Why I Shuttered my Marketing Agency for Tourism

I had started a new business venture about two years ago. It was a section of my company that was dedicated to tourism and travel and it was a very profitable business actually. Because of my background in the mass media and operating on the receiving end of marketing and advertising companies, I saw how clients were, well, getting ripped off. I knew I do do a hundred times better for clients. I set targets and goals and I saved the clients big money too!


I knew that I could make decent money by arranging huge promotions between client companies for 1/50th the cost of what a major Japanese marketing company like Dentsu or Hakuhodo or even the smaller agencies could do. 


I did arrange many of these campaigns for little cost to my clients. Many were nationwide internet and TV campaigns. Some were huge multi-media tie up with networks, major magazines and non-traditional media. My concept was to find clients that had needs that could be met with a sort of mutual promotional campaign. Everything had to make sense and be organic. Then I spread the costs evenly around to each client. Instead of charging them separately.


So, instead of spending, say $400,000 ~$500,000 (USD) on a campaign (if a sponsor bought it through, say, Dentsu) I could arrange it for $12,000 total or so. I did it too, many times.


Here's a good example:


Domino Pizza Japan wants to get more people ordering online in order to more efficient promote its product and cut down on expenses (telephone ordering is not cost effect nor efficient).


A airlines or foreign tourist board wants Japanese to go to visit their country.


A wine company wants to get the word out on their services.


What should I do? I thought about it and got them together and created a cost effective, mutually beneficial campaign that cost each of these parties next to nothing. 


In this example, I arranged for a vacation to a foreign country for anyone who would join and become a member of the Domino pizza online ordering system. The top winner would get a vacation for two, business class, to a foreign country and hotel. The airline & hotel prize supporting companies would get the massive promotion that goes along with the campaign. The wine company provided all the second place awards: 100 people win a set of quality red & white wine.


The campaign runs for two months!


Domino Pizza prints (get this):
7.8 million newspaper inserts
2 million menus
1.6 million direct email magazine to subscribers
250,000 pizza box top ads
750,000 regular direct mail


Airlines provides 2 business class tickets and 5-star hotel for 4 nights.


Wine company (iwine.jp) provides 200 bottles of quality Coppola wine. 


Cost to Domino if using Dentsu? Approximately $200,000
Cost to airlines if using Dentsu? (considering the reach of ad materials): Approximately $400,000 
Cost to wine company if using Dentsu? Approximately $100,000


My company total charge: $25,000 that's inclusive to all three clients!


You can see the results of this campaign here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2011/09/two-people-win-vacation-business-class.html


(By the way, the campaign ends on 10/31 so you still have time to join the campaign and win the trip to New York!)


Why did I make these types of campaigns? A two reasons: First, I liked the clients. Second, I think Japanese advertising agency business is way too over priced. If I can help to lower advertising costs, then prices might go down and that makes life better for everyone, no?


But I am thinking about closing this business. 

All vacations come complete with helmet and baton!

Why would anyone close a profitable business, you ask? Well, since it was tied to tourism and travel every time I organize a campaign, something bad would happen:


Here's a list of those bad things:


1) Airlines goes bankrupt
2) Riots in destination cities
3) Huge earthquakes, tsunami and nuke disasters
4) Riots in destination cities


and, finally, 


5) Riots in destination cities, bankruptcies, etc., etc., etc., 


You might think I am just unlucky or have bad timing... But I don't. I am very lucky and have great timing that's why I am out of the tourism and travel advertising business...


Things tied up with tourism don't seem like good ideas in this day and age. The world economy is collapsing and things are getting nasty. As Gerald Celente says, "When people lose everything, they lose it." People are losing it all over the world. Read this from my friend, Mish Shedlock: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street-protests-go-global.html


... I was about to line up an Italian campaign.... But, after watching that video on Mish's page... I think not!

My Life is Like a "B" Horror Movie

I have been thinking about writing another book. Well, actually, I've been thinking that since 2005, since the first, and only, book I ever wrote came out.


It was a terrible book. I hope I can write a better one next time... Then again, on second thought, a third grader could probably write a better book than my first one. It was crappy.


I've been inspired to write a new book by three things. One was my new favorite blogger, who wrote a post entitled; Why and How I Self-Published a Book. (If that link doesn't work, try this one: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/05/why-and-how-i-self-published-a-book/)


In that post he explains why and how he wrote the book. I like the ideas. Actually, I hate publishers and I hated dealing with those people who published my first book and never want to do that again. I also want to publish the book and give it away for totally and completely free.

