and it allows me to reflect on various things.
When I entered the bar, there was one other gentleman sitting there drinking. I had seen him there before. And, as with the last time I saw him, he was already pretty drunk when I entered.
Since I had seen him before, and since Sakura is a very friendly place with a "family" type of atmosphere, I said, "Good Evening" to him. He was, as before, pretty fashionably dressed (for a nearly 65-year-old guy) and was deep in conversation with the bar owner. I started listening to their conversation. He was talking to the "Momma" of the joint and explaining something about a sponsorship with a world famous sports wear maker - thereby explaining why he was so fashionably dressed. He explained how the sports wear maker traded clothes for advertising and how the old model of advertising (paying for commercials) was dead.
I knew from just hearing a bit of his conversation that he must have been in broadcasting and knew what the hell he was talking about. I joined into the conversation. I was surprised to find out that he was working at one of the most famous AM radio stations in Japan.
I asked what he did and he told me what his position was at the radio station. I was shocked when he told me his title and job and gave me his card. Now, don't misunderstand, this is not some crummy little radio station in Japan; there's not a person over the age of 12 who hasn't heard of this radio station. They broadcast horse racing and professional baseball too. This station is one of, if not thee, most famous of the (generic) AM radio stations in Japan.
Well, the old guy went on and told me all about his problems at work with declining revenues and sponsorships. I listened and didn't say anything about having worked at an FM station before (actually, in the late 1980's, I did host a radio show for three years on that very same AM radio station... I think... Or was it the competing station? I can't remember because in Japan they all sound alike.
In fact, all of the radio stations in Japan all sound exactly alike, be they AM radio or FM radio. The only way anyone can tell the difference between one station to the next is by looking at the number on the radio tuner or waiting until that station's call letters and name are announced.... Yawn....
Anyway, the guy went on and told us about how, about 4 years ago, that this station had made the genius move in a policy switch to target only 35 ~ 55-year-old people with a emphasis on mostly males. This little tidbit of information just floored me. Why?
Well, because, here is a very old school AM station that's been around since the late 1950's. They are one of the four or five dominant radio stations that everyone has heard of. All cars in Japan have AM radios (FM radios are rare). Everyone knows this particular station.
With that ancient history and the fact that this station broadcasts boring stuff like professional baseball and horse racing that interests old people, you'd think that their policy was always to target 35 ~ 65-year-old men. But no, you'd have thought wrong.
So why is this interesting and why is this an example of how not to do things with an emphasis on branding? Well, because, it's not so much that this old, dusty, tired and worn out old war-horse of a radio station picks such a policy, it's because, about 4 years ago, about the same time that this old guy says his AM radio station embarked on this policy, a FM radio station announced that they were doing the exact same thing!
Yes. About 4 years ago, the so-called international FM radio station in Tokyo, InterFM, proudly announced that they were going to target 35 ~ 65-year-old males. Talk about a bunch of parrots!
AM radio is supposed to feature talk radio and target older people. FM radio is supposed to feature music - and, in the case of a supposed "International radio station" like InterFM, they're supposed to target a younger audience and not broadcast things like horse racing.
But, unbelievably, InterFM did start broadcasting horse racing! Have you ever heard of such a thing? A FM radio station broadcasting horse racing? And not in the native language of the host country. Absurd.
So, InterFM continues to lose a million (USD) a year. Is it any wonder? They are dead as a doornail come this July. I wrote about that in One More Phase in the Shattering of Main Stream Media here.
Now, considering the above, you can see why this is a lesson in how not to do things.
If your company is a smaller or a newer company in a well-established market and you want to succeed in that market, if everyone is selling turnips, you'd better find something else to sell or you will be out of business.
InterFM? Targeting 35 ~ 65-year-old males? What a brilliant - and so incredibly original - business strategy.
Why do they even bother? If they are not going to even try to make money or set out a niche in their market then it's time for them to shut the power down and go off air.
-----
For more on the death of major broadcasting in Japan here's more information:
Saturday, December 11, 2010
2 Couples Will Win A Free Vacation to Malaysia!!! On Air Asia X!!!!
You read it here first!
2 lucky couples will win a free vacation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia courtesy of
76.1 InterFM,
AirAsia X,
and the Kuala Lumpur Shangri-la Hotel!
To win, listen to InterFM everyday starting Monday December 13 ~ Sunday December 19th. All you need to do to win is to send an email to: win@interfm.jp and write down the name of your favorite DJ (Write "Mike Rogers" and you are sure to win!)
2 lucky couples will win a free vacation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia courtesy of
76.1 InterFM,
AirAsia X,
and the Kuala Lumpur Shangri-la Hotel!
To win, listen to InterFM everyday starting Monday December 13 ~ Sunday December 19th. All you need to do to win is to send an email to: win@interfm.jp and write down the name of your favorite DJ (Write "Mike Rogers" and you are sure to win!)
Let's go to Malaysia!
クリスマスまで待てない！
そんなアナタに、いち早くビックなクリスマスプレゼントを用意しました！
InterFMでは、12/13（月）から19（日）まで"InterFM Holiday in 5 Star Mal/Asia"と題したキャンペーンを展開します。羽田空港からのマレーシア・クアラルンプール直行便就航を記念してお送りするこのキャンペーンでは、「AIR ASIA」のエアチケットと、5つ星ホテル「シャングリ・ラ ホテル クアラルンプール」の宿泊をパッケージにしてプレゼントいたします。
"InterFM Holiday in 5 Star Mal/Asia"キャンペーンプレゼント内容
- AIR ASIAで行く 羽田－クアラルンプール ペア往復チケット
- 「シャングリ・ラ ホテル クアラルンプール」の2泊3日ペア宿泊券
- 上記の商品をパッケージにして、抽選で2組4名様にプレゼント致します
応募方法
ツイッター：http://twitter.com/InterFM761_JP
InterFM公式ツイッターをフォローのうえ、"マレーシア旅行希望 #winasia"とだけ、つぶやいてください。当選者には後ほどDM（ダイレクトメッセージ）にて詳細の確認をさせていただきます。
※ DMを含め、ツイッターで個人情報送付はしないでください。
InterFM公式ツイッターをフォローのうえ、"マレーシア旅行希望 #winasia"とだけ、つぶやいてください。当選者には後ほどDM（ダイレクトメッセージ）にて詳細の確認をさせていただきます。
※ DMを含め、ツイッターで個人情報送付はしないでください。
応募締切と発表
注意事項
- 日程は2011年1月5日から3カ月間でお好きな日程をお選びいただくことができます。なお、混雑状況によりご希望に沿えない場合がございますので、予めご了承ください
- 旅行中に発生する上記以外の費用については、ご当選者さまのご負担となります。例) 羽田空港までの往復交通費・宿泊費、海外旅行保険（任意）、空港税と燃油サーチャージなど
- 上記の商品をパッケージにして、抽選で2組4名様にプレゼント致します
- 国内利用空港は、羽田空港のみとなります
- 当選の権利は、ご本人さまのみ有効で、換金・譲渡はできません
- ご応募は、日本国内に在住の方に限らせていただきます
- 業務受託者及びご同行者さまは旅行に支障がなく、期日までに同意書等、所定の申請書類を提出できる方に限らせていただきます
- 情勢その他やむをえない事由により、当社の判断により当業務委託内容を中止もしくは延期とさせていただく場合があります。予めご了承ください
- 当社では、個人情報を当企画の業務委託先選定の他、調査・分析以外の目的使用ですることはございません。詳しくは当社ホームページ、プライバシーポリシーをご確認ください
AIR ASIAとは？
2010年12月9日（木）より羽田空港とクアラルンプール国際空港（マレーシア）をノンストップで結ぶ新路線に週3便の就航を開始。本路線は、オーストラリア、インド、台湾、中国、イギリス、韓国の6カ国11路線に次ぐ、エアアジアX（エックス）の12番目の路線となります。
エア・アジアHP: http://www.airasia.com/jp/ja/home.page
エア・アジアHP: http://www.airasia.com/jp/ja/home.page
シャングリ・ラ ホテル クアラルンプールとは？
シャングリ・ラ ホテル クアラルンプールは、クアラルンプールの中心地に位置し、クアラルンプール国際空港からは車で45分、ビジネス街やショッピングエリアまでは数分の便利なロケーションにあります。
改装工事を終えたばかりの、エレガントなゲストルーム（全662室・内101室はスイート）では、快適な滞在に欠かせない設備、各種アメニティー、そして一流のスタッフによるおもてなしでお迎えいたします。
ホテルHP: http://www.shangri-la.com/jp/property/kualalumpur/shangrila
改装工事を終えたばかりの、エレガントなゲストルーム（全662室・内101室はスイート）では、快適な滞在に欠かせない設備、各種アメニティー、そして一流のスタッフによるおもてなしでお迎えいたします。
ホテルHP: http://www.shangri-la.com/jp/property/kualalumpur/shangrila
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Kegawa No Maries - Japan's Best Band?
