What does it take to make a mascot popular?

In the eyes of Japanese industry insiders in 2004, it was nothing more than a way to spend money on publicity.

Taking the initiative to create hot spots for hot spot marketing is a very novel and bold idea.

It was so bold that many members of the marketing team didn't expect to have such a hand, and they were also somewhat uneasy about the prospect of such bold marketing...

Although most of the marketing in Osaka City was seen as positive by the citizens last time, some idle social commentators said that Kumamoto Prefecture's method was deviant, and many people published articles to publicize that Kumamon's propaganda was a serious nuisance to the people and a waste of human resources.

Originally, they thought that it was already the limit, but they didn't expect that the plan that Higashino Division came up with this time was even bigger, not only did the abacus hit the Metropolitan Police Department directly...

I wonder if the social evaluation will be as stable as it was last time in Osaka?

But they want to think about it, and Higashino Tsukasa naturally doesn't care what they think.

The meaning of the Dusk Qiren inviting him over is that he hopes that he will be a dictatorship, and everyone in the marketing team can just follow him, and they don't have to think about the rest.

In addition, Higashino Tsukasa is still very confident in this Kumamon marketing, which is a marketing strategy used by Kumamon in the previous life, plus Higashino Tsukasa has made up some details and added some New Year elements... For example, if you find Kumamon's blush hidden in various parts of Kumamoto Prefecture, you can exchange it for a 'New Year's money' prize on the Kumamoto Prefecture's official website, which will be distributed by Kumamon himself.

Kumamoto Prefecture in the previous life saved hundreds of millions of yen in publicity expenses with this marketing method... And this is the way 'tap water' is advertised.

The so-called 'tap water' is when a certain product, movie, or topic is interesting and interesting, and people will spontaneously recommend it to their friends without asking for anything in return.

If this is achieved, the meaning of Kumamon blush will be well known to many Japanese islanders - oh, it turns out that the color of Kumamon blush represents tomatoes, horse meat, watermelon, and other Kumamoto Prefecture specialties.

This will subtly deepen their impression of Kumamoto Prefecture, which is the most important part of Kumamon's publicity.

After the end of this marketing, there will be the opening of the Shinkansen and the joint promotion of Kumamon and Shinkansen, and after the marketing methods of Tsukasa Higashino deepened the image of Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture has Kumamon, which is equivalent to having a signboard to attract customers. And Kyushu itself doesn't have any counties that are particularly famous to the outside world... This is bound to bring a lot of tourists to Kumamoto Prefecture.

It's like everyone was originally short, but all of a sudden, there was a tall man in this group of shorts, and the contrast was very significant.

Two days later, the Kumamoto Prefectural Group finally got everything ready, and a huge propaganda campaign began that outsiders didn't know about...

......

Ryuji Akashi is a male writer for the Tokyo magazine Trend.

"Trend" is a fashion magazine that specializes in explaining the current fashion trends of Japanese girls, including makeup and beauty, popular colors, clothing design styles, and some cute or hot small objects.

"I don't have any good Kumamon materials today."

Ryuji Akashi flipped through the relevant news of Kumamoto Prefecture and glanced at the TV channel again, and sighed inexplicably in his heart.

In the past few months, there has been a lot of news about Kumamon, and I don't know how many media spontaneously reported Kumamon at that time.

I guess I didn't take the opportunity.

When the Kumamoto Prefecture marketing team arrived, there was no interesting marketing method like Osaka City, and the popularity of Kumamon, which has returned to traditional publicity methods, has not been further improved, and even Kumamoto Prefecture has not made any major moves recently.

This makes Akashi Ryuji actually feel a little sorry.

If Kumamon could continue to be hot, he wouldn't have to bother writing other articles - just rub Kumamon's popularity.

That's what he's done before.

When the topic of Kumamon was hot, he wrote a lot of articles, admiring the design concept of Kumamon and touting it as the most popular mascot nowadays...

And now... It can only be said that Kumamon has exhausted the marketing of Jiang Lang.

He sighed, just about to turn off the TV and go back to the study to think about the manuscript.

But before he could do it, an urgent news suddenly popped up on the TV.

