We want to visualize the “correct” advertising effects, including not only direct effects but also assist effects, and allocate the budget optimally for each season.

Market-specific marketing challenges, such as a declining birthrate, regional characteristics, and a small trading area

Q. Please tell me your responsibilities.

The Advertising and Promotion Department that I belong to is responsible for all advertising-related tasks, from strategy formulation to planning, production, and direction. We implement measures such as flyers, pamphlets, TV commercials, and web advertisements, but I am primarily in charge of web advertisements.

Q. What are the challenges of marketing in this market?

There are three main reasons. The first is that the target population is decreasing due to the declining birthrate. The impact has not yet been that great in the Tokyo metropolitan area, but the impression is that the declining birthrate is particularly accelerating in regional cities.

The second reason is that the cram schools chosen vary from region to region. The competition differs from region to region, and so does our brand power. Because each region has its own characteristics, even if we roll out the same promotion, the effects can be completely different. For this reason, we are working closely with our on-site staff to ensure that our appeal is tailored to the characteristics of each region, and we are strengthening our measures.

The third reason is that the commercial area is limited. As a premise, ease of access is important, so it is important that the cram school is within commuting distance from home. Even if a student finds the school through a web search, there are many cases where they cannot apply if it is determined that they cannot commute from home. For this reason, flyers that can be distributed in specific areas have long been useful in our industry, but I feel that the effectiveness of these flyers is fading as times change.

We want to visualize the “correct” advertising effects of each campaign, such as TV commercials, and realize optimal budget allocation.

Q. What were the promotion challenges you faced before introducing MAGELLAN?

First of all, the company felt that the effectiveness of flyers was fading, but was unsure of what their next move should be. Each flyer is assigned an individual IP phone number, so it is possible to measure the effect of direct inquiries. Therefore, the company was aware that the subscription rate was gradually declining and the effectiveness of flyers was fading, but since the company had previously used flyers to the extent that there was a time when it invested most of its advertising budget in flyers, it felt difficult to judge whether it really should cut back on its investment in flyers. Furthermore, even if it did cut back, it was not clear how much it should be cut, and the logic for realizing optimal budget allocation was lacking.

Furthermore, it was difficult to grasp the effectiveness of TV commercials, and they had been struggling for many years with how to evaluate them. They had been allocating budgets by comparing past experience and area costs, but just like with flyers, they had the problem of not being able to allocate budgets based on logic.

Q. Please tell us why you introduced MAGELLAN.

This ties into the issue I explained earlier, but first of all, we wanted to visualize the "correct" advertising effect of each measure, including TV commercials. By "correct," we mean advertising effects that include not only direct effects, but also assist effects on other measures. Although we have been able to measure the effects of flyers and web ads, we have only been able to grasp the direct effects. Therefore, we wanted to understand how much impact each measure, including assist effects, has on the number of inquiries.

One of the deciding factors for adopting the service was that it allows us to simulate optimal budget allocation based on the results. There are other services that can visualize advertising effects, but most of them only focus on visualization. On the other hand, MAGELLAN's appeal was that it allows us to optimize budget allocation, and even to simulate a forecast of how much sales will increase as a result. We wanted to get suggestions for future promotions based on numerical evidence.

Another great thing is that a dedicated consultant will provide you with a report on the analysis results.

We want to visualize advertising effectiveness at a more granular level, including through analysis that takes seasonality into account.

Q. Please tell us your impressions about the analysis results of MAGELLAN.

First of all, I was surprised that we were able to visualize aspects that had not been visualized before, such as the assist effect. The analysis results basically matched my intuition, but for example, the TV commercials were more effective than I had imagined, so I would like to reflect this result in future promotions.

I was also interested in being able to visualize the percentage of traffic from each measure to not only our own website, but also to cram school search sites. I wanted to understand not only the effect of each measure, but also the causal relationship.

Of course, we are not just taking the analysis results at face value. There are some parts where we have doubts about whether they are really true, so we are going to take action and verify them in the future.

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

In the future, I would like to visualize things that we have not yet been able to visualize at a more granular level. For example, one of the characteristics of the market is that applications increase during the spring, summer, and winter course periods, and we have a hypothesis that the effectiveness of each measure varies depending on the season. Our company receives a particularly large number of applications for summer courses, and by clarifying the differences in effectiveness due to seasonality, we would like to develop promotions that are optimal for each of the spring, summer, and winter periods.

Also, with regards to web advertising, currently harvesting measures are the main focus, so we would like to also implement measures that will lead to increased awareness and visualize the direct and assistive effects.

Fulfilling accountability and implementing promotions only after everyone is in agreement

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

It may seem obvious, but ideally, I would like to be able to clearly explain to field staff and management what kind of promotions can be implemented to increase sales. To that end, I would like to visualize everything that has not been visualized so far and implement promotions only after everyone is convinced. As a professional, it would be ideal to be able to clearly present the logic.