Defy convention! This is how I run my PR events!

Well, it's finally down to just over a month until the end of the year. How are your year-end and New Year preparations coming along, everyone? Huh? Not at all yet? That's fine, that's fine. Let's take it a little slower. For those of you in that situation, here's your "monthly appointment." That's right, it's time for the Shinmeikai "Strategic PR" column.

The end of the year is packed with events, right? Honestly, it gets downright hectic as societal topics explode. Take Christmas coverage—it's been relentless since late October. Then there's the year-end retrospectives: "Top 10 News Stories of 2014," "Hit Product Rankings," and so on, all flooding in.
But you know, diving into "year-end summaries" nearly two months early, before December even arrives, feels a bit off, doesn't it? Still, "anticipating trends" is fundamentally a media strategy. The desire to know things first is a basic human urge!

So, our PR folks' craft lies in constantly anticipating the standard events two months ahead and creating news that ties into them at just the right moment. That's how you win the future—by always being one step ahead. "Huh? So what? Does that mean the battle for the standard year-end/New Year events is already over?" If you're freaking out like that, you're partly right and partly wrong. Wrong in the sense that... well, it's more like, "Don't give up~♪" The thing about winning, you see, isn't about one shot. Even if you get knocked down again and again, you have to get back up and fight tooth and nail. So, even on the day of the event itself, there are still ways to make it work, right? With that in mind, let me share a few techniques I'm currently challenging myself with! I call it, "Don't Give Up! Transform That Event with These Tricks!" (Hmm, sounds a bit old-school, doesn't it...)

① "Bloggers Get a Whole New Meaning! Blogger Utilization 2.0"
~Make them feel it, don't just make them write!~

Getting bloggers to attend events or even press conferences and have them write articles on their personal blogs is an approach we've seen before. But what if we shifted that perspective a bit?

Getting coverage on blogs is about spreading the word, but the difference between being featured in mass media and being featured on a blog lies in whether the information feels close to the everyday lives of consumers. It's precisely because the content resonates with blog readers on a personal level that it can spark that sense of "making it about themselves."

On the other hand, I often encounter unfortunate blogger utilization lately where the primary goal is purely "information reach," much like advertising. "Just invite as many as possible," "This person has low page views, so let's skip them this time," and so on. In terms of reach, even slightly niche magazines have decent circulation. So, except for a select few called alpha bloggers, shouldn't we prioritize and focus on attracting coverage from conventional media?

However, I actually think it's "totally viable!" if used from a different perspective. That's what I call "Blogger Utilization 2.0" (my own name for it, sorry), meaning a phased approach where "bloggers experience the event from their own perspective, and their genuine impressions become material for media coverage."

Often, we explain to journalists, "Honestly, these people are hugely popular for this reason!" to pitch our story. But that's usually at the "early signs" stage. Even if we genuinely analyze and believe "This is going to get huge!", the other side might look at us skeptically, thinking "Really?". That's when we bring in bloggers interested in that market or product to the event. Whether they write a blog post or not isn't the point. These are naturally curious people always on the lookout for blog topics. When we invite them, they see things with sparkling eyes. Then we bring in media reporters and say, "See? Just like we said! Everyone's fascinated!" Immediately, they get it: "Oh, really! So this appeals to people with this specific profile." Yes, it's crucial to devise ways to create a symbolic image for the media too. In that sense, I thought positioning bloggers as "symbolic representatives of a certain consumer demographic" was a viable approach.

For example, inviting a homemaker blogger to a home appliance launch sparks conversations like, "I've never seen anything like this!" or "Seriously, I want this feature today!" Listening to this often gives you insights like, "Ah, I see! This is the real selling point, not that other thing!" For journalists, bloggers are also consumers, so they can be immediately utilized as interview subjects. This eliminates the need for separate street interviews, making it a two-for-one deal.

What do you think? There seem to be many more ways to utilize bloggers.

② "The Case for Turning Offline Meetups Online: The Meetup Hijack"
~The "Cuckoo" Strategy: Outsourcing Product Development to Others~

We tend to think we have to prepare every event from scratch! But what about "hitching a ride on existing events"? That's the idea here. Of course, we can create our own events for sales promotion, setting up venues to gather our target audience. But if we only talk about the good stuff at such events, people won't believe us, and we can't truly differentiate ourselves, right? Instead, why not open up more? Say things like, "Please get to know the real me," or "Would you mind helping produce this product from your perspective?" In other words, "entrusting the brand to consumers." This connects to the subtitle's "Cuckoo Strategy" (meaning to lay one's eggs in another's nest and have them raised).

For instance, attending smaller events where like-minded people with deep shared interests gather (like community meetups) and striking up conversations could be effective. If they understand us there, influencers within that sphere will naturally spread the word. But this isn't vague promotion; it's not superficial, physical contact like sampling. You need to promote your unique selling points in a much more specialized and impactful way to get anyone's attention, right? Identifying what specific skill or feature to highlight as that unique selling point might be the most crucial point for PR. The ultimate mission is finding the best match between your product and a specific community. You could say it's somewhat similar to group matchmaking events or mass blind dates.

③ "The Rise of 'Even if Local♪ Even if Local, Comes with Nationwide Expansion♪' Events"

※To the tune of Nanking Tamasudare.

~How Online PR Saved Events from Many Constraints!~

Finally, let's ditch the mindset that "Events ultimately need scale, right? So they end up costing a fortune!" In other words, even small-scale, localized events leveraging online PR can work perfectly well. Events are often plagued by physical constraints like location, time, and weather. And when considering their impact, metrics like visitor numbers, participant counts, and sampling volumes used to be the focus. The tendency was to go big to achieve results. However, in today's internet-dominated era, I believe approaches are steadily changing, and successful examples are proliferating.

The focus on scale and "numbers" like attendance used to stem from the need to deliver information directly, one-to-one, to consumers. Looking at today's landscape, however, virtual experiences can be built instantly through online videos and similar platforms. If these experiences are conveyed with high realism, they can sometimes deliver a much stronger sensory impact than physical events. Of course, providing deep, real-world experiences remains ideal. However, considering budget constraints, focusing on content design to create profound consumer resonance through small-scale, localized experiences—then amplifying these online to reach nationwide or global audiences—is an approach worth exploring.

At Cannes Lions and similar events, many projects gain attention through approaches like flash mobs, surprise hidden camera videos, or showcasing online reactions to locally placed OOH (Out-of-Home) media. So when we present case studies, "Wow, that must be some seriously impressive work. We could never pull off something that big..." But when I tell them the actual costs involved, they're often surprised: "Huh? You can do that with such a budget?" Exactly—because the reach is so vast, it looks like an expensive, large-scale production. Yet, by leveraging today's technology, we can achieve this remarkably affordably.

 

Well, for those of us from the bubble era who remember those mind-bogglingly huge events, it might feel like a different world now. But hey, let's catch up! By the way, next year, 2015, is the year set in the future when they time-travel in the movie "Back to the Future Part II." Considering it was released in 1989, Back to the Future Part II predicted flying cars by now! So we should be capable of so much more! It's perfectly fine to let your imagination run wild with that kind of positive daydreaming! Alright then, until next time. Bye bye bye!