"The Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture has announced Kumamon as Japan's first prefectural sales manager."

On the TV screen, the round Kumamon is sitting at his desk in a pretend, and a name tag of the sales manager is standing in front of him.

And according to a serious report by a reporter on TV, Kumamon has gone through all the legal formalities, and his role as a sales manager is legal and reasonable.

This is a big deal, anyway, Akashi Ryuji is unheard of.

In the whole of Japan, there is only one administrative position given to the mascot Masakoko Hachijing.

And according to TV reports, the position of sales minister is second only to the governor and deputy governor of Kumamoto Prefecture in power.

What does this mean?

You must know that in Japan, the administrative level of the prefecture is equivalent to a province of the Celestial Empire, which is equivalent to the status of Kumamon as a mascot below the high-ranking officials and high-ranking officials!

That's definitely a lot of power!

The governor of Kumamoto Prefecture also announced the news with a serious face, and no one had the slightest sense of laughter.

Akashi Ryuji's first reaction was that the governor of Kumamoto Prefecture was crazy enough to do such a thing?

But as a magazine writer, he quickly reacted - this is actually a false position, and although Kumamon is a powerful person, it is a mascot and it is impossible to actually exercise these powers.

In other words, Kumamoto Prefecture used a false job to detonate a news.

Is the gimmick of "Japan's first sales manager" enough? Is the gimmick of 'power second only to the prefectural governor and deputy governor' enough?

Totally enough!

You must know that Ryuji Akashi, as an article writer with a clear understanding of these things, was a little dazed when he heard the news, if he let those who were idle at home during the New Year hear the news...?

That's like dropping a big bomb into a backwater!

There will be positive comments about the new wave of young people, but there will also be negative comments about the old generation... But whether it is a positive or negative evaluation, as long as it can cause a sensation, it is a good mascot management method!

Which genius marketing member came up with this method? This kind of 'serious and funny' trendy propaganda method has the flavor of the previous propaganda in Osaka City.

Who came up with this method?

Akashi Ryuji has a good sense of news topics, and he immediately did not hesitate to look at the bloated and mischievous Kumamon figure on TV, and called his friends in Kumamoto Prefecture.

He has to rub this heat! And it has to be beautiful!

And at the same time.

Nagasawa, a local girls' high school in Kumamoto Prefecture, who was idle at home, was really excited to talk to his friend on the other side of the phone: "Ringing horses! Did you see that?! The black fat man has become the sales manager of Kumamon! I heard that the status is second only to the prefectural governor! (Black Fat Man is Kumamon fans' affectionate name for Kumamon)

Hey, the governor of the prefecture! That's the biggest administrator in a county! Is your own Kumamon already so powerful?

As a senior fan of Kumamon, the room is full of Kumamon's peripherals, what curtains, keychains, table mats, bed sheets... All of them are Kumamon's cute and mischievous appearances.

The recent sluggish popularity of Kumamon has also made Nagasawa a little sad.

But this time, the positive measures taken by the Kumamoto prefectural government have made her full of confidence in Kumamon again.

On the other side, Nagasawa's father couldn't help but shake his head when he looked at his daughter calling around to report the good news to her friends.

He doesn't understand the way young people are, but... A mascot to serve as an administrative officer?

Isn't this nonsense?

The Kumamoto Prefectural Government really has no Showa backbone at all!

No, no, no! I'll have to find a few other old friends and complain.

Who are the county councilors now? Is this kind of thing allowed?

Similar to this, the collision of old and new ideas, a wave of enthusiasm began.

Not only Kumamoto Prefecture, but also other prefectures, Tokyo, the economic heart of Japan, and Osaka City last year-

The topic of Kumamon becoming the head of sales has been a mix of positive and negative reviews.

Most of the positive comments are young people, they like this kind of novel, trendy news, and many Japanese young people directly shout the slogan "Showa boys have long been outdated, now is the Heisei era", hoping that Kumamoto Prefecture can bring them more surprises, and they will fully support it.