I think Kegawa No Maries are one of Japan's best bands today...
Of course, since they are good, they will get almost zero airplay.
This is a song called "Good Morning Mika"
This one is called, "Bonnie & Clyde Are Dreaming Tonight"
They were guests on George Williams and Taro Furukawa's Bam!
Of course, since they are good, they will get almost zero airplay.
This is a song called "Good Morning Mika"
This one is called, "Bonnie & Clyde Are Dreaming Tonight"
They were guests on George Williams and Taro Furukawa's Bam!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Japan's Upper-Management Sells Middle-Management - and the Company - Down the River
As Japan's economy has continued to crumble over these past years a trend has become visible amongst many companies in this country; And that is a trend where the older, upper management has sold the companies future and the well being of middle management down the river so that the company can show better performance in the short term to the harm of the companies long-term health.
The catch all phrase that has been passed down from upper management to middle management was that major mass media was to begin targeting the 50 ~ 60-year-old audience. This idea began about three years ago. The rationale was that the 50 ~ 60-year-old people were the ones with the money. Yes. That seems like a good idea on the surface, but a 62-year-old today is 65 in three years and then retired and has no more discretionary income.
This was madness at the beginning. And the drop in ratings and sales proves my point. To take a station that has targeted 20 ~ 40-year-old's for so many years and to then, suddenly one day, switch to people over 50 just didn't make any sense to most of us. (Especially since most of the 50 ~ 60 years old people were not targeted with any sort of campaign alerting them to the station's existence).
Besides that, it is against all common sense and completely against the rules of branding and marketing. Imagine, say, a youth fashion maker like Tommy Hilfiger deciding one day to start selling golfing clothes for the over 6o crowd? Wouldn't that ruin their business really quick?
Like I said, this didn't make sense to a lot of us.
But it does make sense when you consider this situation from the point of view of a 63-year-old president of one of these broadcasting stations. Here's the story: You get a fat cushy retirement pension as long as you can keep the company profitable until you retire. You are no fool; you hear the news about the bad economy and worry like everyone else. With this in mind, do you take the time to correctly brand and marketing a slow growth, long term strategy? Or do you call in all favors from old buddies and do whatever you can to float the ship? Remember, all this time you are hearing on the news about the world-wide financial collapse.
I think most people would look out for themselves first. It's human nature. And that's one big reason Japan is so messed up today.
The fact that the upper management are deliberately selling the future of the company "down the river" so to speak in order to get better short term sales at the expense of long term profitability.
Why would they do this?
Because, if a, say 62-year-old company president can keep his company floating for a few more years until he reaches retirement age, then he will get a full-pension for life.
Think about it. Here's a guy who has worked for 40 years for one of these broadcasting companies. He sees the writing on the wall. He sees the risk to his retirement. Will he sell off the future to make sure he gets "his"? I think he would.
I'd like to say that I would never do such a thing, but I think that 97% of all the people over 55-years-old would do the same. Why? They worked hard and suffered and the company always promised them that they would be taken care of. In fact, this sort of problem is everywhere in Japanese society today; all through the "economic miracle" the companies and the Japanese government promised the people that, if they worked hard, they'd be taken care of... But then the bubble burst and after twenty years of bad government policies the economy is wrecked and so are the savings of so many people.
I wrote on related subject to that here.
The others, in Japan, who might not do this sort of thing of selling out the company, could possibly take another way out. In fact, and this is conjecture on my part, but the 48-year-old president of Warner Music Japan committed suicide last week. You know he didn't do that because things were going well.
Groove Asia Reports:
Takashi Yoshida, the 48-year-old CEO and president of Warner Music Japan, suddenly passed away on the afternoon of October 7. Some sources are reporting that Yoshida hanged himself in his own home, and police are currently treating the incident as a suicide.
This is all part and parcel and symptomatic of Japan's slow decline. Once again, this is conjecture on my part, but if Mr. Yoshida were over 60, he wouldn't have done this.... He would have kicked the can down the road, like all other over-60-years-old Japanese management is doing and leave the problems for their next in line.
Japan is falling down. We are no longer #2 in economy and it looks like Taiwan will surpasses Japan in real GDP this year.... Couple all this with the government continually making the same mistakes with "stimulus" and buying of yen and - the older folks trying their best to hold on to the old way to the detriment of the future - and we are headed down a long slippery slope.
So when you look at the situation involving TBS, TV Tokyo, InterFM and many others keep this in mind.
The other day, one of my good friends who is a program director at TBS told me that several of the middle management producers at TBS told him, "We are really worried. We don't think TBS can last seven more years."
I asked my friend what he thought about that and he replied, "I think they are way too optimistic."
I do too.
The catch all phrase that has been passed down from upper management to middle management was that major mass media was to begin targeting the 50 ~ 60-year-old audience. This idea began about three years ago. The rationale was that the 50 ~ 60-year-old people were the ones with the money. Yes. That seems like a good idea on the surface, but a 62-year-old today is 65 in three years and then retired and has no more discretionary income.
This was madness at the beginning. And the drop in ratings and sales proves my point. To take a station that has targeted 20 ~ 40-year-old's for so many years and to then, suddenly one day, switch to people over 50 just didn't make any sense to most of us. (Especially since most of the 50 ~ 60 years old people were not targeted with any sort of campaign alerting them to the station's existence).
Besides that, it is against all common sense and completely against the rules of branding and marketing. Imagine, say, a youth fashion maker like Tommy Hilfiger deciding one day to start selling golfing clothes for the over 6o crowd? Wouldn't that ruin their business really quick?
Like I said, this didn't make sense to a lot of us.
But it does make sense when you consider this situation from the point of view of a 63-year-old president of one of these broadcasting stations. Here's the story: You get a fat cushy retirement pension as long as you can keep the company profitable until you retire. You are no fool; you hear the news about the bad economy and worry like everyone else. With this in mind, do you take the time to correctly brand and marketing a slow growth, long term strategy? Or do you call in all favors from old buddies and do whatever you can to float the ship? Remember, all this time you are hearing on the news about the world-wide financial collapse.
I think most people would look out for themselves first. It's human nature. And that's one big reason Japan is so messed up today.
The fact that the upper management are deliberately selling the future of the company "down the river" so to speak in order to get better short term sales at the expense of long term profitability.
Why would they do this?
Because, if a, say 62-year-old company president can keep his company floating for a few more years until he reaches retirement age, then he will get a full-pension for life.
Think about it. Here's a guy who has worked for 40 years for one of these broadcasting companies. He sees the writing on the wall. He sees the risk to his retirement. Will he sell off the future to make sure he gets "his"? I think he would.
