teenage students of Japanese language offer their views on the video pitch at
http://www.jnto.go.jp/Students did a Think-Pair-Share and had a short class discussion on the positive and negative aspects of the video because
Here are some of their comments.
Pros
-introduced different places in Japan and was overall set a happy tone
-people will see what Japan is like
-famous (good-looking) people showed the places (pop culture)
-the video gets attention
-a theme (maneki neko) ran through the whole ad
-good for tourism; people will want to visit Japan
-the places shown targeted older people by showing historical tourist places while the actual navigators appeal to a younger audience (wide age range in audience)
-it showed that Japan wasn't all affected by the earthquake
-it showed that the country is doing okay after the disaster
-it was funny
-it showed cultural things such as celebrations, traditions, and food
Cons-targeted demographic too narrow in using pop idols (appeal only to young girls)
-high cost of money to make and showcase video
-glossed over situation and didn't touch on the nuclear problem, which is what tourists would be worried about
-it was cute but did not seem like a tourism video
-there were too many cats
-it was weird
-unnatural at times as the famous people were paid to look like they were having fun
-seemed a bit too desperate to get the tourists
Suggestions
The classes also discussed ways in improving the video. They talked about having other famous people like professional athletes and female idol groups, but had difficulty in coming up with Japanese people who would be recognizable and liked by everyone. They also felt that as it is a promotion for foreigners, it was strange for a Japanese group to be going on domestic travel. Rather, it made more sense for famous Japanese people to be showing around a world-famous person such as a Hollywood actor whose works had been translated into numerous languages.
Also, students criticized the manner of delivery, in that it was a video being shown only at central locations such as London Station and New York Times Square. The target audience would then be limited to people who accessed areas of high traffic in central cities. Also, the actual website viewers are referred to had no mention of the CM video itself. I checked again today and alas it is there now!!
http://visitjapan.jp/eng/top.html http://www.jnto.go.jp/message_from_japan/The students thought it would be much more useful if the video was on internet sites such as Youtube that would be spread by word of mouth by social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter where they could track the number of hits. Other suggestions were to buy ad space time on major TV networks (which would then incur additional costs).
