Is the Customer Journey Really Outdated? Key Marketing Points for the "On-Off Integration" Era (Part 2)

• Is the Customer Journey Really Outdated? Key Marketing Points for the "Online-Offline Integration" Era (Part 1)

As consumer behavior becomes increasingly diverse and complex, and the call for "online-offline integration" grows louder, many marketing professionals find themselves groping in the dark, wondering, "Are we really executing truly effective marketing?"

This time, we present the second part of our interview with Mr . Miyagawa of Dentsu Digital Inc. After gaining experience as a web director and producer for mass media ads like TV commercials, he now works across genres as a truly "on-off integrated" producer handling mass media, digital, and offline media like events. He explains "the importance of the customer journey in today's era of increasingly complex purchasing behavior."

Having a comprehensive "customer journey" map enables consistent, unified initiatives

Q. In the first part, we heard that despite recent skepticism about the customer journey's relevance—with claims it's "outdated"—it actually proves most effective precisely because purchasing behavior is diversifying today.

Miyagawa: Yes, in the first part, I explained that "defining the scope of marketing initiatives" is one reason why the customer journey is important. Actually, there are other important reasons.

The second reason is that "a customer journey helps align staff perspectives." When implementing large-scale integrated marketing plans, it's inevitable that different teams handle different media—for example, TV commercials and web campaigns might have separate staff. In such cases, it's common for the customer journey envisioned by each team member to diverge slightly. If the mission—specifically, "what impact to have on customers in what state?"—becomes misaligned, piecing together individual initiatives can result in a disjointed overall marketing plan.

The third reason is that "customer journeys can drive efficiency." This is quite specific, but consider a TV commercial campaign featuring a celebrity. While it would clearly be more effective to use that celebrity across digital and other initiatives from the start, when planning each initiative separately, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture.

If there's a scenario where "after encountering this initiative, they come here," it's only natural to think "it's better if each is connected." Therefore, it makes sense to establish contracts incorporating the celebrity's use within the overall design from the outset. This allows for more efficient spending.

But in reality, I suspect many companies do things like using Celebrity A for TV commercials while deliberately featuring a different influencer on social media. There are probably various reasons for this, but there are likely quite a few cases where maximizing effectiveness would have been possible if they had considered the big picture from the start.

Rethinking "What is the goal?" changes the entire marketing plan

Q.The perspective touched on in Part 1—questioning whether "purchase" is even the goal—is interesting. Indeed, if "pulse-type consumption" means "having diverse touchpoints that trigger purchases," then perhaps marketing strategies centered on "purchase" as the goal are fundamentally out of step with the times. Instead, we might need to map the customer journey for people who "bought on impulse once but don't plan to keep buying." Thinking this way also helps us verify whether the strategies we're currently pursuing are truly the right ones.

Miyagawa: This is my own example: I recently bought a refrigerator. But I hadn't been thinking "I should buy one, I should buy one" beforehand. One day, my home refrigerator broke down, and I had no choice but to buy one urgently. At that moment, I had neither the time nor the leisure to think, "Well, I'll go to an electronics store this weekend and compare different models." I just wanted to buy one quickly online. I remembered something like, "Oh yeah, I heard this type of product is popular..." – that kind of imprinting – and that's how I decided.

I think this kind of thing happens quite often. If so, it actually means "brand priming" is a crucial strategy. However, on the other hand, since you never know when this "priming strategy" will lead to a purchase, from the perspective of KPI management that wants short-term results for the money spent, the priming strategy itself isn't necessarily justified.

But if you can map out the customer journey like in my example, it raises the question: "Do we really not need brand imprinting?" That's the crucial point, I think. Of course, with this budget, the decision might be to focus on immediate, harvestable initiatives rather than investing there. The key perspective is whether decisions are being made based on the customer's story and aligned with the objective.

Deepening our understanding of each diverse media channel reveals the right moves to make.

Q. In the team you lead, Miyagawa-san, when translating the customer journey into actual initiatives, what do you prioritize?

Miyagawa: This is very fundamental, but we place renewed emphasis on "deepening our understanding of media." The impression people get from the same information differs whether they're viewing it on a PC or a smartphone. Are people in the same frame of mind when they're watching TikTok, Twitter, or LINE News? Even if their mindset is the same, the audience might be different.

For example, consider planning an outdoor vision campaign. Even if you come up with a concept that's "super interesting!!", outdoor media is said to only get about 2 seconds of attention. So, even if you create something with a solid story, it might not get seen at all. Where it's located and the circumstances under which it catches people's eyes – these factors change both expectations and effectiveness. With new media emerging daily, I believe the absolute minimum is to thoroughly grasp each platform's characteristics and share that understanding with the staff.

Mr. Miyagawa emphasized that precisely because purchasing behaviors have diversified and countless marketing strategies exist regardless of online or offline channels, the customer journey—the overarching map of the marketing plan—is crucial. He explained three reasons: "It defines the scope of marketing initiatives," "It aligns the staff's perspective," and "It promotes efficiency." Furthermore, acknowledging the growing prevalence of "pulse-type consumption," he raised the fundamental question: "Is purchase the ultimate goal?" He also suggested the importance of mapping out a path to turn customers who made intuitive purchases into loyal customers.

In today's landscape of proliferating media channels, where crafting a coherent plan is challenging, why not reconsider the role of the customer journey? This approach can help you realize a "story-driven marketing plan" without getting lost in the noise.