I'd like to say that I would never do such a thing, but I think that 97% of all the people over 55-years-old would do the same. Why? They worked hard and suffered and the company always promised them that they would be taken care of. In fact, this sort of problem is everywhere in Japanese society today; all through the "economic miracle" the companies and the Japanese government promised the people that, if they worked hard, they'd be taken care of... But then the bubble burst and after twenty years of bad government policies the economy is wrecked and so are the savings of so many people.
I wrote on related subject to that here.
The others, in Japan, who might not do this sort of thing of selling out the company, could possibly take another way out. In fact, and this is conjecture on my part, but the 48-year-old president of Warner Music Japan committed suicide last week. You know he didn't do that because things were going well.
Groove Asia Reports:
Takashi Yoshida, the 48-year-old CEO and president of Warner Music Japan, suddenly passed away on the afternoon of October 7. Some sources are reporting that Yoshida hanged himself in his own home, and police are currently treating the incident as a suicide.
This is all part and parcel and symptomatic of Japan's slow decline. Once again, this is conjecture on my part, but if Mr. Yoshida were over 60, he wouldn't have done this.... He would have kicked the can down the road, like all other over-60-years-old Japanese management is doing and leave the problems for their next in line.
Japan is falling down. We are no longer #2 in economy and it looks like Taiwan will surpasses Japan in real GDP this year.... Couple all this with the government continually making the same mistakes with "stimulus" and buying of yen and - the older folks trying their best to hold on to the old way to the detriment of the future - and we are headed down a long slippery slope.
So when you look at the situation involving TBS, TV Tokyo, InterFM and many others keep this in mind.
The other day, one of my good friends who is a program director at TBS told me that several of the middle management producers at TBS told him, "We are really worried. We don't think TBS can last seven more years."
I asked my friend what he thought about that and he replied, "I think they are way too optimistic."
I do too.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Marketing Japan: Internet Versus FM Radio? A Cost Comparison....
By Mike in Tokyo Rogers
Last night I had the "pleasure" of co-hosting a radio show called "Bam!" on 76.1 InterFM. InterFM is one of Tokyo's 5 major FM stations. It is the flagship of a network of FM stations in Japan called the "Mega-Net" (of which one of the big network stations went bankrupt about two months ago!).
Being on the show was a fairly pleasurable experience for the most part but the loss of "excitement" for working in FM radio was palpable in the air amongst the staff. The thrill of FM radio was lost on me long ago...(Actually, the station wants me to be on this particular show regularly and has had my photo on their web page for nearly a year, even though I haven't been there in a long time.)
Why haven't I been going to the radio station? Let me explain just one of the many reasons why....
Things in FM radio today in Japan are nothing like they were twenty-five, twenty, even ten years ago. I suspect the same is true everywhere. Even as recently as ten years ago being on the radio was exciting and there was the glam and glitz of "Hollywood" in the air.... Now? It seems like it is just a job to most people at the station.
I gather that the attitude of the radio station staff was just like that of a clerk at a government office or a manual laborer assembling nuts and bolts or attaching grommets at a factory. There was no passion. No buzz of excitement in the air. It seemed to me that everyone just consider this "another job."
People who think this way and have no passion for their work should find a job that they like or, most certainly, they should not be in any sort of creative endeavor.
I know how FM radio was over 30 years ago as I have hosted, produced, directed, cleaned toilets, served coffee and been a "go-fer" for radio shows and radio stations since I was a university student... In Japan, I am a very old-timer in this business.
During the program last night, I tried to pay attention to the commercials that they aired during the show and was surprised to hear that there were very few. Oh sure they had things that sounded like commercials, but, for the most part, they were "spots" about other programs.
Spots about other programs do not earn a station any money. Zero. Zip. Nada.
But I did hear, I think, two "real" commercials the entire two hour live show... One was for car insurance and the other one? Well, I can't really say that I understood what that was a commercial for... They were either selling milk or hiring drivers! I didn't catch it very well.
That's the problem with radio. If you missed it the first time, it's gone... you can't scroll back.
During the commercial for insurance, I wondered (again) why anyone would pay money for a 15 second commercial that runs at, say, exactly 10 pm and runs for exactly 15 seconds then disappears into oblivion? I mean, who hears these commercials? How much do they cost? How do they measure results?
InterFM broadcasts to an area of 35 million homes in Tokyo... Conservative estimates are 65 million people. So they have a huge potential pool of listeners. But how many are actually listening?
I suspect not many.
I have some anecdotal evidence that I can share concerning numbers of listeners....
In the past, I helped organized promotional campaigns for InterFM before whereby an airlines would, say, provide 3 pairs round-trip tickets to Macau with two nights free stay at a 5 star hotel... Basically the vacations were all expenses paid... The cash value for one pair of tickets with hotel was about (¥340,000) $3,600.
The commercials for the contest ran at least six times a day everyday for a week. That makes six 15 second commercials at 1.5 minutes a day multiplied by five days. That is a total of 7.5 minutes. (This 7.5 minutes will be an important point later in this article so keep this in mind!)
In a city of 65 million people, and only 5 FM stations, guess how many people signed up for the contest? 5,000? 50,000? 100,000? 200,000 people?
Nope. 82 people. Eighty two! Eight. Two. Oh! 8-2-oh as in "Oh my God! What a fricking disaster that campaign was!"
Of course there were more than 82 names who "signed up" for the contest. There were about 318 names in total (still lame!). But, I say 82 people (about) because everyone who signed up also signed up their spouses and their parents and in-laws... Some people even signed up their children. Heck, for all I know, some people could have signed up their dogs and cats. We could judge the fact that one person signed up their entire family by seeing on the sign up list the same family names of 4, 5, 6 people in a row.
So 82 is, pardon my French, "peis poor."
OK. Forget the poor results. Let's look at cost.
A campaign like this would normally cost about ¥5,000,000 (about $60,000) - heavily discounted it would cost about $17,000. And InterFM is one of the cheaper rated stations...
$17,000 dollars is a heck of a lot of money to pay for 7.5 minutes of airtime...
Now, think about it; why in the world would any sponsor pay ¥1,500,000 (about $17,000) for a week long campaign like this? I figure it is because the person who is in-charge of the money at a sponsor company is ancient and doesn't understand the Internet and still has some idea that FM radio is cool because "the kids like it." This person would have to be ancient because that would explain their poor eyesight. (As I know from experience, when you get older, your eyes get real bad!) I mean that these people would have to be ancient because ancient people are the only ones to have poor enough eyesight not to notice the white earplugs every second person on the subway is wearing.
(Hint: There is no FM reception in the subway and those white things in everyone's ears are earplugs for Apple iPods and iPhones!)
How much better that advertising money would be spent on creating a contest web page and using SNS and Social media like YouTube, Twitter, U-Stream, Pick, Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, Mixi, video blogs, vlogs, SEO that catches Google and Yahoo! to drive folks to your contest and company, product or service 24/7!
Heck, for what a sponsor spends on a week long campaign on the radio - where it is questionable if anyone hears it - they can get metrics and measure exactly the numbers of web page hits and what the effects of a Tweet or a YouTube has on their "bounce"....
Then they measure and tweak as they go along.
For $17,000, a sponsor could run a killer Internet campaign and probably run it for 3 ~ 6 months 24/7 before they run out of money....
Now, I ask you, how would you spend the $17,000? Would you opt for the 3 ~ 6 months 24/7 Internet campaign or the 7.5 minutes campaign on FM radio?
--------------
Keywords:
Apple, FM Radio, Social Media, Macau, Japan, Google, InterFM, Tweet, Linkedin, Blogs, video-blogs, Pick, Twitter, U-Stream, Tokyo, FM station, Barter, Mega-net, Facebook, YouTube, SEO, SNS, Yahoo!, Tokyo, Taro Furukawa
Last night I had the "pleasure" of co-hosting a radio show called "Bam!" on 76.1 InterFM. InterFM is one of Tokyo's 5 major FM stations. It is the flagship of a network of FM stations in Japan called the "Mega-Net" (of which one of the big network stations went bankrupt about two months ago!).
