Episode 3 Field Campaign

Management strategy, business strategy, marketing strategy, etc., strategies tend to sound complicated.
However, the essence of strategy is surprisingly simple.
The simplest explanation of strategy is
“thinking of ways to improve the current situation.”
For example,

– How can you convey your feelings to the person you like?
– What can you do to make a friend happy on their birthday?

This can also be considered a good example of formulating a strategy.
Today, we will introduce a case study that gives a glimpse into the essence of strategy.
Company website columns tend to introduce large-scale strategy examples,
but this time we will introduce a fairly small example of a company undertaking.
I think that if you read this,
you will understand the essence of strategy.

It was around spring about 10 years ago that we received a consultation from an entertainment agency representing several enka singers.
The agency was a young company that had just been established as a spin-off from a long-established enka entertainment agency.
There were three enka singers affiliated with the agency, and the president was also in his 20s.

The consultation was about promoting an enka singer who was just an elementary school student and had not yet made her debut.

“Ashida-san, they say this girl is the second coming of Misora Hibari. We want her to appear in this year’s Kohaku!”

At first I couldn’t believe my ears.
I would understand if the goal was to make her debut and have her succeed, but she had not yet made her debut, and she was still an elementary school student.
And the goal was to appear in the Kohaku Uta Gassen within the same year.
Furthermore,

“Our budget is 1.5 million yen. Is there anything we can do with that?”

It’s common to hear that there isn’t much money in the world of enka,

“What can we do with 1.5 million yen?”

I could have refused on the spot, but I decided to first hear more about the industry and about this girl.

The first thing I asked was,

“How can I appear on Kohaku?”

Even though he is the president of a young agency, the company he was previously with is a long-established Enka singer agency.

I thought he knew about the industry.

“You know, I’m sure you understand that you need connections, but you have to be popular first.”

I got the answer I expected. There’s no need to ask about connections.

“So what counts as a hit?”

“I think it’s about getting a little attention and selling more than XXX million copies of your debut single.”

I decided to think about it simply.

“So, assuming you can get attention, why not just sell XXX million copies in advance?”

I don’t know much about the music industry either. I asked a simple question.

“That’s the problem. The record company that a new artist is signed to decides the number of CDs to be released at first, which is XXX thousand copies. I don’t think they can release more than that.”

In essence, even if you encourage them to sell, the initial number of CDs released is limited to the record company that they are signed to, so it turns out that they can’t sell the set number.

So I continue with the question.

“So, how can we get the record company to release more?”

“If CD shops place back orders, the record store will decide that the product is “selling” and will increase sales.”

“I see, so it’s a dead end at the moment. (I’m trying to organize my thoughts here.) By the way, that child is in elementary school, so he/she will have time for summer vacation, right?”

“Of course, what’s the problem?”

I think it was about 15 minutes after I started talking with the president of the agency.
I came up with a strategy and presented it to him.

The title of the enka singer’s debut song was “XX Festival”.
First of all,

– Purchase a small used minivan

– Wrap the car to make it an ad car to promote the song

Out of a budget of 1.5 million yen, 1.2 million yen was spent on the purchase of the car and wrapping it,

and the rest was used to create flyers and a website (and SNS).
By the way, of course, our company’s profits were almost zero (lol)

Next, I will explain the operation.

– Launch the website
– Announcement of the nationwide caravan
– Pick festivals around the country during summer vacation
– Get them to sing at the summer festivals we picked

Since enka singers are elementary school students, we decided to use the summer vacation to do a nationwide caravan from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa.

Furthermore, we would have them sing at the summer festivals we picked that matched the song’s title “XX Festival” for free.
In this way, we decided to perform at summer festivals all over the country one after another.

So I gave another instruction to the president.
・Never sell CDs at the venue

“Huh? Why? Isn’t it a great opportunity to sing at the festival venue and sell CDs!!”

The president was a little indignant. He must have thought I was crazy.

I explained further.

“A small elementary school student sings with a beautiful voice at the venue. It’s obvious that they will instantly become fans. Then the staff distributes flyers. They ask where they can buy the CD. The staff tells them that they can buy it at a CD shop. The fans go to the CD shop. But the CD is not there. The staff is also in trouble. What happens then?”

“I see, so that leads to back orders!!”

The president finally seemed to understand my true intentions and was moved.

By the way, I actually felt guilty about this plan.
Most of the people who become fans of enka singers at summer festivals are elderly people.
I also felt a little guilty about making those fans walk to the CD shop.
(So I might not propose this plan now.)

And so the field campaign started with the start of summer vacation.

I decided to leave this plan to the agency and have them keep reporting to me.
The first piece of news came halfway through the summer holidays.

“The first batch of CDs has sold out, and we’ve decided to increase sales. Just as we planned!”

And so, the increased sales were decided, and the good news continued even after the summer holidays were over.
There were more TV appearances, and the best news of all was that the CD sales target was reached.

“Since the CD sales target has been reached, my job is over for now. The final push to appear on Kohaku is an important job for the president. Do your best.”

Then the final piece of good news came near the end of the year, around mid-November.

“Ashida-san, you’ve been selected to appear on Kohaku!”

And so, after appearing on Kohaku, she was offered more and more jobs in TV commercials, programs, events, and more.

After that, the enka singer moved to a major agency and I was no longer able to support her.
But it goes without saying that the strategy (for better or worse) changed the future of both the agency and the enka singer.

I’m involved in a lot of corporate strategies,
and I don’t think the size of the company matters much; what’s important is how well you can come up with creative strategies.
By the way, our company’s corporate slogan, “Strategy Changes ALL!”,
was born from various strategic examples like this.
All we can do is work hard every day to ensure we don’t betray this slogan.

Text by Ashida Hiroshi