Situation analysis
For many years, Japanese food producers who devoted their distribution to a big association such as Japan Agricultural Cooperative wouldn’t have known who bought their food and how it’s eaten. A disconnection to consumers was decreasing the food producers’ motivation.
Our client, NPO Tôhoku Kaikon is an organization that supports food producers in Tôhoku region, where was hit by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. To increase food producers’ motivation and support their business, we were in need of starting something.
Strategy
What we found out as a fact was that 60% of consumers have been feeling insecure about food safety, and it also mainly came from the disconnection to the food producers. So, we decided to develop a totally new media which gets rid of a breaking off between local food producers and urban consumers.
Objectives
To drive direct communication between local food producers in Tôhoku and urban consumers and to ignite food producers’ motivation were our objectives.
Creativity and originality
We decided to publish Tôhoku Taberu Magazine*, the world’s first monthly magazine with food (* Taberu means “edible” in Japanese).
Tôhoku Taberu Magazine (24US$ per month)
The Flow of Reader's Experience
Once a month, the magazine is delivered to readers’ house, with stories about a carefully selected farmer or fisherman in Tôhoku region and the food they harvested.
The readers enjoy the stories, cooking the food, and tasting it.
At the same time, we established a members-only Facebook page where readers can post dishes they cooked with the delivered food and, we released the page to the food producers. Yes, food producers have finally found the place where they can see how their foods are eaten.
Through the Facebook page, local food producers and urban consumers shared messages and got to know each other. And finally, they started to meet face to face, and even produce their meeting events voluntarily.
Communication between Readers & Food Producers through Facebook
Reader:
I tossed Ms. Tamura's Japanese mustard spinach in sesame. It enhances the sweetness of her spinach.
Ms. Tamura:
Thank you for taking such a beautiful pictute. It should be super deliscious. I wonder the amount of spinach I sent to you was enough.
Reader:
Yes, It was so delicious so I ate them all in a minute. lol
Reader:
Sashimi of rainbow trout really went well with Japanese sake!
Fisherman:
Thank you for giving me a nice comment. Our rainbow trout really goes well with sake. Thank you!
Reader:
It was hard to bark chestnut, but I was rewarded because the chestnut was so delicious!
Chestnut Producer:
Thank you for making an appetizing dish with my chestnut.
Reader:
Be careful about a bear and an antelope, and keep making nice chestnut!
Chestnut Producer:
OK!
A meeting event with a rice producer
Target/audience analysis
Main targets of the magazine are the intelligentsia who live in city and gather acquaintanceship with a good command of using SNS such as Facebook.
A very unique product plan people never heard of, a monthly magazine comes with food, or a system that people can easily become friends with farmers and fishermen through a members-only Facebook page, were planned to rouse the targets and bloggers loved by them.
Execution and tactics
The media strategy was to make autonomic exposure without paying redundant cost. The only investment we made for advertisement was barely just Facebook Ads. We mainly contemplated the exposure through the bloggers writing articles about the magazine and the food. Our chief editor also welcomed interviews from media and the total amount of EAV through TV exposure in 2015 easily exceeds US$ 8,658,801. We advised food producers to communicate with readers more aggressively on the Facebook page, while stimulating readers’ motivation by featuring a heart-warming story of a farmer or fishermen and picturesque recipes of food in each issue. With a positive effect of these interactions with fascinating food producers, withdrawal rate is 3% (industry standard is 10%), and we keep high customer satisfaction.
Budget
Annual Budget on ad : US$ 800 for Facebook Ads / Editorial cost(each issue): US$ 9,933 Production cost(each issue) : US$ 15,712 Distribution cost (each issue): US$ 14,990
Evaluation of successs / measurement
This attempt caught into the news in various media and procured 1,500 of toll periodical subscribers in January 2015 (1,500 is our KGI ).
Also, interaction of food producers and subscribers brisked up through a Facebook page. Actually, more than 300 readers have paid a visit to the food producers’ villages annually, to know more and support their life.
Encouraged by the readers, some farmers have increased the amount of food they harvest each year. (A ginseng farmer in a safe area of Fukushima increased the amount of seed to sow by 30%.)
Looking at the success of Tôhoku Taberu Magazine, enthusiastic volunteers in other local areas began to issue Taberu Magazine of their hometown. At this point, the magazines have been published in 20 other areas nationwide with 6 more areas about to join. Under the umbrella of “Japan Taberu Magazine League”, this attempt became a national sensation and their total readership is over 6,460 now.
Japan Taberu Magazine League
Recently, a textbook publisher for junior high school civics decided to deal with Tôhoku Taberu Magazine as “a new movement to open up the future of Japanese agriculture”.
An Article about Japanese Agriculture's Future in a Textbook
“How can we open up the future of Japanese agriculture?
B:
“By gathering support from
consumers”
“Tôhoku Taberu magazine is a
magazine with food through
which readers can support
food Producers. Readers can
also meet directly with them
through meeting events.”
It also gathered attention from neighboring countries having the same problems and, a book writing about our activity is going to be published in Korea and Taiwan.
A Book about Tôhoku Taberu Magazine Published in Korea
And our attempt has been highly evaluated at many exhibitions like Good Design Award and TED Conference,too.