Being on the show was a fairly pleasurable experience for the most part but the loss of "excitement" for working in FM radio was palpable in the air amongst the staff. The thrill of FM radio was lost on me long ago...(Actually, the station wants me to be on this particular show regularly and has had my photo on their web page for nearly a year, even though I haven't been there in a long time.)
Why haven't I been going to the radio station? Let me explain just one of the many reasons why....
Things in FM radio today in Japan are nothing like they were twenty-five, twenty, even ten years ago. I suspect the same is true everywhere. Even as recently as ten years ago being on the radio was exciting and there was the glam and glitz of "Hollywood" in the air.... Now? It seems like it is just a job to most people at the station.
Things aren't what they used to be... Although they never were...
I gather that the attitude of the radio station staff was just like that of a clerk at a government office or a manual laborer assembling nuts and bolts or attaching grommets at a factory. There was no passion. No buzz of excitement in the air. It seemed to me that everyone just consider this "another job."
People who think this way and have no passion for their work should find a job that they like or, most certainly, they should not be in any sort of creative endeavor.
I know how FM radio was over 30 years ago as I have hosted, produced, directed, cleaned toilets, served coffee and been a "go-fer" for radio shows and radio stations since I was a university student... In Japan, I am a very old-timer in this business.
During the program last night, I tried to pay attention to the commercials that they aired during the show and was surprised to hear that there were very few. Oh sure they had things that sounded like commercials, but, for the most part, they were "spots" about other programs.
Spots about other programs do not earn a station any money. Zero. Zip. Nada.
But I did hear, I think, two "real" commercials the entire two hour live show... One was for car insurance and the other one? Well, I can't really say that I understood what that was a commercial for... They were either selling milk or hiring drivers! I didn't catch it very well.
That's the problem with radio. If you missed it the first time, it's gone... you can't scroll back.
During the commercial for insurance, I wondered (again) why anyone would pay money for a 15 second commercial that runs at, say, exactly 10 pm and runs for exactly 15 seconds then disappears into oblivion? I mean, who hears these commercials? How much do they cost? How do they measure results?
InterFM broadcasts to an area of 35 million homes in Tokyo... Conservative estimates are 65 million people. So they have a huge potential pool of listeners. But how many are actually listening?
I suspect not many.
I have some anecdotal evidence that I can share concerning numbers of listeners....
In the past, I helped organized promotional campaigns for InterFM before whereby an airlines would, say, provide 3 pairs round-trip tickets to Macau with two nights free stay at a 5 star hotel... Basically the vacations were all expenses paid... The cash value for one pair of tickets with hotel was about (¥340,000) $3,600.
The commercials for the contest ran at least six times a day everyday for a week. That makes six 15 second commercials at 1.5 minutes a day multiplied by five days. That is a total of 7.5 minutes. (This 7.5 minutes will be an important point later in this article so keep this in mind!)
In a city of 65 million people, and only 5 FM stations, guess how many people signed up for the contest? 5,000? 50,000? 100,000? 200,000 people?
Nope. 82 people. Eighty two! Eight. Two. Oh! 8-2-oh as in "Oh my God! What a fricking disaster that campaign was!"
Of course there were more than 82 names who "signed up" for the contest. There were about 318 names in total (still lame!). But, I say 82 people (about) because everyone who signed up also signed up their spouses and their parents and in-laws... Some people even signed up their children. Heck, for all I know, some people could have signed up their dogs and cats. We could judge the fact that one person signed up their entire family by seeing on the sign up list the same family names of 4, 5, 6 people in a row.
So 82 is, pardon my French, "peis poor."
OK. Forget the poor results. Let's look at cost.
A campaign like this would normally cost about ¥5,000,000 (about $60,000) - heavily discounted it would cost about $17,000. And InterFM is one of the cheaper rated stations...
$17,000 dollars is a heck of a lot of money to pay for 7.5 minutes of airtime...
Now, think about it; why in the world would any sponsor pay ¥1,500,000 (about $17,000) for a week long campaign like this? I figure it is because the person who is in-charge of the money at a sponsor company is ancient and doesn't understand the Internet and still has some idea that FM radio is cool because "the kids like it." This person would have to be ancient because that would explain their poor eyesight. (As I know from experience, when you get older, your eyes get real bad!) I mean that these people would have to be ancient because ancient people are the only ones to have poor enough eyesight not to notice the white earplugs every second person on the subway is wearing.
(Hint: There is no FM reception in the subway and those white things in everyone's ears are earplugs for Apple iPods and iPhones!)
How much better that advertising money would be spent on creating a contest web page and using SNS and Social media like YouTube, Twitter, U-Stream, Pick, Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, Mixi, video blogs, vlogs, SEO that catches Google and Yahoo! to drive folks to your contest and company, product or service 24/7!
Heck, for what a sponsor spends on a week long campaign on the radio - where it is questionable if anyone hears it - they can get metrics and measure exactly the numbers of web page hits and what the effects of a Tweet or a YouTube has on their "bounce"....
Then they measure and tweak as they go along.
For $17,000, a sponsor could run a killer Internet campaign and probably run it for 3 ~ 6 months 24/7 before they run out of money....
Now, I ask you, how would you spend the $17,000? Would you opt for the 3 ~ 6 months 24/7 Internet campaign or the 7.5 minutes campaign on FM radio?
--------------
Keywords:
Apple, FM Radio, Social Media, Macau, Japan, Google, InterFM, Tweet, Linkedin, Blogs, video-blogs, Pick, Twitter, U-Stream, Tokyo, FM station, Barter, Mega-net, Facebook, YouTube, SEO, SNS, Yahoo!, Tokyo, Taro Furukawa
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Marketing Japan: George Williams Launches "The Music Revolution Starts Here"
By Mike in Tokyo Rogers
Besides being on of the hardest working and hottest media stars in Japan today, George Williams is a ground-breaking leader in new media in Japan. He blows away the others by simply getting off his rear, getting to it, and just plain "getting it!"
Today we have blogs, video blogs like U-Stream and Youtube; we also have tons of SNS and Social Media tools like Twitter, Pick, Facebook, Mixi (in Japan), Linkedin, etc. On top of this, Yahoo and Google keep coming out with new and fascinating ways to "wow!" us... (Not to mention Apple and their iPads and iPhones!) On top of all this... Just when you were thinking, "What are they going to do next to top this?" Along comes a guy out of nowhere and "wows!" the Internet with his own original and expressive ideas.
George Williams has single handedly raised the bar on Internet blogging, vlogging and internet multi- media with his new site called "The Music Revolution Starts Here" at wwwgeorgewilliams.jp.
You have just got to check this out! "The Music Revolution Starts Here" and features George with many of his super star Japanese musician friends (like regular guest Koji Kurumatani or Yuhi from Hof Dylan, to name but a few) talking (and playing) music... Music that you cannot hear anywhere else in Japan.
Not only that, George's web site also has something for everybody! You want to learn how to cook? Sure! The site has that too (George's fans will know that George co-hosts a wildly popular cooking show with famous cookery writer Kurihara Harumi). George gives us a cooking lesson once a week.
How about free English lessons? Yep. Got that! George makes a weekly English lesson for you too! And, of course, there's tons of music videos to watch too!
But even if you miss the live broadcast of the music, cooking or English you can easily watch back issues with the mere click of a button! No need to record your favorite show! They record it for you!
The Music Revolution Starts Here was launched last night, July 19th, 2010 at 12 midnight, so it is still a work in progress, but looking at the site, you wouldn't know it. It looks like it's been running for a long time.
This sort of multi-media solution to Internet marketing, PR and promotion is being experimented with (on the fly) in the west, but, from my knowledge, George Williams is the very first person in Japan to delve head first into this exciting new media form...
I'm expecting even bigger and even more "Wow!" products and services from George Williams and his team in the future. But today, we George Williams and his The Music Revolution Starts Here and it is a gas!
