Winning Word-of-Mouth Approval: Teenage Marketing

1. Pre-reading Task:
In this article Bethan Hutton tells how companies stay one step ahead of Japan’s materialistic youth. But before you read, think about what sorts of products or services you would talk about with friends, looking for a recommendation? Feel free to add to the list.
– cars;
– hi-fi equipment;
– holidays;
– language courses;
– clothes;
– hair designer;
– a builder or painter to do work on your house or flat.

2. Read the article:
The natural habitat of Japanese teenagers is a small area in central Tokyo between Shibuya and Harajuku stations which is full of boutiques and music shops. At weekends, teenagers from the city and the surrounding provinces go there to spot the latest street fashions.
The area is also a magnet for anyone researching or selling to the teenage market: fashion and cosmetic companies, record producers, editors of young fashion magazines, soft drink and snack promoters, and makers of games and gadgets.
One such company was Bandai, the toy company responsible for Tamagotchi, the egg-shaped, pocket-sized virtual pet which swept the world in the late 1990s. Tamagotchi’s first public appearance was in a test marketing exercise on the streets of Shibuya.
The schoolgirls who saw it were so impressed they told all their friends, and the first few batches of Tamagotchi to hit the shops sold out immediately. Such is the power of “kuchikomi”, or word of mouth.
Advertisers everywhere know that personal recommendation carries great weight. Normally, word-of-mouth promotion is free, but impossible to arrange. In Japan it can be arranged – at a price.
There are agencies with hundreds of teenagers on their books who receive their products and tell their friends about them; others are paid to queue up for the launch of a new product or opening of a new store, creating an artificial “buzz” about it.
Halfway between Shibuya and Harajuku is the office of Hiroaki Morita, who set up Teens Network Ship on leaving school nine years ago. The agency is the longest-established specialist in the teenage market, and often uses informal, “kuchikomi” style marketing methods. It has a register of 2,000 senior high school pupils in the Tokyo area, and is now expanding nationally.
As Mr. Morita describes it, the logic is simple: selected teenagers are given information or samples of a new product. Feeling superior for knowing about something ahead of the crowd, they tell on average 50 of their friends and classmates about their “discovery”, so that with a core group of 1,000, word can spread to 50,000 and more.
Information spreads more rapidly among the 15 to 18 age groups than at any other life stage, Mr. Morita says. For the three years at senior high school, they spend eight hours a day with the same 50 classmates, creating an exceptionally tight social network.

From The Financial Times

3. True or False.
Decide whether these statements are true or false and correct the false ones.
1. Mr. Morita paid to teenagers for telling their classmates about a new product.
2. Information usually spreads rather slowly among teenagers.
3. At first, virtual pets did not have a great success.
4. Central Tokyo is a place to spot the latest street fashions.
5. At first schoolchildren were not so enthusiastic about Tamagotchi.
6. The longest-established specialist in the teenage market frequently uses formal methods.
7. Teenagers do not have a special natural habitat in Tokyo.
8. Tamagotchi’s immediate success was due to the word-of-mouth policy.
9. Tamagotchi was produced by a high-tech computer company.
10. Personal recommendations are of utmost importance in the world of business.

4. What do these figures refer to?
1. 2000;      4. 50 000;
2. 1990;      5. 1000;
3. 50;         6. 15-18.

5. Give three forms of the following verbs from the text and compose sentences of your own using them. Mind that some verbs are regular and some are not.
1. to go – ________ – ________
2. to hit – ________ – ________
3. to tell – ________ – ________
4. to know – ________ – ________
5. to receive – ________ – ________
6. to fee – ________ – ________
7. to sweep – ________ – ________
8. to pay – ________ – ________
9. to spend – ________ – ________
10. to have – ________ – ________

6. Build word-combinations:
a) Put these words together;
b) Make no more than 3 sentences incorporating all of these word-combinations:

7. Give an English definition to the following words and word combinations from the text:
1. Teenager – ___________
2. Rapid – ___________
3. High school – ___________
4. Classmate – ___________
5. Sample – ___________
6. Network – ___________
7. To be impressed – ___________
8. Public appearance – ___________
9. Promotion – ___________
10. Fashion – ___________

8. Jumbled words – make them real!
a. TOONIMORP
b. GARAVEE
c. NISAFOH
d. SEEXRICE
e. LISASTEPCI

9. Debates!
TOPIC: Tamagotchi is the best friend for everybody.

RULES:
1. To start debates you need to be divided in 2 groups. Choose the jury/judge.
2. Each group should defend one viewpoint: either you state that there are certain business sectors that are “ethically unsound” or you support the opposite point of view.
3. People in the group may personally be of different opinions, but as a group they have to defend one point for all.
4. Spend some 15 minutes to find arguments to support your statement.
5. Choose 3 speakers in each group who will present the group opinion.
6. Each speaker should talk for 2 minutes.
7. After every speaker finishes his part of speech, the opposite team has the right to ask one question.
8. After all the speakers have expressed their points the two groups can exchange questions.
9. Finally the judge announces the winner, basing his decision on:
– how convincing the speakers were;
– whether the questions were smart;
– whether they fit in time limits (not more or less);
– whether they respected the opposite team.

10. Make a written table of advantages and disadvantages of having a Tamagotchi as a pet.

11. Write an acrostic on TAMAGOTCHI, giving characteristics to it.
(every letter of the word “tamagotchi” is the first letter of the line in your acrostic)

Key:
3. T; 2. F; 3. T; 4. T; 5. F; 6. F; 7. F; 8. T; 9. F; 10. T
6. 1. j; 2. f; 3. a; 4. g; 5. c; 6. i; 7. b; 8. e; 9. d; 10. h
8. 1. promotion; 2. average; 3. fashion; 4. exercise; 5. specialist