Taking an offline strategy digital: a hybrid approach to bringing people into a shopping centre

Mirise Inc. runs sales promotion for shopping centres. Given the nature of shopping centres, its main approach is physical, such as newspaper-insert flyers and door-to-door leaflets, and it began working with NowVillage in order to focus on building awareness digitally.

Here we asked Hiroki Fukuda, representative director, about the challenges and goals.

Moving a physical strategy to digital to get information to users

―First, could you tell us about your current situation and challenges?

The reality is that awareness strategy for shopping centres relies heavily on analogue advertising. To be honest, how many doorsteps you delivered to and how much effect it had is hard to actually make visible. To get information to users, we needed to make our promotion digital.

It was also an area our industry wanted to move into, so we tried SEO on the website and ran search ads, but the means had become the end, and we had not worked it through to the point of asking what we were doing it for. To make visible whether we were properly reaching users, the denominator as we build revenue, we began working with NowVillage.

―How did you come to meet NowVillage?

An acquaintance introduced me to Mr Imamura, NowVillage’s representative, saying “Here’s someone who is strong in digital! Leave it to him and you can’t go wrong.” When we actually talked over lunch, I felt a strong philosophy and passion. I thought that with this company we might be able to try something new.

A local influencer’s Twitter following reached about 3,000 in two and a half months

―What exactly did you do to move your promotion to digital?

We have been working together for about a year, and we began with preparation for moving analogue measures to digital. Turning what was done physically into digital plans takes real courage for our clients too. Gathering evidence, drawing up the plan and getting permission to go ahead made up the preparation period.

After that, when we moved into operation, we asked NowVillage to develop a local influencer. By publishing local information, we wanted to test what information people in the area look for, how they react and how they act.

The Twitter work actually began in January 2021, and it gained around 3,000 followers in two and a half months. I don’t think it is easy to gain that many followers on Twitter in such a short time, so the result exceeded our expectations.

―Are you actually seeing an effect on the shopping centres?

Whether people who saw the Twitter account actually come to the shopping centre and shop is still at the trial stage. We hope the effect will show as we keep running it.

I think the strength of digital is that it can create a reason to visit the centre. Digital promotion sends information to the area around the shopping centre, builds awareness and brings people in. From there, our own physical promotion strategy gets them to buy. If we can do that, I think it becomes a hybrid approach.

We want to focus on risk management as well as promotion

―We have been working together for about a year. Has anything changed inside Mirise?

The biggest change is probably that our staff have more opportunities to use digital tools. Even in conversations within the company, I can feel interest in social media growing.

―Is there anything memorable from working with us?

I first met Mr Takayama, who handles our account, in what felt like a closed room, and at first I was a little worried, wondering “Will this be all right?” (laughs). But once we actually worked together on operations and consulting, he not only delivered results but also set out a proper design, and has done more than we expected. Finding out that he is someone we can trust was probably the biggest surprise!

―Thank you (laughs). The work will continue from here; what do you expect from NowVillage going forward?

We have only just stepped into the digital field. We can make plans, but we cannot imagine what risks there might be when we carry them out. Many of the companies we work with day to day are large, so we would like to focus on risk management together as well.

―From your point of view, Mr Fukuda, what kind of companies would you recommend NowVillage to?

They take action, and they get results quickly. I think a strength of NowVillage is that they build faithfully to the plan that was made. Even companies like ours, which have had little to do with digital and want to take it on now, can feel reassured. They also give proper feedback, so I think they would be valued by companies wanting to develop a new business in the digital space.

The industries we deal with also tend to value the old and be conservative about the new. But the wish to make what we have better is the same. If they keep respecting the client’s position and what the client wants to protect, while patiently making the case with evidence that “it would be better to change”, I think we can keep working well together.