...Of course, it's all FREE!
------
For More on George Williams:
Go to George's: The Music Revolution Starts Here
Go to George's: Music On! TV "George's Garage"
Go to George's: NHK Your Japanese Kitchen
Go to George's: Tokyo FM "Docomo Love Family"
Go to George's: InterFM Bam!
George Williams on Wikipedia (Japanese / 日本語)
See George Williams' bio and contact here.
------------
Keywords:
Google, Tokyo FM, cooking, promotion, Harumi Kurihara, video blogs, music, InterFM, Internet, PR, Internet marketing, Youtube, Linkedin, blogs, SNS, George Williams, Bam!, The Music Revolution Starts Here, Hof Dylan, NHK Your Japanese Kitchen, Mixi, Social Media, Pick, iPhone, U-Stream, Japan, Music On! TV, Yahoo, Mike Rogers, Twitter, Apple, iPad, Docomo Love Family, English, Koji Kurumatani, Facebook, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, George's Garage, Yuhi, services, products
Besides being on of the hardest working and hottest media stars in Japan today, George Williams is a ground-breaking leader in new media in Japan. He blows away the others by simply getting off his rear, getting to it, and just plain "getting it!"
Today we have blogs, video blogs like U-Stream and Youtube; we also have tons of SNS and Social Media tools like Twitter, Pick, Facebook, Mixi (in Japan), Linkedin, etc. On top of this, Yahoo and Google keep coming out with new and fascinating ways to "wow!" us... (Not to mention Apple and their iPads and iPhones!) On top of all this... Just when you were thinking, "What are they going to do next to top this?" Along comes a guy out of nowhere and "wows!" the Internet with his own original and expressive ideas.
George Williams has single handedly raised the bar on Internet blogging, vlogging and internet multi- media with his new site called "The Music Revolution Starts Here" at wwwgeorgewilliams.jp.
You have just got to check this out! "The Music Revolution Starts Here" and features George with many of his super star Japanese musician friends (like regular guest Koji Kurumatani or Yuhi from Hof Dylan, to name but a few) talking (and playing) music... Music that you cannot hear anywhere else in Japan.
Not only that, George's web site also has something for everybody! You want to learn how to cook? Sure! The site has that too (George's fans will know that George co-hosts a wildly popular cooking show with famous cookery writer Kurihara Harumi). George gives us a cooking lesson once a week.
How about free English lessons? Yep. Got that! George makes a weekly English lesson for you too! And, of course, there's tons of music videos to watch too!
But even if you miss the live broadcast of the music, cooking or English you can easily watch back issues with the mere click of a button! No need to record your favorite show! They record it for you!
The Music Revolution Starts Here was launched last night, July 19th, 2010 at 12 midnight, so it is still a work in progress, but looking at the site, you wouldn't know it. It looks like it's been running for a long time.
This sort of multi-media solution to Internet marketing, PR and promotion is being experimented with (on the fly) in the west, but, from my knowledge, George Williams is the very first person in Japan to delve head first into this exciting new media form...
I'm expecting even bigger and even more "Wow!" products and services from George Williams and his team in the future. But today, we George Williams and his The Music Revolution Starts Here and it is a gas!
...Of course, it's all FREE!
------
For More on George Williams:
Go to George's: The Music Revolution Starts Here
Go to George's: Music On! TV "George's Garage"
Go to George's: NHK Your Japanese Kitchen
Go to George's: Tokyo FM "Docomo Love Family"
Go to George's: InterFM Bam!
George Williams on Wikipedia (Japanese / 日本語)
See George Williams' bio and contact here.
------------
Keywords:
Google, Tokyo FM, cooking, promotion, Harumi Kurihara, video blogs, music, InterFM, Internet, PR, Internet marketing, Youtube, Linkedin, blogs, SNS, George Williams, Bam!, The Music Revolution Starts Here, Hof Dylan, NHK Your Japanese Kitchen, Mixi, Social Media, Pick, iPhone, U-Stream, Japan, Music On! TV, Yahoo, Mike Rogers, Twitter, Apple, iPad, Docomo Love Family, English, Koji Kurumatani, Facebook, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, George's Garage, Yuhi, services, products
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Marketing Japan: A Primer on the Long Tail
By Mike in Tokyo Rogers
What is the Long Tail?
The Long Tail is transforming our lives and our businesses. If you are considering ways to improve your business and your life, then you do need to understand what the Long Tail is and its ramifications.
Anyone who wishes to do any business utilizing the Internet or any Social Media needs to fully understand the Long Tail in order to improve on whatever it is they are doing. That includes Facebook, U-Stream, blogs, Mixi, blogging, video-blogging, Myspace, vlogs, Pick, Linkedin or Twitter.
In fact, if you are involved in any of the above, then you are a part of the Long Tail.
Recently, my partner and I went to a satellite TV station here in Tokyo, Japan that is not doing too well... In fact, they are all worried about their future and the future of their station. (Incredibly, there are old media people who seem not to be worried about their station's - and their future - but this blog is for people who are not brain-dead.) Over these last 5 - 10 years, advertisers have been abandoning satellite TV (as they have been abandoning all other Mass Media formats) and spending their marketing and advertising yen in different areas.
Not only have advertisers been abandoning them, but, even more alarming for them is that the viewers have been getting off the sofa and doing other things too. Subscription Music TV is no longer cool like it used to be. And why should it be? Why do I have to sit through ten crappy videos to maybe see one I like when I can go on YouTube or Myspace and see what I like immediately? (Both YouTube and Myspace are excellent examples of the Long Tail in practice).
Don't be confused, just because this particular station is a digital satellite station, don't think they are not in trouble; they are... Admittedly, though, they are in much better shape than a dinosaur such as TV Tokyo or TBS is, but that is only because they do not have over a thousand employees like those terrestrial stations do. Most of these satellite stations in Japan have anywhere between 40 - 80 employees so their books - and their chances of survival - are much better than the major terrestrial TV stations.
Nevertheless, even though they are a satellite TV station, their business philosophy is still strongly rooted in analogue type of thought; and this will be their downfall if they don't act soon.
The station in question has been struggling through a few years of trying to figure out how to utilize the Internet to help survive as a broadcasting station but they have come up short consistently every time... I think the problem lies in that they can't get their heads around the fact that they will have to stop thinking like a TV station and start thinking like an Internet business in order to survive.
After having several meetings with them, I think I've figured out what their basic fundamental problems are: they do not understand the Internet (they think it is a crutch to support their TV broadcasting and they haven't a clue as to what the Long Tail is and what it means to them.
Up until now, and for the foreseeable future, broadcasters in Japan are, and will be, stuck in old-fashioned thinking. They still use their web pages as a place for one-way communication to their viewers. Simply put, their web pages are boring and, frankly speaking, only serve as an online TV Guide listing for the program schedules.
Not exactly the kind of content that is going to start a buzz or an overnight Internet sensation.
They also do not understand how the web can be an avenue for creating new business and money streams... It is my guess that this particular station probably loses about ¥200,000 ~ ¥500,000 yen (about $2,000 ~ $5,000 (USD) per month on their web page when they could be - should be - making money from their web site, like so many others do.
Of course, we had been trying to explain to them about the concept of Web 2.0 and creating "community" by giving away free, interesting content online, but for some reason, they never seemed to quite "get it." Oh, they seemed to understand that something has to be done, but couldn't put their finger on what exactly that it is that has to be done.
I gather that after our meetings they would go back to their company meetings and say things to their compatriots like "Yeah! Mike says we have to do Social Media and Social Marketing! He says we have to be more intelligent about our online business and in creating community! He says we have to put content online and giveaway content free..."
Then the boss would retort, "Why?" and then that's where the confusion came in... I'm sure the room would grow quiet.
