#545 Public Relations Theory 29 | Discussing 2024 Trends: "Time Performance," "Immersion," "Oshi-katsu (Supporting a Favorite)," and "Night-time Economy"
In the previous Public Relations Theory, I introduced the stance that public relations should aim for in 2024, but basically, it feels like you have no choice but to say both contradictory things: "Let's do something innovative" and "Let's do the obvious things".
In soccer terms, it's like you have to be able to deliver artistic, creativity-filled through passes, while also having the stamina to keep running earnestly and honestly until the end of the match; the PR profession is quite a demanding one.
Even so, you need to keep your antennas up at all times, and since things like 2024 PR trends are rampant on the streets, let's take a moment to verify them.
2024 Marketing Trend Forecasts and PR Strategies
Basically, this post is based on the content received from the following.
It introduces 2024 PR trends by keyword and is summarized in a very easy-to-understand way.
1. Time Performance (Tai-pa)
Do you know what Tai-pa is?
Tai-pa is an abbreviation for "time performance," which is a term indicating the degree of satisfaction relative to the time spent.
In the past, the term cost performance, commonly known as "cos-pa," was often used. It's the feeling that this pen is a good value because it costs 100 yen and lasts forever, but now it seems "money < time".
Therefore, if you have an hour of free time, it might be better in terms of "Tai-pa" to spend 10,000 yen on a massage than to spend it reading a book bought for 100 yen.
Cos-pa was easy to understand, but Tai-pa depends on how people perceive it based on their values, so it's difficult.
However, thinking about it the other way around, there is also the idea that if you are satisfied with the effect within the time, you won't spare the cost, so if you think that you won't be turned down because of "cost," it feels like it might be easier to approach.
2. Immersion
Immersion is, as the name suggests, "a feeling of focusing your consciousness on a certain object or situation to the extent that you don't care about other things", and it might have something in common with Tai-pa in a way.
In the reference article, it is explained like this.
We believe that "immersion" will be particularly important in the fields of advertising and entertainment in 2024.
With the emergence of new devices and facilities that provide immersion, such as Apple's "Apple Vision Pro" and Tokyo Odaiba's "Immersive Fort Tokyo," companies are expected to deepen their connection with customers and increase brand loyalty by providing immersive experiences.
However, even before such words appeared, I think service providers were potentially thinking, "I'm going to make them immersed!" so isn't what they do actually not that different? But, the fact that this word was born and the user's sense of guilt is lightened by "it's okay to be immersed" might be one sense of moving forward.
3. Oshi-katsu (Supporting a Favorite)
Oshi-katsu is "activities to support your number one person or character (= oshi) in various ways", and in the past, it was called Ota-katsu. Even if the words change, the essence remains the same: contributing to an idolized object.
It's a dangerous act similar to religion, but this is also truly immersion.
In this regard, it's a big deal that it has gained citizenship as "it's normal to support someone" due to the changes of the times.
When I was into Momoclo (Kanako) about 10 years ago, I was still looked at with cold eyes lol
4. Night-time Economy
This was the only term I didn't know, but the night-time economy seems to refer to economic activities conducted by people from sunset to sunrise (generally from around 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM the next morning).
When I was in college, I had a part-time job doing assembly line work at a Matsushita Electric factory, and since that was from 8:00 PM to 5:00 AM (or around 8:00 AM when there was overtime), looking back now, I was participating in the night-time economy, and I also did it during milestones like site renewals, but basically I'm a morning-time economy person, so it's a bit of a different world for me.
Apparently, this night-time economy has demand from inbound tourism. There seems to be about 4 trillion yen in demand in London, and I think if Japan also got rid of things like "last trains" and became a city that never sleeps, the economic impact would increase, but it would probably also increase deaths from overwork...
Summary
So, those are the 2024 PR trends called "Time Performance," "Immersion," "Oshi-katsu," and "Night-time Economy," and the one thing that can be said for all of them is the concept of "spare no expense if it's something good."
When selling products, it's better to think about appeals like "If you buy this, you can use your time effectively!," having people actually try it and get super hooked through immersion, and mechanisms that make people want to spend more and more money... but the more I think about it, the more I feel like it's heading in a dark direction lol
Therefore, PR activities in 2024 might need to learn from religious activities lol