Japan Post Service: SENDING REAL GREETING CARDS

Credits & Description:

Type of Entry: Product & Service
Category: Commercial Public Services
Title: SENDING REAL GREETING CARDS
Advertiser/Client: JAPAN POST SERVICE CO
Product/Service: MIXI NEW YEAR'S GREETING CARD
Entrant Company: HAKUHODO DY MEDIA PARTNERS Tokyo, JAPAN
Media Agency: HAKUHODO DY MEDIA PARTNERS Tokyo, JAPAN
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
Keitaro Sato Hakuhodo Dy Media Partners Inc. Producer
Kentaro Iinuma Hakuhodo Dy Media Partners Inc. Producer
Kensuke Joji Hakuhodo Dy Media Partners Inc. Technical Director
Atsushi Paulo Kobayashi Hakuhodo Dy Media Partners Inc. Account Executive
Kazuhiro Suda Hakuhodo Inc. Creative Director
Tomohiko Hayashi Hakuhodo Inc. Director
Katsuhiko Ono Hakuhodo Inc. Account Director
Sojiro Sato Hakuhodo Inc. Account Exective
Akihiro Sugishita Hakuhodo Product's Inc. Account Executive
Yasuto Hara Hakuhodo Dy Intersolutions Inc. Account Executive
Azumi Maruyama Hakuhodo Dy Intersolutions Inc. Account Executive
Tetsu Nishimura Japan Post Service Co./Ltd. Marketing Manager
Akinori Harada Mixi/Inc. Media Producer
Hirokazu Sakairi Mixi/Inc. Media Producer
Natsuko Nishimura Mixi/Inc. Media Producer
Jun Morimoto Mixi/Inc. Technical Director
Takahiro Mayumi Mixi/Inc. Technical Director
Ryota Okada Shake Inc. Art Director
Takuya Kawai Himanainu Inc. Director
Kentaro Okada Mail De Gift. Co Technical Director
Details
Results and Effectiveness:
Website hits topped 3.3 million UU and 18 million PV. Sign-up for the service vastly exceeded expectations: over 700,000 New Year’s greeting cards were sent not only within Japan but from 167 countries. 70% of the people who used this service were in their 20s and 30s, proving that we effectively connected to our target. Through television, magazine and newspaper coverage nationwide, we reached 60 million people, which converts to a media fee value of 1.2 billion yen.
Creative Execution:
Using SNS's API, we developed a service that enabled Mixi members to send a real-world New Year’s greeting card via the postal system to online friends even if they don’t know their name or address. The system greatly appealed to people who were most comfortable with digital communication, but felt the desire to expand their online friendships to the real world. To solve the client's objective, media agency and media company collaborated in the development of a new system which opens doors for online users and has become a new model for business revenue. Moreover, this new online business model is promising as Intellectual Property with various potential business uses.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
The exchange of New Year’s greeting cards is a 1000-year custom in Japan. But today, especially among young people, it is declining. Our marketing objective was to boost the sales of greeting cards by reviving the tradition among the current generation, which grew up communicating by email rather than handwritten letters. Knowing well that we could not roll back time and simply advertise our way to success, we aimed instead to create a new system for exchanging greeting cards that would be relevant to young people. We did so by collaborating with Japan’s largest SNS, Mixi. Unlike large western SNS, Mixi’s membership is anonymous. This was the source of our insight: Mixi members develop very close online friendships, but they typically do not know each other’s real-world identity. By offering them a chance to strengthen their friendships, we were able to promote New Year’s greeting card sales.