Advertisers, media, advertising agencies, creatives, and academia. The Borderless Marketing Community (BMC) aims to create interaction and discussion among professionals with different specialties, and to realize seamless, holistically optimized marketing. The fifth event, bringing together members of the community, was held online on Monday, November 5, 2022.

The event was divided into two parts: a "seminar" where experts from various fields spoke, and a "lab" where practical knowledge was generated through two-way communication between the speakers and participants. This article reports on some of the content of the seminar.

【Speakers】

Mr. Morio Ishikawa
DINOS CORPORATION CECO (Chief e-Commerce Officer)

After joining SBI Holdings, he launched SBI Navi (now Navi Plus). After that, he worked as the marketing manager at fashion online store Magaseek, where he promoted site renewal and site improvement, PDCA establishment, advertising, CRM optimization, and the introduction of cutting-edge solutions from overseas. After that, he spun off Taisei's web department and founded TUKURU, which operates an e-commerce site for confectionery and bread making. In February 2016, he joined DINOS CORPORATION, where he remains to this day.

※Moderator

Mr. Yoshiaki Hirao
President and CEO of XICA Corporation

A look into the secrets of Morio Ishikawa, who achieves results in companies of any size and industry

This was the fifth regular event of the Borderless Marketing Community (BMC). The speaker at this seminar was Morio Ishikawa, Chief e-Commerce Officer (CECO) of DINOS CORPORATION, a man with a proven track record that is known to everyone, especially in the fields of digital marketing and direct marketing.

BMC Director Yoshiaki Hirao explained the reason for inviting Mr. Ishikawa to this seminar as follows:Multiple companiesWe will tackle marketing withLeading organizational changeHe cited his own experience as having "been involved in such projects."

"One of the most common challenges in marketing activities is the 'barriers between organizations.' I thought that Mr. Ishikawa, who has experience working for companies with a wide variety of scales, histories, industries, and levels of business maturity, might be able to give us some hints about where the challenges common to all companies lie and how to solve them," said Hirao.

Ishikawa is known for building a customer experience that combined analog and digital at DINOS CORPORATION, which operates the historic catalogue mail order brand "Dinos," and for improving business performance. However, even before that, he held responsible positions at companies of various sizes, such as launching and overseeing sales for "SBI Navi (now Navi Plus)," a service for EC businesses at SBI Holdings, head of the marketing department at fashion mail order site "MagaSeek," and serving as CEO of TUKURU, which operates "cotta," an EC site for confectionery and bread ingredients, and contributed to business performance by promoting digital and marketing.

Currently, in addition to his work at Dinos, he is also involved in supporting various companies in their e-commerce and marketing efforts, such as launching the D2C furniture brand KANADEMONO and leading the growth of RoomClip Shopping, a social commerce site linked to RoomClip, Japan's largest room interior example sharing site, and is always at the center of cutting-edge cases.

While promoting digital and marketing in such a diverse range of organizations, Mr. Ishikawa has repeatedly encountered the challenge of "organizational barriers" and overcome them each time. In this seminar, he will talk about the principles he has found in the process that can be applied to any organization.ReproducibleHe revealed the key to solving the problem.

"Emotion" and "Structure" - Dealing with the two challenges that stand in our way

In any company, when promoting marketing, it is essential to reach an agreement with other departments such as sales, planning, and development, as well as with management. Many BMC members feel that there is a problem with how to involve various stakeholders within the company.

What are the challenges in getting people involved within the company?Emotions and StructureThey can be broadly divided into two categories, and in many cases the two are intricately intertwined.

"The larger the vehicle, in other words the larger the company, the stronger the law of inertia tends to be. The reluctance to change existing things, such as business practices, brand philosophy, and internal company rules such as workflow, is more deeply rooted than you might imagine," says Ishikawa.

It is human nature to hesitate and resist change. In addition, people often take the rules and systems that have been passed down for generations as givens, and are not in the habit of questioning or denying them. If a third party who joins later in the company bluntly points out something that many stakeholders take for granted, such as "Is this rule really necessary?" or "There must be a more rational way," it is inevitable that a strong backlash will occur within the company, says Ishikawa. When such "emotional" issues are intertwined with another "structural" issue, the situation becomes even more complicated.