But finally, at this last meeting, I think I have gotten through to them as to why they need to act. Finally, I believe that I explained it in a way that makes sense to them. And that explanation was the Long Tail. (Please understand that I am a professional speaker so if I had trouble explaining this to these good folks, I can imagine how hard it must be for most!)
So, now let me give you an EXTREMELY short explanation of what the Long Tail is. I also have a link below to Chris Anderson's bible on the subject, "The Long Tail" that I strongly recommend!
The Long Tail explains is how things have changed in these last 10 years or so.
At the head of the tail (the top), there are your standard Brick and Mortar shops and businesses; shops that have limited retail space. In my example, I'd like to use Tower Records.
Tower Records is probably the most famous of the old style record stores. Everyone knows them... I used to go there lot. Unfortunately, I figure they have a very bad future and won't be around in 10 years. In spite of having a huge amount of floor space, Tower cannot possibly carry everything.
Tower takes a risk on ordering product and having to distribute that product to their various stores. They have to guess how many of each product each store can profitably sell. It is inevitable that they will guess wrong.
For example, the new NOFX record comes out and a kid wants to buy it in the Tower Records Shinjuku store, but the Shinjuku store is just sold out - while the Tower Records Shibuya store still has 5 copies. What happens to the kid at the Shinjuku Tower Records store? He goes to another record shop nearby, in Shinjuku, and buys what he wants... Tower Records loses a sale.
For companies like iTunes, or Amazon, who work on the Long Tail, this is a huge advantage for them over the traditional retailers; they have no shelf space (well Amazon does too - to a degree - but they started MP3 and download business too).
A key component to understanding the Long Tail is shelf space. Businesses and organizations that cannot capitalize on the Long Tail have space restrictions. For each centimeter of shelf space, Tower Records must make a certain amount of money in return. In this case, Tower Records cannot possibly have enough shelf space to have everything, floor space costs money. So, Tower Records can only sell the hits or any CD that they might reasonably expect to sell more than ten or twenty (or, preferably, several hundred).
Philosophically, it is obvious that when one tries to be friends with everyone, they are friends with no one. This is why I predict that, say, InterFM will go bankrupt by end of 2012, maybe sooner. I also predict TV Tokyo insolvency by end of 2014.
But back to the Long Tail.
Tower Records, TV and radio stations have only so much "shelf space" they are confined to a physical world. But, take iTunes for example; iTunes has no space restrictions. iTunes carries millions of titles and their catalogue grows daily. How many titles does the biggest record store in the world carry? 30,000? 100,000? And each of those titles cost money to carry; they must pay the rent. Shelf space costs money!
How much does it cost iTunes to carry some bits on a server that has 3 million titles on it? Almost nothing and it's getting cheaper by the day.
Look at the chart below. At the left are my examples above: Tower Records and the TV and radio stations. They only have so much space, space costs money; they have to cut off somewhere what product they are going to carry or broadcast. THAT is the point where the Long Tail begins.
I have marked the cutoff line in Red. To the right of that red line (and, by the way, including everything to the left of that cutoff line) are the products that a company like iTunes carries.
You'd think that, to the right, this line eventually goes to zero. It doesn't. It never goes to zero. The market is growing exponentially (in spite of what the major labels are saying) and because people are being offered more and more choice, they are taking it. Today we are witnessing a cultural explosion of DIY people and new artist's, authors, publishers, musicians, comedians, producers, writers and more. The end is not anywhere in sight.
The Long Tail is providing us with much more freedom of choice.
And here is the kicker, because storage of data on bits costs nothing, then places like iTunes, Amazon (MP3, E-Books), etc. can store hundred's of thousands, no millions of titles... More, if they wish... And it costs them almost nothing. It will be Game Over once the rights issues are resolved.
Now, look at the chart above again.
To the left are the old stores and old media. At the bottom is the Long Tail of the new media. It is a fact now, since people are being offered so much more choice, that "Apple said that every one of the then one million tracks in iTunes had sold at least once (now the inventory is twice that)." This means that, cumulatively, that the products in the Long Tail add up to a significant portion of iTunes business... As the tail gets longer, it is merely a question of time (probably a relatively short period of time) when the Long Tail's total sales will surpass those at the head of a traditional retailer.
What will that mean for our culture, entertainment and economy?
Even with this explanation, I knew, from experience, that I still had to educate my friend's at the satellite TV station to be able to go to their boss and explain to him why we had to reform their Internet business....
I did that. Now, if you need any more convincing, take my chart and turn it vertical. Now the end of the Long Tail is at top and it is still extending.
And the bottom, well, the popularity segment is shrinking as can be witnessed by dropping sales of major artists and Rock radio...
Now, where do you and your business want to be in the next few years? At the top right or at the bottom?
Utilize the benefits of the Internet to, not only benefit your current business, but to reform and revitalize it. Understanding the Long Tail is key. Now that's not just smart, it's good business and intelligent marketing.
Note: For a more detailed explanation of the Long Tail, I highly recommend reading Chris Anderson's "Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More - The Long Tail"
-------
Keywords:
Internet, Marketing Japan, Subscription Music, E-Books, Myspace, Tower Records, entertainment, Apple, video-blogging, Mike Rogers, Subscription Music TV, Japan, blogs, Tokyo, satellite TV station, Shibuya, economy, Chris Anderson, NOFX, marketing, Pick, Amazon, U-Stream, TV Tokyo, marketing, InterFM, Linkedin, entertainment, PR, Terrestrial TV, blogging, Social Media, Modern Marketing Japan, advertising, Long Tail, Mixi, Facebook, vlogs, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, FM stations, Twitter, Shinjuku, Youtube, iTunes, culture, TBS, The Long Tail, DIY,
What is the Long Tail?
The Long Tail is transforming our lives and our businesses. If you are considering ways to improve your business and your life, then you do need to understand what the Long Tail is and its ramifications.
Anyone who wishes to do any business utilizing the Internet or any Social Media needs to fully understand the Long Tail in order to improve on whatever it is they are doing. That includes Facebook, U-Stream, blogs, Mixi, blogging, video-blogging, Myspace, vlogs, Pick, Linkedin or Twitter.
Average Japanese TV station upper management business model
In fact, if you are involved in any of the above, then you are a part of the Long Tail.
Recently, my partner and I went to a satellite TV station here in Tokyo, Japan that is not doing too well... In fact, they are all worried about their future and the future of their station. (Incredibly, there are old media people who seem not to be worried about their station's - and their future - but this blog is for people who are not brain-dead.) Over these last 5 - 10 years, advertisers have been abandoning satellite TV (as they have been abandoning all other Mass Media formats) and spending their marketing and advertising yen in different areas.
Not only have advertisers been abandoning them, but, even more alarming for them is that the viewers have been getting off the sofa and doing other things too. Subscription Music TV is no longer cool like it used to be. And why should it be? Why do I have to sit through ten crappy videos to maybe see one I like when I can go on YouTube or Myspace and see what I like immediately? (Both YouTube and Myspace are excellent examples of the Long Tail in practice).
Don't be confused, just because this particular station is a digital satellite station, don't think they are not in trouble; they are... Admittedly, though, they are in much better shape than a dinosaur such as TV Tokyo or TBS is, but that is only because they do not have over a thousand employees like those terrestrial stations do. Most of these satellite stations in Japan have anywhere between 40 - 80 employees so their books - and their chances of survival - are much better than the major terrestrial TV stations.
Nevertheless, even though they are a satellite TV station, their business philosophy is still strongly rooted in analogue type of thought; and this will be their downfall if they don't act soon.
The station in question has been struggling through a few years of trying to figure out how to utilize the Internet to help survive as a broadcasting station but they have come up short consistently every time... I think the problem lies in that they can't get their heads around the fact that they will have to stop thinking like a TV station and start thinking like an Internet business in order to survive.
After having several meetings with them, I think I've figured out what their basic fundamental problems are: they do not understand the Internet (they think it is a crutch to support their TV broadcasting and they haven't a clue as to what the Long Tail is and what it means to them.
