Thought Leadership Requires 'Authenticity'. How Do You Change People's 'Perception'? - An Interview with PR Strategist Tetsuya Honda -

"Thought Leadership" is a marketing method that creates new customers and markets by presenting innovative ideas to the world and attracting stakeholders to co-creation through "empathy." For the third installment of our interviews with experts to examine its importance from multiple angles, we speak with Tetsuya Honda, a leading figure in the Japanese PR field and Representative Director/PR Strategist at Honda Office.

The means to change perception is "thought"

--From a PR perspective, how do you view thought leadership?

Honda Thought leadership is an important keyword in areas such as corporate communication and marketing centered on PR. There are two reasons for this.

The first is the commoditization of corporate brands, products, and services. Even if there is brand awareness, if the business is stagnant, products won't sell. As commoditization progresses, adding benefits based on physical properties or price alone will not trigger a turnaround. Differentiation is born through thought leadership that attracts consumers with the philosophy of the company or product brand.

The second is the personification of the company. It is becoming increasingly important for top management to speak directly to consumers. Through thought leadership that puts a face to the company, the walls in consumers' hearts are lowered, making communication easier.

--How is differentiation created through thought leadership?

The key point is perception. By changing perception through thought leadership, you can connect to acquiring new customer segments and markets.

Let me introduce a case of successful perception change. Morinaga & Co.'s long-selling candy, "Morinaga Ramune," was able to develop an adult customer base triggered by social media reviews claiming that "Morinaga Ramune is effective for hangovers." By spreading a new perception from "Ramune = children's candy" to "candy that solves the problems of adults who drink alcohol," it is a good example of how products sell.

Another point is connecting it to behavior change. If you can make it a habit to "eat Ramune" when you have drunk too much alcohol, you can form a new market.

Generate "empathy" with a new way of thinking, "thought," and use thought leadership to involve stakeholders and lead to behavior change. PR and thought leadership are the same in the goal of wanting to change the behavior of customers and business partners.

--What is the relationship between awareness, perception, and behavior change?

Honda There is a platform proposed mainly by the global PR industry called the "PR Pyramid".

"The PR Pyramid" consists of publicity (awareness) at the bottom, perception change in the middle, and behavior change at the top. Many people may think that PR is all about information dissemination activities. Increasing awareness through information dissemination is the base of PR activities. Nothing starts unless people know about it. This is a fact. However, awareness alone does not lead to purchase. Knowing is not a direct motive for purchase. The thought that "I want to get it because it is valuable to me" leads to the desire to purchase.

How do you cause behavior change, such as changes in feelings or lifestyle? Perception connects awareness and action. If behavior change does not occur even after disseminating information and content, there are many cases where perception is the issue. To cause behavior change, it is necessary to change perception.

If you look at the "PR Pyramid" not just from the bottom (awareness) to the top (behavior change), but also look at it in reverse from the top to the bottom, you will notice the importance of perception change in the center.

Generate ideas for "thought" that can cause perception change, and disseminate that information to expand awareness. It is also important to change the way of thinking used until now.

PR and thought leadership are just means. I think that by incorporating the perspective of PR and thought leadership from the stage of management strategy and business planning, it becomes easier to gain the understanding of stakeholders.

Authenticity is important in thought leadership

—What should be done to generate thoughts that cause a change in perception?

Honda The "thought" in thought leadership can be considered equivalent to the "theme of interest" in formulating a PR strategy. It means deciding what angle to take and what to communicate. The key is novelty. You need something that doesn't feel like "déjà vu," where someone else has already put the message out somewhere. However, you shouldn't get too far ahead of the curve. It is important to verbalize ideas that are vaguely emerging in the world and to send out messages that look one step ahead of the times.

Also, to change perceptions, it is required to think about and verbalize/visualize themes of interest (thoughts) from the perspective of society and consumers, rather than from the company's perspective. Thoughts are not about forcing a company's way of thinking onto others. It is not a one-way street; it is about how that thought is perceived when viewed from the perspective of society and stakeholders. I think generating "empathy" is important.

—What is necessary for a thought to gain "empathy"?

Honda In PR, there is an important keyword: "authenticity." Literally translated, it means "certainty," "truthfulness," or "trustworthiness." The adjective form is "authentic."

I interpret authenticity as "being true to oneself and appropriate for the company." This is also very important in thought leadership from the perspective of conveying a message to the other party. No matter how wonderful a thought is, it is important that stakeholders do not wonder if it is really necessary for that company to say it, or if it is a message that another company should be conveying. The moment a doubt arises, interest and concern are diminished.

When thinking about thoughts, I believe corporate culture, history, and business domains are elements that cannot be ignored. A sense of conviction that "this thought came out because of this corporate culture" makes it easier to generate "empathy".

—Are there any case studies of authentic thought leadership?

Honda Since 2020, our company has been consulting on the public relations area for Ajinomoto Frozen Foods. The first thing that became a big topic was the PR for the "Temanuki (effort-saving) controversy." Through the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Ajinomoto Frozen Foods, an employee posted, "Using frozen gyoza is not cutting corners, it is 'saving effort' (te-ma-nuki)."

This message was a common way of thinking within the company, a piece of tacit knowledge. As a result of the increased "empathy" for "saving effort," the perception of frozen gyoza improved. "Saving effort" can be said to be an authentic thought that only Ajinomoto Frozen Foods could convey.

—So the thought of "saving effort" changed the perception of frozen gyoza.

Honda The quality of frozen foods from each company is improving. It can be said that commoditization is progressing. In that context, perception becomes important for being "specifically chosen." Another PR strategy aimed at changing the perception of Ajinomoto Frozen Foods is the "Frozen Gyoza Frying Pan Challenge."

