The creative eye that captures the world will undoubtedly shine in CX too.

【LIFE TUNING DAYS】
LIFE TUNING DAYS is a total wellness community and platform inspired by yoga, with its approximately 5,000-year history. It is a new venture operated through a partnership between B-connect and Dentsu Inc.

LIFE TUNING DAYS
https://life-tuning-days.com/

B-connect is a startup spun off from a long-established apparel company spanning three generations. Seeking to expand its business, it began collaborating with Dentsu Inc. CX is at the heart of this initiative.

We spoke with three key figures behind this initiative: Yohei Mimura, Total Producer and head of the Business Transformation Division; Yasushi Matsuoka, Main Planner from the Data Marketing Division; and Akane Kono, Copywriter/Planner currently seconded to Dentsu Digital Inc.

New "Experience Creation" Starts with New "Word Creation"

Monthly CX: Please tell us more about LIFE TUNING DAYS.

Mimura: It's a total wellness community and platform inspired by yoga, which is said to have begun over 5,000 years ago. Aimed at "balancing mind and body," it aggregates total wellness tips and hosts hybrid digital/real-world events, shares information via SNS, sells products on its e-commerce site, and develops tie-up content with sponsors.

Monthly CX: I understand the B-connect and CXCC teams collaborated with creative members from the project planning stage.

Uenohara: We started by listening in detail to President Takahashi of B-connect's vision for this new initiative, then translated that into a concept. President Takahashi expressed his desire to "extend Japan's healthy life expectancy by 0.5 years" and to create a platform focused on yoga and wellness.

Monthly CX: Extending Japan's healthy life expectancy by 0.5 years. At first glance, it might seem like a small number, but when viewed for the whole of Japan, it's a wonderful idea with significant meaning.

Kamihirano: Exactly. Yoga often carries this image of being for the highly conscious, right? But if the goal is "to extend Japan's healthy life expectancy by 0.5 years," we could develop a concept that feels relevant to a much broader audience. That's why we pursued this direction.

Monthly CX: What specific concept did you develop?

Kamihirano: We abstracted the idea slightly, framing it as "tuning your life," and created a new concept called "Life Tuning." Then, by building a platform for that purpose, we ultimately arrived at the name "LIFE TUNING DAYS."

Creating a stronger CX by linking experiences together

Matsuoka: Starting from creating the term "Life Tuning," we began the actual CX design. We identified several methods for tuning "living," and envisioned that having communities dedicated to each tuning method would energize the activities of all participants. Aiming for this form, we first broadly categorized the tuning methods into four main types.

Monthly CX: What are these tuning methods specifically?

Matsuoka:
* Interface Tuning: Refining your appearance
・Body Tuning: Adjusting by moving the body
・Inner Tuning: Tuning by incorporating elements into the body
・Mind tuning to align your thoughts
Each of these four tuning methods is firmly connected to specific experiences like beauty, fashion, yoga, diet, coaching, and meditation.

Monthly CX: Ms. Uenohara, you participate in this project as a planner/copywriter. Among these various "life tuning" approaches, what do you think Dentsu Inc.'s unique creativity contributes most?

Kamihara: I believe it's our ability to establish a consistent philosophy and then rigorously manage individual initiatives and events to ensure they stay aligned.

LIFE TUNING DAYS involves so many initiatives and events that if we weren't careful, it could easily slip into a "let's sell this!" mentality, like promoting products based solely on their ingredients. Our biggest job is acting as a filter, ensuring each piece of content is communicated within a context that connects back to that core philosophy.

Even for SNS posts, during the launch phase, we creators would write and review scripts for every Instagram Live session, deciding what the presenters should say and considering the context for magazine articles. Carefully considering and executing outputs to ensure the philosophy remains consistent is the role of Dentsu Inc. Creative in this project.

Monthly CX: While gaining user empathy is crucial when providing experiences, the key point of CX creative is ensuring the underlying "philosophy" that generates that empathy remains consistent.

Kamihirano: Exactly. Especially on social media, if an official account lacks a consistent personality, today's users won't trust it. If you're saying something socially good in one moment and then the next instant exclaiming "This is super cheap!", you lose user trust. I think it's crucial to continuously manage and oversee these aspects.

Flexibility to respond immediately to unexpected situations is essential

Monthly CX: LIFE TUNING DAYS must have gone through various stages to reach its current form. In terms of CX creative, what was the sequence of its growth?

Matsuoka: Social media was the starting point. LIFE TUNING DAYS launched in March 2020, but the sudden impact of COVID-19 forced us to begin with social media. Originally, e-commerce and real-world initiatives were supposed to be central, but due to the pandemic, community-focused efforts on social media naturally became the core of the service. You could say the social media community saved us during the crisis when it became difficult to hold launch events.

Monthly CX: So you grew in a very agile way.

Matsuoka: We had planned our launch event for March 12-14, 2020—precisely when COVID-19 made events most difficult. We hit a wall immediately. Just as we thought we'd have to cancel, conversations with talent like Moeko Fukuda, who had agreed to participate, created a sense that "We have to do this now." That's how we decided to start an Instagram Live—something we'd never done before.

At the time, we had only recently even set up our official Instagram account. But with help from the performers and people knowledgeable about the necessary streaming equipment, we all just jumped into action. I remember us all working together, saying, "First, let's just make this Instagram Live a success."

Monthly CX: That sounds like a whirlwind of activity.

