Long-Distance Relationship for Sale: The Legendary Marketer

The single-track railway deep in the T-village mountains had been running at a loss.
They had already tried various measures: local TV commercials, T-village PR, the mascot characters 'TT Sisters,' and 'TT Rice Crackers (Earl Grey flavor)'...

However, while these measures would become topics of conversation temporarily, they would quickly fizzle out.
The railway was the lifeline of the villagers.
They couldn't let it go out of business.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Investing their last remaining budget, they brought in Mr. Arioka, a man called the 'legendary marketer' who had turned around the performance of a theme park.

Mr. Arioka gathered the railway employees and said:
'We aren't selling things; we are selling experiences.'

Then, Mr. Arioka suddenly started waving his hand.
'For example, how about offering a... "goodbye" experience?'

While the employees were confused, Mr. Arioka continued.
'You know that scene in old movies where one half of a couple goes far away and the other chases after them running! We will offer that to couples and married people as an "experience."'

The idea was immediately adopted and sold for 300,000 yen, limited to one couple per day, as theLong-Distance Relationship Experience Service.

Though expensive, it was used by couples in a rut, married couples, and singles looking for love.
It became a hot topic for allowing people to experience the pain of separation and reaffirm their love for their partner, and reservations were booked up three months in advance.

And thanks to thisservice, the railway saw a V-shaped recovery.
T-village became a 'mecca for couples,' with hotels and wedding halls being built, revitalizing the entire village.

It was the final day of Mr. Arioka's consulting contract.
He was heading home alone, clutching the bouquet of flowers given to him by the staff.
His navy blue suit looked quite out of place against the vast expanse of rice fields.

I called out to his back.

'Mr. Arioka... why don't you use thisserviceto head home?'

(End)

This work was written for Kasan Tahara's '#WeeklyShortShortNote' project. The theme was'#LongDistanceRelationshipForSale'.