▼Please be sure to click the link and take a look at the well-crafted site

▼Click here for the official note summarizing the background of the "Frozen Gyoza Frying Pan Challenge" project

There is also an element of thought leadership here. It started with a single post saying, "Ajinomoto's frozen gyoza stuck to the frying pan." In response, Ajinomoto Frozen Foods asked the poster, "We want to research and verify it, so please send us the frying pan."

Furthermore, they launched a campaign to publicly solicit frying pans where similar phenomena had occurred. They verified over 3,500 frying pans sent by customers and also published a newspaper advertisement featuring images of the results scanned in 3D.

▼Also utilizing YouTube and other media to communicate initiatives from multiple angles

The PR theme of the "Frozen Gyoza Frying Pan Challenge" is based on the idea of "permanent improvement," which is rooted as a company motto within Ajinomoto Frozen Foods. For 50 years, they have been working daily on improving frozen gyoza, and they will continue to do so.

That honesty might be considered new today. However, even if you just put out the message of "permanent improvement," it is difficult to attract consumers with that alone. Through the "Frozen Gyoza Frying Pan Challenge," they were able to involve consumers and form a perception of the Ajinomoto frozen gyoza product brand and the Ajinomoto Frozen Foods corporate brand that is different from other frozen gyoza.

▼Honda Office, represented by Mr. Honda, provided support for the "Frozen Gyoza Frying Pan Challenge" project, from designing the communication strategy to directing its execution

Focusing on a familiar consumer tool like a frying pan was also important as a strategy to engage consumers. However, what was essentially conveyed was the 'developer spirit' of thoroughly pursuing frozen gyoza. This is authentic thought leadership that only Ajinomoto Frozen Foods could achieve.

--Are there any other examples where you think thought leadership is being practiced, whether consciously or not?

Honda This is just my personal opinion, but there are a few. The direct-to-consumer online shopping site Tabechoku presented a new way of thinking (thought) that supporting producers contributes to the SDGs and that eating can lead to supporting producers, which caused a perception change. I also think Unipos, which visualizes 'thank yous' within a company, and Persol, which leads the reskilling field, are practicing thought leadership in the field of human capital.

What we can learn here is that while they treat social issues like food loss and labor shortages as themes, they have narrowed down the points of their thought. For example, Tabechoku practices thought leadership from the angle of 'supporting producers.' 'Food loss' is a very important theme, but it is too broad. I think Tabechoku narrowed it down to 'supporting producers' as a focus within the issue of food loss.

How far to expand the message you are putting out, or how far not to expand it. When doing PR work, I call this scope setting for the theme. This is an important point when planning thoughts that align with your company's authenticity.

Thought leadership should be viewed as BtoBtoC

--How do you think thought leadership changes between BtoC and BtoB?

Honda I think the basic way of thinking is the same. The difference is that in the case of BtoB, the target of the thought being communicated is not an individual, but stakeholders such as companies and supply chains. However, I feel that in thought leadership and PR, we no longer need to think about the difference between BtoB and BtoC as much as we used to.

What I have been emphasizing recently is ' view both BtoB and BtoC as BtoBtoC.' It is the consumer who buys frozen gyoza, but BtoB elements like distribution and logistics are involved before the consumer gets their hands on the product. BtoC thought leadership becomes more powerful by being conscious of BtoB, and in the case of BtoB, by being conscious of the consumers beyond that.

--How should we think about KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in thought leadership?

Honda As long as a company is undertaking it, results are also required for thought leadership. The important thing is to clarify the purpose, such as improving corporate brand image, developing new markets, or cultivating new customer segments.

For example, in the case of improving corporate brand image, you would conduct regular corporate image surveys and set target values aimed at increasing points as KPIs. Sales are composed of various factors, so they are not suitable as KPIs for thought leadership. It is important to set appropriate indicators based on the purpose.

--How is thought leadership positioned globally from a PR perspective?

Honda A representative example of thought leadership in the United States can be seen in elections. They appeal to voters by saying, 'Please empathize with my ideas,' and move them. US PR firms that support politicians have shifted that know-how to the dissemination of messages from management. In the US, thought leadership-style proposals are being actively made even in the public relations field. It is not uncommon for management, such as the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), to stand at the forefront and communicate their ideas to society and stakeholders. It can be said that the personification of companies is progressing in the US.

Aren't there still many companies in Japan whose 'faces' are not visible? In both PR and thought leadership, leaders such as presidents and business managers must stand at the forefront and communicate their own ideas themselves, not just through text, but when people communicate with passion, 'empathy' is born. Facing various social issues, people are watching closely to see what companies are thinking and how they are working to solve problems and create innovation.

How do we make society and consumers fans of the company? I believe that authentic thought leadership that leads to increased corporate value will become increasingly important in the future.

<After the interview>

Authenticity. I reaffirmed that this way of thinking is one of the most important elements indispensable for creating thoughts, communicating them, and gathering like-minded people. Why are we putting out this thought? If there is no persuasiveness to it and it just becomes something that forces the company's own ideas on others, 'empathy' will not be born. While introducing concrete examples, I was able to see from Mr. Honda's talk that the idea of thought leadership is being widely adopted in the world of public relations and PR. His point about 'viewing both BtoB and BtoC as BtoBtoC' is also a point that many BtoB companies are struggling with. And I was deeply impressed that Mr. Honda also emphasized the importance of people communicating with passion.

Planning, Production, and Editing: IISE Thought Leadership Hub (Kumi Fujisawa, Shotaro Suzuki, Kiminori Shioya, Azumi Ishigaki)

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