"There are many cases where organizations are optimized for workflows and evaluation systems that were created long ago."Structure" that is difficult to change, and "emotions" that we do not want to change"I think that these factors combine to create a situation where it is difficult to bring about change," says Ishikawa.

Hirao also agreed that many companies have a reluctance to change, saying, "When we propose a new initiative, many companies say, 'Our company is a bit unique.' I feel that there is a desire to protect what they have built up up until now."

Unless we get rid of the "emotions" we don't want to change, it's difficult to make a dent in the "structure" that is difficult to change. Mr. Ishikawa spoke about the difficulty of getting rid of "emotions" by sharing his own experience as follows:

"When we have one-on-one conversations like, 'Don't you think it would work better if we did it like this?', the conversation is usually very lively. But as soon as we start talking about the specifics of moving forward with change, the tone of the conversation drops, as if the tide has gone out, and it's as if all that excitement was a lie. At times like these, I really feel that it's not specific individuals that are preventing change, but the 'organization'," says Ishikawa.

This may sound like something that typically happens to large companies, but it's something that happens to all companies, regardless of size.

"A similar thing happened at KANADEMONO, a D2018C furniture company founded in 2. Two or three years had passed since the company was founded, and the workflow we'd created early on was no longer optimal, but the members who'd been there since the company's founding didn't doubt for a second that 'there shouldn't be any problems the way it is,' and it was surprisingly difficult to make changes. I learned the hard way how difficult it is for an organization to question its assumptions." (Ishikawa)

The key to mitigating conflict and friction is to respect the organization's "history"

Of the two, "emotion" and "structure," Ishikawa said,Caring for "emotions"Specifically, they start by looking at the company's structure and track record."Points we can relate to"It is important to find the right people and communicate it in words to those involved.

"For example, when I joined the company in 2016, I was given the mission of "DX for the catalog mail order business." However, I had no intention of rejecting the catalog mail order business up until that point. This is because catalog mail order sales were about 2016 billion yen as of 1000. If you ask me whether I can create a business of that scale from scratch, I don't have the confidence. The company has achieved such great feats up to that point.Respect"This is what makes our company so great."Say it out loudIt may sound like a "technique," but I don't compliment them unnecessarily; I do it with pure intentions." (Ishikawa)

Ishikawa said that he first interviews employees to gather and organize information to understand the "structure." He said that he often takes care of these "emotions" in the process of taking stock of past systems and performance.

Hirao strongly agrees that caring for "emotions" should be a priority.

"In conversations with customers, we often discover that 'such a past success experience is still useful in the present.' By first acknowledging the past success experiences and the existing 'structure' that supported them, we can empathize with their 'emotions.' If the founder or other people who created the existing 'structure' are still in the organization, I think it's easier for them to listen if you ask them something like, 'Wasn't this structure originally created with this intention? But isn't it possible that you've misunderstood it now and it's becoming a waste?'" (Hirao)

Ishikawa added,Share your vision of successHe also said that he values ​​the idea of ​​"doing things."

"If we're going to eat, we want to eat delicious food with friends who love it, not just to get the nutrients we need to survive. I think it's the same at work. We get everyone excited by saying, 'If we use your business assets in this way, we can do some interesting things, and we can have this kind of impact on the world,' and we share our vision of success. Even members who are a little bored tend to sympathize with the feeling that 'if we're going to eat something, we might as well enjoy eating something delicious.'" (Ishikawa)

When taking a closer look at the structure, the first thing to do isRating systemFor example, when he first joined the company, Ishikawa's mission was to "DX the catalog mail order business," in other words, to "increase EC sales." However,We avoided setting "EC sales" as a KPI.That.

Dinos has had an EC site since 2000, but sales consist of two parts: catalog sales and television sales, and "EC sales" was not defined. EC was merely positioned as one of the sales areas, and orders placed through EC were processed as "EC orders from catalog sales" if they were triggered by a catalog.