Up until now, and for the foreseeable future, broadcasters in Japan are, and will be, stuck in old-fashioned thinking. They still use their web pages as a place for one-way communication to their viewers. Simply put, their web pages are boring and, frankly speaking, only serve as an online TV Guide listing for the program schedules.
Not exactly the kind of content that is going to start a buzz or an overnight Internet sensation.
They also do not understand how the web can be an avenue for creating new business and money streams... It is my guess that this particular station probably loses about ¥200,000 ~ ¥500,000 yen (about $2,000 ~ $5,000 (USD) per month on their web page when they could be - should be - making money from their web site, like so many others do.
Of course, we had been trying to explain to them about the concept of Web 2.0 and creating "community" by giving away free, interesting content online, but for some reason, they never seemed to quite "get it." Oh, they seemed to understand that something has to be done, but couldn't put their finger on what exactly that it is that has to be done.
I gather that after our meetings they would go back to their company meetings and say things to their compatriots like "Yeah! Mike says we have to do Social Media and Social Marketing! He says we have to be more intelligent about our online business and in creating community! He says we have to put content online and giveaway content free..."
Then the boss would retort, "Why?" and then that's where the confusion came in... I'm sure the room would grow quiet.
But finally, at this last meeting, I think I have gotten through to them as to why they need to act. Finally, I believe that I explained it in a way that makes sense to them. And that explanation was the Long Tail. (Please understand that I am a professional speaker so if I had trouble explaining this to these good folks, I can imagine how hard it must be for most!)
So, now let me give you an EXTREMELY short explanation of what the Long Tail is. I also have a link below to Chris Anderson's bible on the subject, "The Long Tail" that I strongly recommend!
Highly recommended: Chris Anderson, The Long Tail
The Long Tail explains is how things have changed in these last 10 years or so.
At the head of the tail (the top), there are your standard Brick and Mortar shops and businesses; shops that have limited retail space. In my example, I'd like to use Tower Records.
Tower Records is probably the most famous of the old style record stores. Everyone knows them... I used to go there lot. Unfortunately, I figure they have a very bad future and won't be around in 10 years. In spite of having a huge amount of floor space, Tower cannot possibly carry everything.
Tower takes a risk on ordering product and having to distribute that product to their various stores. They have to guess how many of each product each store can profitably sell. It is inevitable that they will guess wrong.
For example, the new NOFX record comes out and a kid wants to buy it in the Tower Records Shinjuku store, but the Shinjuku store is just sold out - while the Tower Records Shibuya store still has 5 copies. What happens to the kid at the Shinjuku Tower Records store? He goes to another record shop nearby, in Shinjuku, and buys what he wants... Tower Records loses a sale.
For companies like iTunes, or Amazon, who work on the Long Tail, this is a huge advantage for them over the traditional retailers; they have no shelf space (well Amazon does too - to a degree - but they started MP3 and download business too).
A key component to understanding the Long Tail is shelf space. Businesses and organizations that cannot capitalize on the Long Tail have space restrictions. For each centimeter of shelf space, Tower Records must make a certain amount of money in return. In this case, Tower Records cannot possibly have enough shelf space to have everything, floor space costs money. So, Tower Records can only sell the hits or any CD that they might reasonably expect to sell more than ten or twenty (or, preferably, several hundred).
Philosophically, it is obvious that when one tries to be friends with everyone, they are friends with no one. This is why I predict that, say, InterFM will go bankrupt by end of 2012, maybe sooner. I also predict TV Tokyo insolvency by end of 2014.
But back to the Long Tail.
Tower Records, TV and radio stations have only so much "shelf space" they are confined to a physical world. But, take iTunes for example; iTunes has no space restrictions. iTunes carries millions of titles and their catalogue grows daily. How many titles does the biggest record store in the world carry? 30,000? 100,000? And each of those titles cost money to carry; they must pay the rent. Shelf space costs money!
How much does it cost iTunes to carry some bits on a server that has 3 million titles on it? Almost nothing and it's getting cheaper by the day.
Look at the chart below. At the left are my examples above: Tower Records and the TV and radio stations. They only have so much space, space costs money; they have to cut off somewhere what product they are going to carry or broadcast. THAT is the point where the Long Tail begins.
I have marked the cutoff line in Red. To the right of that red line (and, by the way, including everything to the left of that cutoff line) are the products that a company like iTunes carries.
You'd think that, to the right, this line eventually goes to zero. It doesn't. It never goes to zero. The market is growing exponentially (in spite of what the major labels are saying) and because people are being offered more and more choice, they are taking it. Today we are witnessing a cultural explosion of DIY people and new artist's, authors, publishers, musicians, comedians, producers, writers and more. The end is not anywhere in sight.
The Long Tail is providing us with much more freedom of choice.
And here is the kicker, because storage of data on bits costs nothing, then places like iTunes, Amazon (MP3, E-Books), etc. can store hundred's of thousands, no millions of titles... More, if they wish... And it costs them almost nothing. It will be Game Over once the rights issues are resolved.
Now, look at the chart above again.
To the left are the old stores and old media. At the bottom is the Long Tail of the new media. It is a fact now, since people are being offered so much more choice, that "Apple said that every one of the then one million tracks in iTunes had sold at least once (now the inventory is twice that)." This means that, cumulatively, that the products in the Long Tail add up to a significant portion of iTunes business... As the tail gets longer, it is merely a question of time (probably a relatively short period of time) when the Long Tail's total sales will surpass those at the head of a traditional retailer.
What will that mean for our culture, entertainment and economy?
Even with this explanation, I knew, from experience, that I still had to educate my friend's at the satellite TV station to be able to go to their boss and explain to him why we had to reform their Internet business....
I did that. Now, if you need any more convincing, take my chart and turn it vertical. Now the end of the Long Tail is at top and it is still extending.
Where does your business want to be in the next few years?
At the right or on the bottom?
And the bottom, well, the popularity segment is shrinking as can be witnessed by dropping sales of major artists and Rock radio...
Now, where do you and your business want to be in the next few years? At the top right or at the bottom?
Utilize the benefits of the Internet to, not only benefit your current business, but to reform and revitalize it. Understanding the Long Tail is key. Now that's not just smart, it's good business and intelligent marketing.
Note: For a more detailed explanation of the Long Tail, I highly recommend reading Chris Anderson's "Why The Future of Business is Selling Less of More - The Long Tail"
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Keywords:
Internet, Marketing Japan, Subscription Music, E-Books, Myspace, Tower Records, entertainment, Apple, video-blogging, Mike Rogers, Subscription Music TV, Japan, blogs, Tokyo, satellite TV station, Shibuya, economy, Chris Anderson, NOFX, marketing, Pick, Amazon, U-Stream, TV Tokyo, marketing, InterFM, Linkedin, entertainment, PR, Terrestrial TV, blogging, Social Media, Modern Marketing Japan, advertising, Long Tail, Mixi, Facebook, vlogs, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, FM stations, Twitter, Shinjuku, Youtube, iTunes, culture, TBS, The Long Tail, DIY,
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
FM Radio Promotional Disaster... Don't Do This at Home
The other day, one of the top 5 FM radio stations in Tokyo ran a promotion for one of the hottest, most frequented restaurants in one of the most happening places in all of Tokyo. The results were laughably horrendous. Here's the story.
In Japan, we celebrate Golden Week from April 29 - May 5th every year. It's called Golden Week because there's a bunch of holidays all bunched together so that most people just take a vacation for the entire period. The holidays are things like Emperor's Birthday, Spring Equinox, Children's Day, Sushi on Top of Honorable Naked Geisha Day, and a bunch of others that neither I nor 90% of the Japanese population can remember.
It just so happens that Cinco De Mayo (May 5) falls on Children's Day here in Japan. So, in order to celebrate the beginning of sales of a world-famous imported Mexican beer at this posh restaurant, they wanted to run a week long promotion.
