Face each and every "fan" to become a company that works with fans to tackle social issues-Fan base company Naoyuki Sato x Euglena Akihiko Nagata

The company is supported by the support of many people, including customers who buy products, shareholders and business partners.

Euglena Deputy, who advocate a "fan base" that creates value by carefully nurturing relationships with products, services, and the "fans" of the company itself. President Nagata talked about the relationship between the company and its fans.

Return to the origin with "fan base"

— What made you aware of the “fan base”?

Akihiko Nagata (hereinafter referred to as Nagata): I read Sato-san's book about two years ago, and first I became interested in Sato-san himself. After that, I read "Fan Base". And I felt, "Isn't it a little strange when I have to publish a book like this?"

* "Fan base": The idea of valuing fans, based on fans (base has meanings such as foundation and support base), and increasing sales and value over the medium to long term ("Fan base") (Quoted from Chikuma Shinsho, 2018)

Naoyuki Sato (hereinafter referred to as Sato Nao): It's not something I dare to say in a book (laughs).

Nagata: No, what was written felt very basic ... For example, if you run a greengrocer, it's natural to value the customers who come to buy every day rather than the people who come only once a year.

I also worry about regulars, "I haven't come recently, but what about that customer?" However, with the development of mass marketing, we have entered an era in which the unspecified number of people who cannot see the face are emphasized.
I was keenly aware that the time has come for humans to be converted into numbers.

Sato Nao: A long time ago, the greengrocer also served as a request, and the relationship was so close that he knew the contents of the regular refrigerator.
As digitalization progressed and marketing methods became more sophisticated, it became an era in which non-regular people would buy things. Now you can increase sales efficiently.

NagataEuglena has followed such a transition in the 10 years since its founding. At that time, Izumo, the representative director, was in the business with a euglena that had not been recognized at all and said, "Please try it!"
In the meantime, the number of customers who said, "It looks surprisingly good, let's support you" is increasing ... By the way, Izumo still carries the fax machine when he received the order for the first time in his bag.

Sato Nao: That's nice.

Nagata: That's how it started, but as advertising costs gradually increased with sales, the words "acquisition cost (customer acquisition unit price)" and "CRM (customer relationship management)" began to fly around.

Originally, I started with the idea of "I want to improve society," but the purpose was changed to using marketing to generate sales, and the "human beings" beyond that became more and more difficult to see.

Sato Nao: It's going to be painful just to think that you should increase sales.

Nagata:Okay. In such a situation, neither the working colleagues nor the people who bought it will be happy. When I realized that, I thought I had to go back to the starting point.
At that time, I reread "Fan Base" again and realized that I had forgotten the origin.

Sato Nao: Euglena 's position of "solving social issues"?

Nagata:is that so. I think it was necessary to return to the starting point Euglena, such as environmental issues, health issues, and assistance to developing countries. Then, in March of this year, when I saw the news that Mr. Sato could launch a "fan base company," I immediately sent an email.

* Fan Base Company Co., Ltd .: In May 2019, Naoyuki Sato, Allied Architects Association Co., Ltd., and Nomura Holdings Co., Ltd. established a joint venture to provide corporate support based on "Fan Base".

"Too many good stories"?

Sato Nao: Fan base is quite difficult in terms of ordering. I'm doing it with the image of becoming a partner rather than receiving an order.
What's more, if we can't be fans of the company, we can't get a job. So at first, it was like a matchmaking with Euglena

Nagata: No, it wasn't a matchmaking at all (laughs). I liked it one-sidedly, so I talked a lot about projects that Sato-san might like, such as environmental issues, health issues, and food support, and said, "We are doing this kind of activity! I appealed hard.

One of the things Sato Nao said was, "There are too many good stories."

Sato Nao: That's right (laughs). Listening to the story, I got the impression that it is a smart company with a very high personality.
However, if the other person is too personal, the person is actually elusive and confused. It's hard to sympathize. On the contrary, it is easier to approach if you can show the weaknesses that are easy to understand.

Nagata: Certainly, such people have a sense of intimacy that they are "loving". By the way, from the perspective of Mr. Sato, is there any company that shows such a chance in a good way?