Most of the negative comments are social commentators and some middle-aged and elderly people who are more conservative in their thinking, and this group of people thinks that Kumamoto Prefecture is simply fooling around to do this kind of thing! The mascot is the minister, this kind of thing has never been heard of since ancient times! What do those Heicheng hairy little fart kids know? We eat more salt than they eat rice! If Japan wants to develop at a high speed, it must listen to us!

Heated arguments!

Heads and tails!

The news became more and more popular, first of all, some social commentators came to the end, and many people sent letters to Kumamoto Prefecture, and then even the Japanese cabinet was alarmed and called the Kumamon government to inquire about the specific situation.

After all, this is a county matter, and even they can't easily ignore it.

Even Tsukasa Higashino didn't expect that his propaganda tactic, which was just an appetizer, would cause such a reaction from society.

You must know that Kumamon's propaganda methods back then caused a nationwide upsurge at most, and did not alarm the cabinet.

But he just thought about it carefully, combined with the current situation of society, and he probably understood the reason.

It's 2004, and most prefectural governments in Japan still have the impression of being stuck in the Showa period, a serious tradition.

At this time, a "serious and funny" Kumamoto prefectural government suddenly popped up, which gave people the feeling that "why is your painting style different all over Japan?"

This impression is extremely contrasting, which is unacceptable to many people.

Just like the reason why "Winner is Justice" is so popular

Although the plot of Tsukasa Higashino's "Winner is Justice" is wonderful, this is not the main reason for its controversy. The new wave ideas from 2013 are the most important reasons for the controversy.

"Team Leader Higashino, what should I do next?" A young man named Obata in the marketing team came up and asked.

This young man is a more clever character, and many things in Higashino Tsukasa are directly ordered to do by him.

But now... The pressure on their entire marketing team is really a bit high.

While there are a lot of people who support it, there are also quite a few people who are staring at them and 'firing'.

Eyes from all walks of life come together... This kind of pomp and circumstance really made many members feel that their blood pressure was soaring, and even Obata was scolded by his father and asked him what he was marketing.

"That's how it was promoted, according to the original process." Higashino didn't think to answer.

It has come to this point, and naturally there is no such thing as giving up.

"But—" Obata hesitated.

"It's nothing, it's not a must." Tsukasa Higashino's face was still calm: "This is exactly the situation we want, there are both positive and negative evaluations, and we want to make use of this topic to make the next Kumamon even hotter." ”

Obata couldn't help but glance at Tsukasa Higashino.

He felt like he had really lost his eyes.

When Tsukasa Higashino first joined the marketing team as a team leader two days ago, he thought that the other party was the kind of boss who was very good at talking... But what he didn't expect was that although Higashino Tsukasa was easy to talk to, it was also under the premise of not touching Higashino Division's plan-

What if you have a crooked mind and want to move Tsukasa Higashino's established plan? Then he will be strong when he should be strong, and he will turn his face when he should turn his face, and he will never say a second word.

There is also more than one person who has raised opinions about Tsukasa Higashino, wanting him to change to more gentle, traditional propaganda... But it's all useless, Higashino will smile and block what you have to say with very polite words.

If you give a strong opinion, Higashino will remind him once mercilessly, and if he has been reminded three times, he will leave the marketing team directly.

It makes people feel like life and death are determined by one word.

It's really impressive.

Their work was originally simple, but the most difficult part was that Higashino Tsukasa considered the marketing plan, so even if a few people were kicked, they were immediately transferred from other departments.

As the team leader, Tsukasa Higashino is full of courage and has a cold and hard attitude, which causes Obata to clearly feel that the entire marketing team is being led by Tsukasa Higashino.

Is this the so-called momentum of the leader? It's amazing.

Merely... It seems that my father's side still needs to be perfunctory...

Obata touched his head, but decided to follow Tsukasa Higashino.

Maybe Kumamon's marketing will be successful in the end?

With that in mind, he went back to his desk and got to work.

Get out! For Japan's No. 1 Mascot!

With the hard work of the marketing team, Kumamon's plan to find blush is getting more and more perfect, and many places are ready, just waiting for the heat to continue to ferment to a higher level...

About three days later, Kumamon's main marketing method quietly began...