Let's stop taking the most commonplace trips on our smartphones. (trippiece × Dentsu Inc. Smart Plus)

Hello, I'm Tatsuhito Kobayashi from Dentsu Inc. Smart Plaza.
As smartphone adoption accelerates and everything changes at a tremendous pace, Dentsu Inc. Smart Plaza now turns its focus to the field of "travel."
How will smartphones evolve travel? Together with Dentsu Inc. Smart Plus's Aoki Chūya, we spoke with Ishida Genkō, CEO of the social travel service " trippiece " (whose concept is "Share Trip = Fun Because We Go Together"), and Nagashima Taiyō.

We don't want IT to be just about convenience

 

Kobayashi: What was the vision behind creating the trippiece service?

Ishida: I absolutely dislike the idea of IT being confined to merely convenient services. While IT has made things incredibly convenient, I don't believe that's enough.
What's important is the changes IT brings to daily life and, more simply, how much it elevates the feeling of "fun" in society. We want to achieve that in the realm of travel.

Aoki: In the PC-based era, convenience was central. But in today's smartphone-based world, many services break away from that, offering different contexts. I feel the emphasis is shifting more towards how much excitement they can generate.

Bringing the extraordinary to our commoditized daily lives

 

Kobayashi: I understand trippiece's main users are in their late 20s to early 30s. Why do these people use the service?

Ishida: There are two simple reasons.
First, when people enter the workforce, their travel communities tend to shrink. As those around them start getting married, there are fewer people to travel with. Second, life easily becomes routine. You work Monday through Friday, go out drinking on Friday night, wake up late Saturday, go out, and relax on Sunday – it's easy to fall into that predictable pattern.

Kobayashi: That's true. I can definitely relate.

Ishida: That's why we think our main users are people in their late 20s to early 30s – those who want to do something but lack the place or community to do it. What I find particularly interesting is that usage is relatively high on Sundays. Maybe it's an escape from the reality of work the next day.

Aoki: If you could easily find a fun trip you want to go on right then, using your smartphone, that would be incredibly compelling, wouldn't it?

Ishida: Exactly. As a fundamental premise, trippiece uses relatively large photos to move people emotionally. We prioritize helping users visualize the travel experience and sparking that desire to travel. For the smartphone page, we especially focus on whether it's enjoyable to look at.
That's why we avoid including unnecessary information in our campaign titles. Presenting prices upfront turns it into a travel product rather than a travel experience. Trippiece is fundamentally a platform for discovering travel—a place for new encounters with travel and delivering the extraordinary.

Kobayashi: At Sumapura, we view smartphones as devices that directly connect to human emotions through finger movements, calling them "emotion devices" or emotional media. I felt trippiece's usage truly links with emotion. That's fascinating.

Smartphones reveal the deep-seated psychological needs for travel.

 

Kobayashi: From the user's perspective, trippiece is a device for discovering new travel experiences, while for travel agencies, it's a device for discovering new needs. What are your thoughts on that?

Ishida: Exactly. We stimulate travel demand and create the path leading up to the trip, while travel agencies package and provide those trips. That's precisely our role.

Nagashima: Users are truly discovering new travel needs at an accelerating pace. For example, in a previous campaign where users listed places they wanted to visit, and the destination with the most votes became the trip, users automatically uncovered what made that location appealing right on trippiece.

Aoki: I think this is because smartphones make it easier for people to express their fleeting, trivial thoughts. That's why we're discovering unexpected needs that weren't visible before. In that sense, trippiece has become a kind of automated co-creation system, hasn't it?

Ishida: Exactly. When companies try to turn new needs into travel experiences, it inevitably becomes about marketing concepts. They focus on how large the target audience is, leading to trips that cater to the greatest common denominator. With trippiece, if the planner wants to go, they can create the trip. And precisely because each trip isn't large-scale, it's easier for many attractive trips that resonate deeply with specific people to emerge.

 

The keyword for the future is "Share Trip"

 

Kobayashi: How do you think smartphones have changed travel?

Ishida: I think it's made travel more accessible and optimized. Because we live in an era where we always have smartphones in our hands, the distance to travel information has shrunk. Going forward, optimized information will be presented in real-time during travel, factoring in weather and GPS: "Today's recommended one-day activity is this!" or "If you went here yesterday, how about this shop today?"

Aoki: Matching what people want with those who want to provide it. Smartphones increase both the speed and accuracy of this matching. It's on a level unimaginable compared to the PC-only era.

Kobayashi: This is particularly evident in trippiece's travel planning phase, where one person launches a trip idea and others hop on board. That desire to travel—"Sounds fun!" "I want to go!"—relies heavily on the excitement of the moment. If you miss the timing, the enthusiasm can quickly fade. That's why I feel this service is a perfect fit for smartphones.

Aoki: It's wonderful how communication that isn't visible in ordinary travel emerges when the keyword "share" is introduced, enriching the experiential value.

Kobayashi: Please share a final message.

Ishida: I believe that having the things you love and the people you love come together is key to creating more enjoyable experiences. Through the trippiece service, we aim to connect people and explore how much joy we can deliver. We will continue pursuing this, striving to create a world overflowing with "likes" and free from barriers. Please try experiencing a new form of travel with trippiece.

Kobayashi: Thank you so much for today!

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