Sanpo-yoshi Communication

courtesy call

The other day, for the first time in my life, I paid a courtesy visit to Mayor Okubo of Kurume City, my hometown. The purpose of the visit was to report the "World's Best in the World Label Contest" to him.

The impetus came from advice from an acquaintance who runs a web media company. Actually, it was suggested to me several years ago when I won the "Japan's Best Label Contest" in a Japanese label contest, but I did not do it at that time because I wondered if I would be taken seriously by an award from such a minor industry. This time, we took the plunge and made an offer. Unlike last time, we had a dedicated PR person (Mr. Tanaka) in our company. As a result, the city official readily agreed to our visit.

As a matter of fact, our PR person Tanaka-kun sent out press releases and directly informed several media outlets about the award, but they did not pick up the story at all, perhaps because they deemed it not newsworthy or because of our company's lack of influence.

However, during this courtesy visit, not only newspapers but also TV stations came to cover the event due to a release from Kurume City. The video was broadcast on the next morning's news, and although we do not know how it happened, it was also picked up by Yahoo News.

In the words of the acquaintance who recommended the courtesy call, "This kind of activity not only benefits Marushin, but also improves the standing of the industry as a whole. The value of this award will also increase. This know-how should be shared throughout the industry.

Besides, come to think of it, what mayor wouldn't be pleased to see the success of a local company? When you start an award-winning, novel, or socially beneficial initiative, we recommend that you pay a courtesy call to the head of your local government.

Incidentally, I have no political or administrative acquaintances that I am familiar with, I am not active in JC, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, etc., and I had no special connections whatsoever in this matter. The mayor happens to be a senior in elementary, middle, and high school, but I wasn't even a supporter of his earlier election. (Our type of business does not allow us to support anyone in particular in elections.) If you have a relationship with him, I think you can more easily take this up with us.

　　(Article: Hiraki)

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