draffic (Integrated Solutions Bureau, Haruhide Morishita)

draffic: A new solution developed by Dentsu Inc. that visualizes human movement.

To uncover its true nature, Kimezo—who has zero digital literacy—interviewed Mr. Haruhide Morishita from Dentsu Inc. Communication Design Center (at the time).

──Is "draffic" derived from "dorayaki"? After all, I have a sweet tooth—just yesterday I went to a cake buffet by myself...

Morishita: ( With a Buddha-like smile) No, not at all.
It's a combination of "Distribution" and "Traffic" (human flow).

──If it's not dorayaki, then what is it? I'm getting confused.

Morishita: Simply put, it's a service that visualizes the flow of people—what you might call "customer pathways"—based on massive amounts of data. It shows when, how many people, and where they go... It's a service that seems obvious but didn't exist before.

──Why did you start this in the first place? For pocket money?

Morishita: It started in 2011 with the question: Could we utilize the location data of hundreds of thousands of users—data accumulated by Zenrin DataCom with user consent—for something? We actually launched the service in 2012.

──For pocket money?

Morishita: No. As Dentsu Inc., it was to extract the "challenges" and "new discoveries" faced by cities and businesses, and provide appropriate solutions.

──What kind of information specifically becomes "visualizable"?

Morishita: We can display location data over time as visual data. You can instantly see where people came from and where they're headed. Even retailers didn't have data this granular before, so it's groundbreaking. You can also set very specific conditions, like extracting the movements of people who visited a certain store between 2 and 3 PM, or seeing how long they stayed.

──Can I track that girl I fell for at first sight on the train this morning? Or see where my old crush, Hatue, is now? Or find my missing sister? Hey, tell me!

Morishita: (After taking a deliberately slow sip of tea) Even with permission, this is personal information. Systemically, it's designed so data pinpointing specific individuals' movements can't be extracted. We can only pull data as statistical information, like rankings.

──Any concrete results? If it's just pie in the sky, I won't approve it. Speaking of mochi, I'm a sweet tooth and can't resist anko mochi...

Morishita: (Cutting him off without mercy) There's a case study from a railway company. They visualized how passenger flow changed before and after a station renovation, highlighting key issues.

──So "draffic" is what made this insight possible?

Morishita: Yes. We've also implemented it for a local government. We analyze detailed movements—whether tourists are day-trippers, how long they stay if they are, or if they're overnight visitors—to extract challenges. We believe this contributes to making the city more livable for residents and more appealing for visitors.

──So in the future, will you use the collected data to actually build structures?

Morishita: That's an interesting perspective. The real estate industry is indeed showing interest in "draffic." Above all, it's a service with significant social value. For example, analyzing people's movements during disasters helps determine how much stockpiling is needed at specific locations or where to focus efforts for effective guidance.

──This service is starting to sound really promising.

Morishita: Exactly. It truly holds infinite potential.

──Will it eventually collect personal information too? I lead a meaningful life commuting between home and the job center. Would you buy that personal data?

Morishita: That's not how it works . As I mentioned earlier, "draffic" is a system designed to handle "statistical data" securely.

──By the way, what kind of work have you been doing until now, Morishita? Given the "tracking" connection, are you a professional detective?

Morishita: (With his most serious expression of the day) No. Until February this year, I lived in Osaka and worked on planning a "check-in service" where walking around the city earned you points. That led me to the draffic team.

──What's the thrill of cooking with data? When do you get that rush?

Morishita: When the team discovers a new behavioral insight, we get surprised and think, "Yes!"

──Have you discovered anything new about yourself lately? Like unexpectedly finding out you can't eat cherry tomatoes?

Morishita: The day before yesterday, I got my first perm ever, and I discovered it actually suits me surprisingly well. I also noticed how the flow of my hair and the flow of people share a certain similarity (laughs).

★Before	★After

──I have no idea what you're talking about. Anyway, as Dentsu Inc., what exactly do you plan to do based on the "draffic" data?

Morishita: There are many patterns that can be applied universally to outdoor advertising, transit ads, flyers, and other table media plans. Beyond that, we handle app development, digital service integration, and city branding tailored to specific challenges. We provide every conceivable solution as All Dentsu Inc.

──Is 'All Dentsu Inc.' related to 'all-electric'?

Morishita: (as if not hearing a thing) Take the example of a new store opening by a certain retail company. After opening, traffic increased by about 130% compared to the previous year. So, we need measures to capture these new visitors and turn them into repeat customers. But if it were, say, 80%, the countermeasures would change, right? Like, let's use mass advertising again to increase foot traffic. Anyway, we provide flexible solutions based on the data.

──How about creating something like a "Traffic Grand Prix"? We'd recognize the area with the biggest increase in visitors compared to a year ago and promote it to create new tourist spots across Japan.

Morishita: Hmm, that's actually a pretty good idea.

──Then buy this idea from me. How about 3 million yen?

Morishita: "draffic" is truly a service that uncovers many discoveries.

Just seeing the flow of people as visual data is fascinating. Feel free to reach out anytime.

──How about 2 million yen? Hey...