TUNED FOR SUCCESS

TitleTUNED FOR SUCCESS
BrandSELF-PROMOTION: DENTSU INC.'S OWN CSR INITIATIVE
Product / ServiceHANJO HANJO (NEWS SITE FOR SMES)
CategoryC02. Use of Social in a PR campaign
EntrantDENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN
PR DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN
Production MONOPO Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 TVK COMMUNICATIONS,INC. Kanagawa, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Kohei Morimoto DENTSU INC. Project Leader
Eriko Yanagita Dentsu Digital Inc Producer
Tadashi Inokuchi Dentsu Public Relations Inc. Chief PR Planner
Daisuke Inoue Dentsu Public Relations Inc. Chief PR Planner
Taiki Aoyama Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR Planner
Hayato Mangoku Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR Planner
Yuki Sato Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR Planner
Yuki Watanabe Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR planner
Tsukasa Sekie Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR Planner
Hidehito Iwai Dentsu Public Relations Inc. Advisor

The Campaign

Japanese culture has long emphasized the virtues of teamwork over individual pursuit of success. This concept is reflected in the tradition of school and company songs. From kindergarten to university, most schools—and many large firms—have an original song which, sung together at various official functions, provides the opportunity to reaffirm one’s identity as part of a group, fostering solidarity and motivation. At companies, the lyrics of these songs often outline a firm’s corporate philosophy, or extol its products or services. But while many businesses retain such anthems, a gradual shift away from a climate of “jobs for life” where employees are treated as family, has seen them sung less and less often. This campaign aimed to update the idea of the company song, both as a means for workers to reestablish a love for their employer, and a marketing tool to convey the appeal of SMEs to outsiders.

Execution

A contest to find “Japan’s best company song” was launched via the Hanjo Hanjo website, inviting firms from all over Japan to send in videos for their official anthems. The contest was presented as a chance for SMEs to create and share videos of their company songs, also highlighting the potential of these clips as marketing content through which individual businesses could convey their own unique identity and message. The submitted videos were also promoted to various media outlets, generating traction that extended beyond the conventional media, attracting more firms to take part.

The project triggered a company song boom in Japan and dramatically improved awareness and popularity of the mostly forgotten tradition. Journalist, author and company song specialist Masazumi Yugari participated in the project as an influencer, and was featured in media as a Company Song Expert for the first time. Of the SMEs that took part in the project, 62.1% described a positive impact in terms of business promotion, 17.2% in terms of recruitment, and 37.9% in terms of improved communication between employees. Participating firms also described benefits such as reaffirming the company philosophy (37.9%), and creating a chance for staff to talk about the company with family and friends (34.5%). Helped to raise public awareness of participating firms, enabling local businesses to build a nationwide profile. Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry is planning to hold a seminar on the topic. Received coverage in GloboNews, a Brazilian TV program, helping Japan’s SMEs to gain exposure beyond their home market. 37.9% of companies reported benefits in employee motivation. 62% reported improvements in company recognition and 27.6% an increase in inquiries, while 13.8% reported improved sales. 34.5% said the campaign became a topic of discussion with customers and business partners. Featured media: TV (24), newspaper articles (20, including two references in front-page columns), radio shows (3), online/blogs (100+), tweets (97% gain over the previous year).

The Situation

This project, conceived to support Japan’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), centered on a contest inviting firms to submit videos created for their company songs. Launched in 2016 by Hanjo Hanjo, an SME news website operated under the CSR activities of Dentsu Inc., the scheme leveraged earned media to create a more positive perception of SMEs, many of which—like other specialist businesses—have faced various difficulties in recent years. For participating firms, the project helped to boost both sales and recruitment without relying on advertising. Progress was also made towards addressing a prominent social issue.

The Strategy

The strategy centered on providing the impetus and opportunity for SMEs to produce videos for their respective company songs, and to use those as marketing tools in their own right. As few SMEs are able to allocate significant time or funds for such activities, the videos had to be simple and inexpensive to produce, taking advantage of affordable modern video technology. Participating firms took a variety of approaches to both presentation and the songs themselves, some reusing existing melodies and lyrics, and others creating entirely new pieces, to create content that could be easily shared through firms’ own social media accounts.

Links

Website URL