Reaching consumers in an age of information overload: a fan-based approach

in partnership with

NRI - Nomura Research Institute

Logo of NRI - Nomura Research Institute

Founded in 1965, Nomura Research Institute (NRI) is a leading global provider of system solutions and...

View more
Insurance
Q+
24/07/2023Interview

Japanese consumers have seen drastic changes in the information environment in the wake of the ongoing information deluge and social media’s proliferation in recent years. In response, Naoyuki Sato, founder of fanbase company Inc, advocates abandoning traditional marketing techniques in favor of a fan-based approach, the concept of which differs from both customer centricity and fan cultivation. NRI spoke to Mr. Sato about the basics of the fan-based approach and its applicability to the financial services industry.


You’ve founded fanbase company Inc, which is both promoting and practicing a fan-based approach to business. To begin, could you explain your fan-based approach in a nutshell?

I worked in advertising for 20 years. My job was to come up with ways to sell products to new customers and make people aware of products they didn’t know existed. Today, I keenly feel that traditional approaches to gaining new customers no longer work for several reasons.

First, there’s too much information nowadays. For example, the amount of information in the world increased by an estimated 59 zettabytes (trillion gigabytes)  in 2020 alone. The number of bytes in a zettabyte is equivalent to the number of grains of sand in the world, an incomprehensibly vast quantity. People are now so inundated with information that they’ve become numb to it, making them less receptive to incoming information than in the past.

Second, informational media have proliferated too much, including not only mass media but countless online media also.

Third, the amount of entertainment content available today is equally vast. On YouTube alone, the amount of video uploaded daily is equivalent to 82 years of viewing time. Including video-sharing social media platforms like TikTok, video streaming services like Netflix, movie theaters and TV programming, a staggering amount of video is broadcast, streamed or otherwise played every day. In addition to video, there are countless other social media sites/apps, many print media like books and newspapers and many live events as well. With so many choices available, consumers pay no attention to the vast majority of them by necessity. They consequently don’t encounter advertisements much if at all.
Meanwhile, Japan is an Internet laggard. The most popular social media platform in Japan is Twitter with some 50 million monthly active users, about 20% of which are heavy users who collectively account for 80% of total Twitter usage time (per Nielsen). In other words, only about 10 million Japanese actually use Twitter regularly. Their tweets are not reaching the other 110 million Japanese. Incidentally, it has been reported that Japanese as a whole don’t use Internet search much either.

In sum, the Japanese public is largely tuning out the surfeit of information, media and content and surprisingly does even not use social media or search much. How on earth can companies get their messages across to consumers? I had largely given up hope on reaching consumers until I realized the fan-based approach is a surefire way to do so. The fan-based approach means taking good care of your fans in the aim of driving revenue growth, generating more value and gaining new customers.

The one way to reliably reach consumers even in today’s challenging information environment is through word of mouth from family and friends. Surveys have revealed that people overwhelmingly trust information from family and friends over endorsements by experts, influencers and celebrities. And if your family members or friends are fans of a certain brand or company, they will talk about it enthusiastically. Rethinking communication from such a perspective is what the fan-based approach is all about.

Want to keep reading?

Become a Qorus member to get access to all our insights

Related news & insights

Insurance
30/04/2025News

eHealth launches AI voice agents to transform health insurance shopping experience

The initiative is part of the company’s broader strategy to use artificial intelligence to complement—not replace—its licensed insurance agents, enhancing...

Insurance
28/04/2025Interview

At work with Moniruzzaman Khan

Moniruzzaman Khan is Executive Director & Head of Digital Business at Green Delta Insurance. He tells Boris Plantier from Qorus...

Digital Reinvention
23/04/2025Article

Innovation of the Month: Financial insights from Alvie, Desjardins’ AI assistant

This month’s Qorus Innovation in Banking award goes to Desjardins for Alvie, their new in-app virtual assistant, which takes a...

Digital Reinvention
21/04/2025News

Robinhood unveils new suite of financial tools for gold members

Innovative offerings aim to make wealth management, banking, and investing more accessible

Digital Reinvention
18/04/2025Video

AI for ESG: 6 powerful ways data and machine learning are driving sustainable success

Julien Defossé, Worldwide FSI Market Development Lead at AWS, presents the main findings of the report The AI Imperative: Navigating...

Digital Reinvention
17/04/2025Study

Banks and AI: Realizing business benefits

AI is shifting from experimentation to delivering real value, especially in banking. While measuring that value can be challenging, banks...

Digital Reinvention
15/04/2025News

Generali launches Agorai Innovation Hub to advance human-centered AI

Based in Trieste, the initiative aims to become one of Europe’s leading centers for AI research and training.

Insurance
14/04/2025News

Malt, Indeez, and Sanitas launch tailored health insurance for Spain’s freelancers

Freelancers in Spain now have a new health insurance option designed specifically with their needs in mind, thanks to a...