From Ishikawa's perspective, he would be tempted to immediately define "sales from EC" and pursue sales growth, but it is obvious that doing so would cause conflict with the existing divisions of catalog sales and TV shopping. It is not surprising that they would think, "Web experts are coming to take away our sales and work!"

"Instead of establishing 'EC sales' as the third sales source after catalogs and television, we chose to take the approach of 'Let's use digital to increase catalog and television sales.' By doing so, EC will no longer be a drain on sales from existing departments. Both the field staff and management will be able to work together with us.It helps you to recognise yourself and your team"I think this is essential to getting everyone involved in the company and moving forward with change quickly," said Ishikawa.

After establishing this cooperative framework, the next step for Mr. Ishikawa to take on is"Cut out waste"The reason why "cutting waste" is a high priority is because it is the thing that is most likely to lead to results quickly.

"First to see the benefits of changeThe key is to shorten the time it takes to achieve the goal. If you lecture people for a long time and then say, "The results will come in two years," they won't be able to keep up their enthusiasm. Even if it's small, I think it's important to create a successful situation within a few months that makes them think, "It was good to make that change." To do this, it is first necessary to quickly hit the key points that will "make an impact." People who promote transformation through marketing and digitalization need to be able to sniff out those points.Sense of smell"That's what's needed." (Ishikawa)

Simple words can move an organization

In particular, many BMC members who work for advertising companies have challenges communicating with internal stakeholders, such as management and other departments.

One thing that Mr. Ishikawa keeps in mind when communicating and presenting to stakeholders is,"Keep saying the same thing"The following are some of the reasons:

"When working with management, the first thing we do is to reach an agreement with the management."Keep saying the same thing"When organizational change is successful, a certain signal emerges: "Originally, I said,The other person begins speaking in their own words (as if they had thought the thought themselves)" Until you reach that state, you must repeatedly instill the same words in your mind. Then, your sense of purpose and the meaning of your efforts will be lost."The Spirit of Words"And then you can get into the other person's heart." (Ishikawa)

Hirao also agrees with Ishikawa, saying that the key to successful marketing is how simply you can think about it and execute it.

"People who are able to achieve results are often able to successfully converge what they need to do for their organization into one theory or one theme. Surprisingly, there are many well-known marketers who make the issues and solutions too complicated, fail to get others involved, and are unable to achieve results," says Hirao.

And another thing that Mr. Ishikawa keeps in mind is"Bringing in information from outside"Speaking at external events and conferences, including this seminar, and being interviewed by various media outlets, is not only for the purpose of disseminating information to the public,Internal communicationsThis is something they did with this in mind.

"When an article about Dinos' digital promotion efforts is published in an external media outlet, it appears to the internal team that 'What Ishikawa is doing is being praised by people outside the company.' It has the effect of making people feel as if what I'm saying has the 'seal of approval' from outside. I feel that it is much more effective to have someone see an article about it in an external media outlet once than to appeal directly to the internal team ten times." (Ishikawa)

Why is Ishikawa able to successfully promote digital and marketing in any company, regardless of size or industry?This is nothing but the result of understanding stakeholders and naturally creating an environment in which they can easily engage positively.

This is similar to the work of marketing, which involves understanding customers and creating experiences that make them want to buy or continue to use products and services. Organizational change is marketing itself. It seems that in order to become a marketing professional who can produce results, it is necessary to acquire the ability to move an organization.

Questions from participants in Part 2, "Lab"

In the second part, "Lab," held after the seminar, various questions were asked by members who attended the event and they exchanged opinions with the speakers. Here we present an excerpt of some of the questions posed by members.

"Please tell us about your ideas for 'treating people's emotions'"

"If you have any techniques to break through negative thinkers and blockers, please let me know."

"It is possible to involve other departments in meetings, but there are situations where the project will be difficult to move forward unless I continue to participate in the meetings to a certain extent myself. Could you please tell me some tips and points on how to involve other departments while still leaving it up to each team?"

"Is there anything the agency can do to support client companies that are not good at getting other departments involved?"

"Could you please give us some advice on how to involve other departments when there are few opportunities to meet face-to-face due to remote work?"