Kobe Harborland is a shopping center and dining complex located in a touristic area of
Kobe. This year, it is aiming to increase the number of visitors from Kansai and Kanto regions. Can you prepare a short and simple business plan to help Kobe Harborland increase the number of visitors?
Step 1: Form a group of 3 or 4 people and register at marketingjp.com/registration.
Step 2: As a group, answer these questions and put your answers in a .ppt document.
- (WHO) What kind of people would want to visit Kobe Harborland (e.g. families, the elderly, young women, people from a certain part of Japan, etc.)?
- (WHY) Why should people visit Kobe Harborland? Come up with an advertising message that is effective and easy to remember.
- (HOW) What kind of advertising would be best (magazine, newspaper, internet, outdoor, etc.)? Please create some example advertisements.
- (SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN) How can you use Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Google+ or mixi, etc. to promote Kobe Harborland? Please explain.
Step 3: Please create a short (10-60 seconds) video to promote Kobe Harborland. Upload your video to YouTube. (This step is optional)
Step 4: Submit the summary of your plan via email to marketingcontestjp@gmail.commarketingcontestjp@gmail.com.
EXTRA INFORMATION
Background
Kobe Harborland is home to an array of large-scale commercial sites, from department stores, superstores, and specialty shops to hotels. Founded in 1992, this year Kobe Harborland celebrated its 20th anniversary. This sightseeing and shopping destination, with its wonderful seaside spots (including Kobe Tower, a historical pier, and a pedestrian bridge so perfectly suited to its Kobe surroundings) has gained growing popularity among local residents as well as fans of Kobe from around the world.
Location
Kobe Harborland is located by the Kobe Harbor, just a short walk from JR Kobe Station and minutes from Downtown Kobe. The place is also close to Osaka and Kyoto, as it is only a 30 minute train ride from the Osaka train station and 50 minute bus ride from Kansai Airport.
Visitors
People visit Harborland for various reasons, ranging from shopping to dining and watching movies to taking a dinner cruise. While Mozaic can be an ideal dating spot for young couples, families with small children can find anything they need in the stores of Hare and Familio. Please note that although Harborland has more than 10 different facilities, most people prefer to spend time at Mosaic (a 4-floor dining complex and an amusement park) and Hare (a 5-floor mid-size shopping mall).
Current Situation
About two years ago, Hotel New Otani Kobe (located by Kobe Harborland) closed, and recently Hankyu Department Store (which occupied almost 1/3 of Hare) shut down its operations. Additionally, research shows that Harborland is not among the top destinations domestic tourists want to visit when travelling to Kobe.
However, Hotel Crown Palace Kobe will be opened in July 2012, as a successor of Hotel New Otani Kobe. Plus, Ion Mall will be opened next April as a successor of Kobe Hankyu Department Store. In addition to that, New Anpan-man Museum will be opened next spring in Mosaic.
Challenge
Your task is to prepare a simple marketing plan that will explain how to increase the human traffic to Kobe Harborland by attracting more visitors from outside the Kobe area (Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo, etc.).
While preparing your plan, please keep the following in mind:
- It is mandatory to use at least one of these five social media tools in your campaign: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube , Google+, or mixi.
- Your marketing budget is 10,000,000 Yen.
- You must target people who live outside of Kobe and you must not target foreigners.