The restaurant campaign was announced everyday, at least 4 times a day, on this big Tokyo radio station. If any listeners showed up at the restaurant and mentioned that they heard the campaign on the radio station they got a free beer, some T-shirts, and entered into a contest whereby 10 lucky couples won coupons in a drawing that were worth about $110 (USD) each that could be used for dinner and drinks. Not bad at all for a restaurant promotion.
So, how did this marvelous campaign go?
The big Tokyo radio station, that broadcasts to over 35 million homes in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, pushes this campaign hard for a week; everyday for 5 days, at least 4 times a day. Winners get thousands of dollars worth of free food and drinks... With a great push and prizes like that, you can imagine that the place was packed everynight! Wow! So, uh, can you guess how many people showed up at the restaurant and mentioned the radio station's name to get their free beer and to enter the drawing?...
Let me give you a hint; the last of their worries was crowd control.
Only two couples showed up at the restaurant and mentioned that they heard about the promotion on the radio! Two couples! That's it. TWO. T-W-O. 2. Dos. II. One less than three. Two. Two couples!? Are you frickin' kidding me? Jeez-Louise! Two couples! That's worse than lame! As my friend Kris Honeycutt quipped, "How could anyone fail at giving away free beer?"
I think that if I were the guys running the radio station that I'd be committing Hari-Kiri right now.
Don't forget that there are 35 million households in the Tokyo Metropolitan area and there are only five FM radio stations, so it's not like there's a whole heck of a lot of competition.
Now, after these crap results, you're wondering how much did this campaign cost the restaurant?... Well, this is where I came in and saved their asses... Generally speaking, for a campaign like this, the radio station would have charged the restaurant and the beer company anywhere from $50,000 ~ $100,000 for the week. Not a small amount of money.... But the restaurant and the beer company paid nothing for this promotion. Why? Because they were at least smart enough to ask for my advice.
Lucky for them. Lucky they paid nothing because nothing is about the value of their return.
I told them before the campaign ever began that doing it the way they planned, and using a radio station as central to the promotion, was doomed to fail; but they had their hearts set on doing it this way. OK, I'm not one to argue with a client (well, not too much, anyway....) So I advised them on how to handle negotiations with the radio station and attended the meetings so that they would not have to pay for the disaster that I warned them was going to, and did, happen.
Their promotion was a failure, but at least they weren't out $100,000 on it.
How not to fall into the antique media trap in Japan.
The current market is a buyer's market. The internet has changed everything. It used to be that you had to beg a Japanese TV or radio station to take your money and promote your product. Not anymore. I had advised the client to tell the station that they wanted to see results before they would discuss money. They took my advice.
I know what I am talking about here. From my past experience, I know what's going on on the inside. So take my advice and don't make this same mistake....
And this goes for TV, radio, and print media.
Regrettably, I wish they had taken my advice on the entire promotion. Next time, they promised that they would.
The smart promotion would involve an entirely different tack on this. We need to think outside the box. Planning is central. Brainstorming essential. Long gone are the days when budgets are set aside for certain individual campaigns. The smart companies will take a longer term, more holistic view to the problem. Proper webpages using the web 2.0 concept of community; bloggers (bloggers should have been invited to this event!); proper SEO; and, crucially important is a web page that is updated daily.
Jeez.... It's so simple and so cheap to do. Just a few ideas and some direction and motivation. The days of throwing huge sums of money away at a promotional problem are long gone.
If you follow my advice you too will be soon saying, "Whee! This marketing and advertising in Japan stuff is easy!"
--------
Keywords:
Internet, InterFM, radio, promotion, marketing, advertising, web 2.0, TV, print media,
In Japan, we celebrate Golden Week from April 29 - May 5th every year. It's called Golden Week because there's a bunch of holidays all bunched together so that most people just take a vacation for the entire period. The holidays are things like Emperor's Birthday, Spring Equinox, Children's Day, Sushi on Top of Honorable Naked Geisha Day, and a bunch of others that neither I nor 90% of the Japanese population can remember.
It just so happens that Cinco De Mayo (May 5) falls on Children's Day here in Japan. So, in order to celebrate the beginning of sales of a world-famous imported Mexican beer at this posh restaurant, they wanted to run a week long promotion.
The restaurant campaign was announced everyday, at least 4 times a day, on this big Tokyo radio station. If any listeners showed up at the restaurant and mentioned that they heard the campaign on the radio station they got a free beer, some T-shirts, and entered into a contest whereby 10 lucky couples won coupons in a drawing that were worth about $110 (USD) each that could be used for dinner and drinks. Not bad at all for a restaurant promotion.
So, how did this marvelous campaign go?
The big Tokyo radio station, that broadcasts to over 35 million homes in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, pushes this campaign hard for a week; everyday for 5 days, at least 4 times a day. Winners get thousands of dollars worth of free food and drinks... With a great push and prizes like that, you can imagine that the place was packed everynight! Wow! So, uh, can you guess how many people showed up at the restaurant and mentioned the radio station's name to get their free beer and to enter the drawing?...
Let me give you a hint; the last of their worries was crowd control.
Only two couples showed up at the restaurant and mentioned that they heard about the promotion on the radio! Two couples! That's it. TWO. T-W-O. 2. Dos. II. One less than three. Two. Two couples!? Are you frickin' kidding me? Jeez-Louise! Two couples! That's worse than lame! As my friend Kris Honeycutt quipped, "How could anyone fail at giving away free beer?"
I think that if I were the guys running the radio station that I'd be committing Hari-Kiri right now.
Don't forget that there are 35 million households in the Tokyo Metropolitan area and there are only five FM radio stations, so it's not like there's a whole heck of a lot of competition.
Now, after these crap results, you're wondering how much did this campaign cost the restaurant?... Well, this is where I came in and saved their asses... Generally speaking, for a campaign like this, the radio station would have charged the restaurant and the beer company anywhere from $50,000 ~ $100,000 for the week. Not a small amount of money.... But the restaurant and the beer company paid nothing for this promotion. Why? Because they were at least smart enough to ask for my advice.
Lucky for them. Lucky they paid nothing because nothing is about the value of their return.
I told them before the campaign ever began that doing it the way they planned, and using a radio station as central to the promotion, was doomed to fail; but they had their hearts set on doing it this way. OK, I'm not one to argue with a client (well, not too much, anyway....) So I advised them on how to handle negotiations with the radio station and attended the meetings so that they would not have to pay for the disaster that I warned them was going to, and did, happen.
Their promotion was a failure, but at least they weren't out $100,000 on it.
How not to fall into the antique media trap in Japan.
The current market is a buyer's market. The internet has changed everything. It used to be that you had to beg a Japanese TV or radio station to take your money and promote your product. Not anymore. I had advised the client to tell the station that they wanted to see results before they would discuss money. They took my advice.
I know what I am talking about here. From my past experience, I know what's going on on the inside. So take my advice and don't make this same mistake....
And this goes for TV, radio, and print media.
Regrettably, I wish they had taken my advice on the entire promotion. Next time, they promised that they would.
The smart promotion would involve an entirely different tack on this. We need to think outside the box. Planning is central. Brainstorming essential. Long gone are the days when budgets are set aside for certain individual campaigns. The smart companies will take a longer term, more holistic view to the problem. Proper webpages using the web 2.0 concept of community; bloggers (bloggers should have been invited to this event!); proper SEO; and, crucially important is a web page that is updated daily.
Jeez.... It's so simple and so cheap to do. Just a few ideas and some direction and motivation. The days of throwing huge sums of money away at a promotional problem are long gone.
If you follow my advice you too will be soon saying, "Whee! This marketing and advertising in Japan stuff is easy!"
--------
Keywords:
Internet, InterFM, radio, promotion, marketing, advertising, web 2.0, TV, print media,
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