YouTube measures aimed at acquiring customers with a high degree of “empathy” - I want to clarify how effective it is in terms of results

Leveraging our strengths to maximize customer acquisition

Q. Please tell me your responsibilities.

The Marketing Department I belong to has the mission of promoting direct sales and acquiring customers who purchase products directly from our company, Rheos Capital Works (hereinafter Rheos), such as Hifumi Investment Trust and Hifumi World. Products can also be purchased indirectly from financial institutions other than our company, such as securities companies and banks, so we also provide support for that.

Q. What are your company's strengths in the market?

We have three strengths. The first is that we actually visit companies and assess investment targets while seeing their growth with our own eyes. Rheos actually visits the offices and factories of the companies we invest in, and investigate not only quantitative aspects such as financial information, but also qualitative aspects such as the vision, mission, and personality of the management and IR personnel. We do not only investigate well-known large companies, but also have a unique eye for unearthing low-key, small and medium-sized stocks.

The second is that we manage our investments in a way that "protects while growing." We aim to be a "resilient fund" by incorporating a variety of values, from growth stocks such as IT companies, defensive undervalued stocks, to unassuming, low-key local small and medium-sized stocks. We have constructed a portfolio that can flexibly respond to changes in the stock market, which changes daily. We strive to reduce our customers' anxiety and excitement caused by market fluctuations as much as possible.

The third point is that we manage our investments with "faces to face." In January 3, Rheos launched a YouTube channel called "Money Learning Place!". The channel features content where Rheos's Chairman and CEO, Hideto Fujino, who is also the fund manager of the "Hifumi Investment Trust" series, as well as other employees and guests, think about money and investments, discuss and learn from each other. In addition to YouTube, the channel is also notable for actively holding events and seminars where it can interact with customers.

Identifying issues and taking action: renewing the brand concept and launching a YouTube channel

Q. What challenges have you faced in marketing so far?

We were searching for ways to acquire customers with a high degree of “empathy”. In the investment trust business, sales fluctuate depending on the amount of money that customers deposit and the time they hold the product. For example, subscription services can be used continuously if customers are highly satisfied, but financial products can be sold to lock in profits when they perform well and generate a certain return, i.e., the contract is canceled. The value of our business is created at the time of sale, so we are happy when customers are satisfied with the sale, but it is not rare for our relationship to become short-term due to market fluctuations, which was a major challenge. From the customer's perspective, it was frustrating because in general personal asset management, long-term investment is considered to be effective rather than short-term buying and selling. We needed to find a way to maintain our connection with our customers.

So we thought about how we could make people "like" our products, in other words, how we could increase "empathy," and started working on branding our products. We formed a cross-departmental project team, regardless of job title or age, and spent a year creating a brand concept, giving shape to our "value."

A new logo design based on the brand concept

Q. Have you had any other marketing challenges up until now?

We were thinking about how we could create a system that would allow us to continually acquire new customers. Previously, Rheos' main ways of becoming known were through word of mouth, our CEO Fujino's books, and TV appearances, and we did not actively invest in advertising. However, as I mentioned earlier, sales by our customers were becoming more noticeable, and our ability to acquire new customers was reaching a plateau.

As a solution to this problem, we launched the YouTube channel "Money Learning Center!" and started planning and managing it. The reason why we decided to use the YouTube channel as a means of promotion is that we felt that a certain amount of information was necessary to convey the appeal of our "Hifumi Series" as an investment trust, and that a few seconds of TV commercials or landing pages were not enough. As we have repeatedly stated, we knew that it would be difficult to maintain a deep connection with customers unless they "sympathize" with us and "like" us.

Another success story for our company was appearing on a TV show. We wanted to analyze the structure and content of that show, produce a program on the YouTube platform, analyze it, and make it into a more reproducible initiative.

Q. Is there anything else you do to improve your YouTube channel?

We plan and manage our videos with the goal of "increasing the number of investors who can design their own lives." We aim to create content that is sprinkled with hooks and can be enjoyed continuously, ranging from videos that teach the structure of investment trusts, to entertainment videos featuring comedians, to videos where we invite business leaders and experts in the field to hold discussions. The knowledge gained in the process of planning and producing the videos, as well as the videos themselves, is an important asset, so we believe that we can utilize the marketing effects in the medium to long term.

Issues with visualizing the effects of YouTube initiatives

Q. Why did you decide to use MAGELLAN?

This is to clarify how much impact this YouTube initiative has and how it contributes to results. Since we are spending both costs and resources, we have a responsibility to visualize the impact it has on customer acquisition and the time customers have to own our products, and to explain this both inside and outside the company. Tracking customer acquisition from YouTube cannot be obtained using cookie information, so we would like to visualize the impact using MAGELLAN.

Q. Please tell us about your future plans for using MAGELLAN.

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, I would like to see more precisely how effective our YouTube initiatives are in terms of results. I would like to visualize the extent to which they are contributing to account openings, and whether they are having an impact on customers who purchase through banks or securities companies.

In the next phase, we would like to conduct analysis at a more detailed level. For example, we would like to determine what tactics are optimal, such as the appeal of the content, the day of the week and time of distribution, etc. I think there are some similarities with analyzing the effectiveness of TV commercials, so we would like to find the optimal solution together with XICA, who has a wealth of analytical knowledge about TV commercials.

I'm also interested in how the "empathy" that we value has increased. For example, even if the number of views is low at first glance, if it is a video that can effectively approach a demographic that we have not been able to reach before, or if it is a video that can gain deeper empathy, then it is valuable, so I would like to create new indicators and conduct detailed analysis.

"Getting people to like you" is marketing

Q. Lastly, please tell us about your goal in marketing.

One of the phrases we often use both inside and outside the company is "cherish what you like". This is true for investment, which is our business, as well as for many other decisions in our lives, such as our careers, hobbies, and love, which we tend to make in terms of "profit and loss". However, in the medium to long term, "likes and dislikes" are actually more important than "profit and loss", and often result in the right judgment. I agree with this very much, and I think that the purpose of marketing is to "make people like" something. I want many Japanese people to like investing, not just our product, the "Hifumi Series". This is a thought that I want to cherish in order to aim for the sustainable growth of the entire industry.