What is the essence of strategy?
Corporate strategy, business strategy, marketing strategy... “strategy” sounds somehow difficult, doesn't it?
But isn't the essence of strategy actually surprisingly simple?
To explain strategy simply:
“Thinking of ways to make things better than they are now.”
For example:
- How should I convey my feelings to the person I like?
- What can I do to make my friend happy on their birthday?
These, too, can be called fine examples of strategy formulation.
This time, I will introduce a case that offers a glimpse into the essence of strategy.
In a column on a company website, one tends to introduce large-scale strategy cases, but
although this is a case our company worked on,
it is a rather small one.
I hope that by reading it,
you will understand the essence of strategy.
A request from a talent agency
It was in the spring a little over ten years ago that we received a request from a talent agency representing enka singers.
The agency was a young company that had just been spun out of a long-established enka talent agency.
It represented three enka singers. The president was also in his twenties.
The request was to promote an enka singer who was an elementary school student—and one who had not even debuted yet.
“Mr. Ashida, this girl is being called the second coming of Hibari Misora. We want you to get her onto this year's Kohaku!”
At first, I couldn't believe my ears.
If the goal were to have her debut and succeed, I could understand, but she hadn't debuted yet, and she was an elementary school student.
And the goal was an appearance on the Kohaku Uta Gassen within the same year.
Furthermore,
“The budget is 1.5 million yen. Is there any way you can make it work with this?”
It's a well-known story that money doesn't circulate much in the enka world, but
“What can be done with 1.5 million yen?”
I could have declined on the spot, but I decided first to hear more about the industry and about this girl.
And so, the interview
The first thing I asked was:
“How does someone get onto Kohaku?”
Although he was the president of a young agency, the company he had previously belonged to was a long-established enka singers' agency.
Surely he would know the industry's inner workings.
“As you know, I'm sure you understand that connections are necessary, but first and foremost, she has to sell.”
The answer came back just as I had imagined. As for connections, that was something there was no need to ask about.
“Then what counts as having sold?”
“Getting a bit of attention, and selling over XX0,000 copies of the debut single, I'd say.”
I decided to think about it simply first.
“Well, suppose we get her attention—couldn't you just produce XX0,000 copies in advance?”
I don't know the music industry either. I asked a naive question.
“That's the problem. For newcomers, the record company they belong to decides the initial number of CDs at XX,000 copies. Producing more than that is impossible.”
In short, it turned out that even if we managed to get the CD selling, the initial number of CDs issued was limited by the record company, so it would be impossible to move the required number of copies.
So I continued asking questions.
“Then what would it take to get the record company to produce more?”
“If CD shops place back orders, the record stores judge that it's ‘selling,’ and an additional pressing is decided.”
“I see, so as things stand we're at a dead end. (Here I organized my thoughts.) By the way, since she's an elementary school student, she'll have time during summer vacation, right?”
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
Planning the field campaign
Perhaps about 15 minutes after I started talking with the agency's president,
I came up with a strategy and put it to him.
The title of the enka singer's debut song was “XX Matsuri (Festival).”
First:
- Buy a small used minivan
- Wrap the van to turn it into an ad car promoting the song
Out of the 1.5 million yen budget, 1.2 million yen went to purchasing and wrapping the van,
and the rest went to producing flyers and a website (with social media set up as well).
Needless to say, almost no profit was left for our company (laughs).
Next, let me explain the operation.
- Launch the website
- Announce a nationwide caravan
- Pick summer festivals across the country during summer vacation
- Have her sing at the selected summer festivals
Since the enka singer was an elementary school student, we decided to use her summer vacation to hold a nationwide caravan from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa.
In addition, we had her sing, even without a fee, at the selected summer festivals that matched the song title “XX Matsuri (Festival).”
In this way, one appearance after another was confirmed at summer festivals all over the country.
Then I gave the president one more instruction:
- Never sell CDs at the venues
“What? Why? She finally gets to sing at festival venues—isn't that the perfect chance to sell CDs!?”
The president was a little indignant. He must have thought I had lost my mind.
I explained further.
“A little elementary school girl sings with a beautiful voice at the venue. It's obvious people will instantly become fans. Then the staff hand out flyers. People ask where they can buy the CD. The staff tell them it's available at CD shops. Then the fans go to the CD shops. But the CD isn't in stock. The shop clerks are at a loss too. What happens then?”
“I see—that's how it leads to back orders!!”
The president finally seemed to understand my real intention and looked moved.
To be honest, I actually felt a little guilty about this plan.
Most of the people who become fans of an enka singer at a summer festival are probably elderly.
I felt somewhat guilty about making those fans walk all the way to a CD shop.
(So I might not propose this plan today.)
And so the field campaign began with the start of summer vacation.
▶ Maya Sakura - July 19, 2009 - Shizuoka Prefecture, “Ito-Yokado Mishima Store”
Where did this strategy lead?
From there, I left the initiative to the agency and asked them to report to me as things progressed.
Around the middle of summer vacation, news came in.
“The first lot of CDs sold out, and an additional pressing has been decided. Just as planned!”
And so the additional pressing was decided, and the good news continued even after summer vacation ended.
Her TV appearances increased,
and best of all, CD sales reached the target.
“Since CD sales have reached the target, my role is done for now. The final push toward a Kohaku appearance is your important job as president. Good luck.”
And the final good news came close to the end of the year, around mid-November.
“Mr. Ashida, she's been selected for Kohaku!”
And so she appeared on Kohaku, and from then on she landed one job after another, including TV commercials, programs, and events.
Strategy changes everything
Later, the enka singer moved to a major agency, and I was no longer able to support her.
Still, it goes without saying that strategy (whether for better or worse) changed the future of both the agency and the enka singer.
I am involved in many corporate strategies as well, but
I believe scale has little to do with it;
what matters is how much ingenuity—in the name of strategy—one can come up with.
Incidentally, our corporate slogan, “Strategy Changes ALL!”,
was born from various strategy cases like this one.
All I can do is keep working hard every day
so as not to betray this slogan.
Text: Hiroshi Ashida