Matsuoka: After the first Instagram Live succeeded, the state of emergency was declared. From there, we launched new projects and essentially did a relay-style live stream every day for a total of 90 consecutive days. With the creative team's support, we streamed every single day without fail. Before we knew it, we'd established our own brand identity on Instagram Live.

From there, we held an online one-day event for International Yoga Day on June 21st, hosted a Zoom event featuring model SHIHO from Hawaii, introduced products for purchase during Instagram Live sessions, and even did live streams sharing recipes. It truly felt like a movement to help everyone nurture their mind and body together, day by day.

Monthly CX: So it wasn't a one-off campaign experience, but rather an ongoing initiative that kept evolving and adjusting its form over time.

Matsuoka: Once customers engage, they start anticipating future events, which was a significant factor. Starting in September 2020, we partnered with Tokyu Sports Oasis to co-host hybrid online and offline events.

We also held a real-world event at Miyashita Park in conjunction with the "SOCIAL INNOVATION WEEK" event held in Shibuya Ward.

For the three-day online event held this past June, we partnered with Calm, the world's number one meditation app, to promote downloads while also streaming Calm content online. We also launched new initiatives like the "National Yoga Relay," connecting yoga studios nationwide to collectively challenge 108 Sun Salutations.

Currently, to energize "SOCIAL INNOVATION WEEK" with Shibuya Ward this November, we are planning a "10,000-person yoga" event, further developing both the scale and content from last year.

The "world-viewing eye" of advertising creators shines in CX too

Monthly CX: Could you share any tips or secrets for mastering CX creative?

Uenohara: What we've particularly focused on in the CX creative for "LIFE TUNING DAYS" is "creating something everyone can believe in," and that is undoubtedly the secret.

For example, a startup can't win by going head-to-head with a large e-commerce site. The scale is completely different in every aspect: price competition, product selection, and the budget for assigning talent.

When a startup launches and runs an e-commerce platform from scratch against such opponents, the crucial thing is to make people think, "I can believe what 'LIFE TUNING DAYS' is saying."

I believe this approach actually paid off. Users trusted our initiative, actively embraced it as their own, and many became fans.

Similarly, for the influencers and performers collaborating with us, we must create something they can believe in, manage it consistently without wavering, and maintain this approach throughout the entire funnel. As CX creatives, I believe this kind of work is the most important.

Monthly CX: What about you, Matsuoka, the main planner?

Matsuoka: I also think it's crucial to continuously respond to the world. Mass advertising involves investing significant time in preparation before launch, with clients meticulously refining the message together, resulting in a thoroughly designed final product. On the other hand, the prevailing mood of society is quite fluid and fleeting—it can vanish quickly. Continuously responding instantly to these shifts is another key point in CX creative.

And to respond to change, you need "partners who can move quickly." When you decide to do something, it's about having a system in place where you can instantly move forward together. For "LIFE TUNING DAYS," I believe we achieved quick action because we built that kind of system with B-connect and the performers. I also think it's why we can continue rolling out various initiatives even now.

Monthly CX: When handling CX creative, do you find that your background in advertising creative gives you a particular perspective—like noticing details others might miss, or having a strong focus on service development?

Kamino: The advantage of having advertising creative experience is developing a "world-view perspective." If we advertising creatives hadn't been involved, the messaging might have simply ended with "It's yoga & wellness!"

Many yoga instructors have incredible phrases that draw people into their world, but I felt it was necessary to translate what that concept meant and how it could benefit everyone's life.

In that sense, advertising creative work involves constantly engaging with various companies and societal trends, so that perspective comes naturally. Just like the term "Life Tuning," I think we're able to translate it into something that resonates with many people, making them think, "This is relevant to everyone, right?"

Monthly CX: Copywriters are trained for this daily, and it's where they really shine. By the way, when executing CX, how do you see the role and performance of the Art Director (AD)?

Matsuoka: ADs are the best. While "words" and "visuals" are both effective ways for the whole team to share values, visuals are definitely easier for everyone to understand and get excited about.

When I presented the event's main visual, saying, "This is the title we came up with, and this is the visual concept," the yoga instructors we were collaborating with got incredibly excited. They exclaimed things like "Wow, it's so cute!" or "Wow, it's wonderful!" Everyone got really pumped up, and they even said things like, "It makes us proud to be part of this event."

Kamihirano: I believe that in today's communication and CX design, it's less about neatly encapsulating value in a single word or form and moving on, and more about how effectively you can continuously convey the brand's worldview and values.

For sustained communication, I believe that "world-building" is absolutely vital. For example, if Instagram is your main platform, without that world-building, no matter how great your message is, it won't reach users. ADs help us clearly "paint" that world-building and share it. They also jump in quickly and get things done when needed. This might be different from how ADs traditionally worked, but they are truly invaluable and appreciated.

Monthly CX: That "non-verbal sensibility" ADs create can sometimes be the lifeline, right? If you can't control that "something feels good" sensation, it becomes hard to sustain the effort. Thank you so much for sharing such valuable insights today.

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(Editor's Note)
How did you find the first issue of Monthly CX? This time, we introduced Dentsu Inc.'s challenge of becoming a client partner and creating the customer experience itself. Next time, we plan to cover "social engagement" initiatives as a CX challenge within the advertising domain.

If you have requests for specific cases or themes you'd like us to cover, please send a message to the Monthly CX editorial team via the contact page below.