Best Practice from Japan : Harnessing thePower of Data for your Business

Rejuvenation of Local Tourism
by Hachimantai DMO

BackgroundIn response to the imbalance in regional development resulted from low fertility rate and aging
population , Japan started to promote local revitalizing DMO plan since 2015, with a view tomotivating people to migrate from central cities (i.e. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya) to second-tier cities,
which thus stimulates local industry development in less developed regions.
Located in the northern Tohoku region of Japan, Hachimantai is one of the cities implementing thelocal revitalizing plan. It is famous for its rich tourism resources, where tourists could enjoy thebeauty of maple leaves in the autumn; experience the hot spring and visit ski resorts with fine snow
quality in the winter. The magnificent mountain ranges should not be missed as well.

Maple
Hot Spring2

Snow WallSkiing

Kagami Pond

Challenge

1 Local Issues
1. Travellers are more concentrated in Autumn and Winter while low
seasons often occur in November and March every year.
2. It’s not a first-tier travel city, where travellers usually don’t stayovernight to experience the city further.

Peak Season

2 Marketing Issues
1. Limited marketing resources: the economic environment is strongly
influenced by climate and holidays, and there are probably only 2-3
promoting chances in a year.
2. Lack of marketing talents to promote the fantastic scenery.
3. Lack of understanding of travellers' attributes for making marketing decisions.

4. Unable to establish effective marketing strategy due to unclear insights about its target travellers.
3

Low Season

Objective + Challenge
Target to promote the inbound tourism in the northern Tohoku region

How to maximize its impact with limited
marketing resources

DMO Japan appointed Vpon toAssist by BIG DATA ANALYSIS
4

Strategy + Target
Assisting tourism industry to make decision by leveraging data
Promote tourism in the northern Tohoku region

Decision

Data Analysis

5MarketingStrategy

How To Do

Data Analysis

1

Filter Trata
DMP data

62
Big data analysis forpotential traveler
profile segmentation

1

Marketing
Strategy

Develop content
by user profile

2

Optimize & executecontinuously in themarketing campaign

3Marketing resultverification

How To DoData Analysis

1

Filter Trata
DMP data

7

2
Big data analysis forpotential traveler
profile segmentation

1Marketing
StrategyDevelop content
by user profile

2

Optimize & executecontinuously in themarketing campaign

3Marketing resultverification

1. Filter Trata DMP data
DataAnalysis••••

Similar attributes of ski resort
Similar attributes of climate
Similar attributes of slow-paced lifestyle
Close geographic location

Trata DMP

Data Filter

8

Similar attributes of cities:
Analyze the travellers who visited the northern Tohoku
region (Hokkaido, Sendai, Shinka, Nagano) last year.
Leverage the similar travellers’ attribute to discover
more potential travellers.

2. Big data analysis for potential traveller profile segmentation
Illustrate the profile of target travellers based on the results of data analysis from both
macro and micro view

DataAnalysis

Data afterfilter

Data Analysis

9Japan Travellers

Interested in travelling to Japan

Skiing Travellers

Interested in Winter sports suchas skiing

Cherry Blossom
loversVisited Japan in Mar/Apr (or Oct)and are interested in cherry
blossom

Northern Tohoku
travellers

Visited the northern Tohoku inthe past 6 months

Driving lovers

Target invoices for filling up over
16 liters of petrol in gas stations

TaiwanTravellers

Hong KongTravellers

Segment selection

2. Big data analysis for potential traveller profile segmentation
Target traveller profile example

DataAnalysis

Taiwan Travellers’ProfileHong Kong Travellers’Profile10• Users visited ski resorts in last
winter• Travel alone or with family• Visited Japan before• Passport holders

Interests• Users visited ski resort in last
winter• Couple travel• Visited Japan before• Passport holders

Interests

Automobiles

Motorcycles

FamilyMedical servicesEducation

Indoor lovers
Communication

Healthcare

Asset management
MusicSports

How To Do

Data Analysis

1

Filter Trata
DMP data

112
Big data analysis forpotential traveler
profile segmentation

1

Marketing
Strategy

Develop contentby user profile

2

Optimize & executecontinuously in themarketing campaign

3Marketing result
verification

1. Develop content by user profile
Marketing
Strategy

Targettraveller
profileDevelopmarketingcontent
12

Personalized content for Taiwanese• Specific interests(Automobiles / Motorcycles / Family / MedicalServices / Education)• Users visited ski resorts in last winter• Travel alone or with family• Visited Japan before• Passport holders

Marketing content design:
Produce marketing materials with family and snow
elements

Activity design:
Family trip X Snow

Taiwan travellers’
profile1. Develop content by user profile
Marketing
Strategy

Targettraveller
profileDevelopmarketing
content13

Personalized content for Hong Kongers• Specific interests (Indoor lovers / Asset management /Communication / Music / Healthcare / Sports)• Users visited ski resort in last winter• Couple travel• Visited Japan before• Passport holders

Marketing content design:
Produce marketing materials with transportation andbeautiful view elementsActivity design:
Check-in spots X Near the station

Hong Kong
travellers’ profileMarketing Content Design (Example)
Marketing
Strategy14

Marketing
Strategy

2. Optimize & execute continuously inthe marketing campaign
After setting up the target, execute PDCA by leveraging data analysis result and keep optimizing

P D C A

Target Setting

Attract more travelers toTarget travellers withspecific residing areas
and attributes

Develop marketing
content and execute
marketing campaign

Marketing content
amendment

Examine by performing
data analysis of thevisitors

Hachimantaiand increase
their spending15

3. Marketing result verification
Marketing
Strategy

Verify those who clicked the ad and visited the northern Tohoku
Taiwanese

Hong Kongers

User behaviour
View Ads

SampleAds Promotion
Click Ads
Gather travel comments and information
Book flying ticket and accommodation

Travel to Japan
16

Actual visited locations pinpointed on the map after
clicking the ads

3. Marketing result verification
Marketing
Strategy

The number of travellers

visiting the Tohoku Region isthree times more than theperiod observed, reaching a
growth rate of+5.2%

5.2%

7.4%

2.2%
YOY growth for visitors travelling to Proportion of users who visited thethe northern Tohoku region
northern Tohoku after clicking the Ads
17

Data Source：Vpon DMPSummarize what Vpon did

1
Verification of Ads
execution
Use data to track theimplement result and verify
if the Ads can achieve thegoal with uninterrupted
data cycle.

18

Data collection and application
Leveraged by the attributes and dataamount of Vpon Trata DMP to definecomplete attributes of target travellers
and analyze potential travellers profile.

32

Marketing application andoptimization
Personalize the most effective marketing
activity by traveller profile and attributes,
optimize continuously to maximize the benefitof marketing resources.

Partnershippartnership@vpon.com
Enquiry
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Marketingmarketing@vpon.com

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