Sato Nao: Well, for example, Mazda, an automobile manufacturer. The global sales share is about 2%, which is not big at all, but you are managing a stance that is not ashamed of it at all.
And many of the buyers in that 2% are Mazda's "enthusiastic fans."

The reason why there are so many enthusiastic fans is that the company has publicly published all the muddy hardship stories and failure stories. For example, for example, we have established a commendation system called "Failure Grand Prize" to praise the challenging spirit of employees. We are also active. As a fan, it feels very close to you.

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Nagata: Actually, I'm in a Mazda car, but it's the best. The reason is that men who like cars often have to give up their "joy of driving" when they have children. I had a child, and somehow I was prepared for that.

However, when I first drove a Mazda car, I was constantly impressed with various ideas to keep the "joy of driving" abandoned. I don't advertise as flashy as other manufacturers.
After all, there is no final evaluation that goes beyond "what the customer feels from the product".

Sato Nao:I really think so.

Fan meetings are a place to make people aware of their "likes"

-Did Mr. Nagata Euglena has no chance"?

Nagata: It made me think again about the difference between what Euglena
If you cut out only the part called "Venture from the University of Tokyo", it seems that there are surprisingly many people who get the impression that researchers in white coats are working silently while wearing glasses.
But in reality, there are many softer and more youthful employees working.

Sato Nao: How to close the image gap, isn't it? For example, there was a time when Microsoft was once called the "Evil Empire."
It was a situation that even people using Microsoft thought so, but at one point one employee started a video blog and sent out a video to shoot and introduce the employee.

Nagata: It feels like a pioneer of YouTuber.

Sato Nao: It's the beginning of 2000, so it's early, isn't it? That became a hot topic on the Internet, and it seems that the number of fans increased at once, saying, "Microsoft is not an evil empire, but ordinary people are working normally."

The fact that each and every employee is worried about product development may have aroused a sense of intimacy. I think that such measures are actually very important.

Nagata:is that so. Euglena also held its first fan meeting in August of this year.
Euglena will like it more", but a wide range of stakeholders, from shareholders to consumers, are living. I think that I was able to get closer to Euglena by interacting with Euglena
I think I was able to dispel the image of "no gap" that was pointed out by Mr. Sato.

Sato Nao: Isn't I like a really bad guy? (Lol)

Nagata: No no (laughs)! It was a great harvest to be able to objectively notice the gap between the image seen by the world and the actual appearance. I'm really glad that we were able to hold a fan meeting.

Sato Nao:I'm glad. In many cases, the fans themselves can't clearly verbalize "what they like".
Therefore, by meeting with fans, Mr. Nagata, and employees through fan meetings, I become aware that I like this kind of place. I'm sure all the employees could have noticed that "this kind of place is liked by fans".

I noticed that the big black lumps on the net were "one person"

Nagata: In the first place, what made you realize the importance of "fans"?

Sato Nao: You launched your own personal site. I had been working as a mass media at a major advertising agency since around 1985, but in 1995 I personally started publishing on the site.

Taking this opportunity, people who could only be seen as "black lumps" on the other side of the mass media suddenly began to have a "personality."

As soon as you send something, you get a response. I realized that there are individuals on the other side of this product, and that they have various ideas. That's a matter of course now, but it was hard to see at that time.
While doing so, I changed from "functionality" and "convenience" to emphasizing "emotion".

Nagata:I see. It seems that the relationship with the other party has become bidirectional through the exchange on the Internet.
Isn't the Internet evolving these days, and on the contrary, the existence at the end of the Internet seems to be a black mass?

Sato Nao: Certainly it feels.
I think that it is because of the development of the Internet that we will return to the "real-life relationships" like fan meetings.

Nagata: Meeting in real life is also an act of the company and the fans checking each other's heat and passion with their own eyes.
In the past, online reputation and word-of-mouth were important in marketing, but now we will return to a real relationship. I feel that it is a very interesting transition.

～ Continue to the second part ～

* Honorific titles omitted in the text

Composition: Tomoko Hatano / Photo: Takuya Sakawaki / Editing: Yu Oshima