I want to tell stories. I think I am good at it. And, at this time in my life, I am not so interested in doing it for money. Maybe someday, but not now. 


My biggest problem was how I was going to tie up all these bizarre stories I have in my mind (all true stories, too!) and all this crazy sh*t I've done (and lived to tell the story about) into one coherent book.... 


Now, I realized how to do it... Hence the title of this post.


Another thing that has inspired me is that, since coming back from that hellish trip to the USA, I think my writing has, for some inexplicable reason, improved by leaps and bounds... Not that you could tell by my readership which sits where it always has.


The third thing that inspired me was I met a lady today who was an acupuncturist trained in Austin Texas. She didn't look like she was from Texas. She was either Korean or Japanese and studied in Austin. That seems strange to me. Doesn't that seem strange to you? I mean, here was this pretty Asian woman who learned acupuncture in Austin Texas? How does that work? Doesn't there seem like there is something strange about that?


Anyhow, when she told me she studied in Austin I told that I had been there before and that I thought people in Austin Texas were crazy... (As if anyone from Southern California has any right to call anyone else crazy! Southern California has the craziest people in the world, I think... Excepting for, maybe, New Yorkers...)


She laughed and agreed with me. Maybe she thought it were true or maybe I still have that killer charm with the ladies. Probably the former since I was at acupuncture and an 85-year-old man probably could turn their neck farther and faster than I could. I couldn't turn my neck at all.

JELLO BIAFRA & MOJO NIXON - 

ARE YOU DRINKIN' WITH ME WITH ME JESUS?

I started telling her and the other doctors about the one time I went to Austin Texas in 2005... Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protestor mother whose son, Casey, had been killed in the war, was having a protest near the Bush ranch in Austin. There were people from around the world gathering there to see her and to support her protest against the Iraq war. Since I was a regular columnist for the well known Libertarian site Lew Rockwell.com, she asked me to come and show support from Japan. I accepted the invitation. Hence...


I might call this episode: Austin, Texas, USA, 2005: the Land of the Free


I told the acupuncturists about how I flew to the USA to join this protest. 


I had heard that the US authorities were frowning upon people going to Austin so, in order to hide my intentions, I flew into Atlanta Georgia and transferred there to a flight to Austin. In my twisted mind, I figured that if I flew into Atlanta first, and not Austin, the immigration and customs authorities wouldn't think twice about my intentions. I thought they'd definitely give me trouble if I flew in direct from Japan.


To make sure I had a good cover story, I created a fake google email account and sent myself an email claiming that it was from my cousin and that 110-year-old "Aunt Emma" was dying and that the entire family was waiting for me to hurry up and visit before it was too late. I printed that email out and it was good that I did. It seemed the immigration and customs agent was suspicious of me and when I showed him the letter and acted like I was about to cry, he let me go by immediately. 


I grabbed my Oscar award for best acting, er, I mean my connecting flight boarding pass and off to Austin I went. 


I finally arrived at Austin International airport after about 24 hours of traveling from Japan. I was exhausted. My great friend, Steve (not his real name) picked me up in his dirty pickup truck. He needed gas money, I gave it to him and we headed off to his place as that was where I was staying.


Like I said, I was exhausted and my brain fried. The last thing I needed was loud, fast hard-core fast thrash punk rock music blasting in my ear. Steve delivered it to me at pretty much full-volume all the way to his apartment.


Once arriving at the apartment, I told Steve that all I wanted was to have a shower, have a drink and go to sleep. The shower was no problem. The drink and sleep were another story.


Since it was a Sunday, Steve told me that Austin was a "dry" city and that alcohol sales were prohibited on Sundays. Christian nation and all. I couldn't believe it. Didn't Steve at least have a beer in the fridge? Nope. He didn't drink.


Snorting cocaine and smoking marijuana were another story, though. Steve began lighting up joints immediately as we entered his abode. 


"Mike, you can't buy any beer on Sunday's, it's against the law. So why don't you smoke one of these?" (As if smoking marijuana wasn't against the law!?)


"No. Really, Steve. I don't do that anymore. Seriously. I can't just go and buy a beer?"


"Nope. Not on a Sunday."


"But what about that convenience store around the corner? I can just go there and buy one, can't I?"


"Nope."


Not being the kind of guy who takes "no" for an answer, I changed clothes and headed out the door. I figured that money talks and that I could bribe my way into a beer or two. I walked into the convenience store and said to the clerk,


"Look. Here is my passport. See? I don't live in the USA. All I want to do is to buy a beer and go to sleep. I just came in from Japan and I'm exhausted." The clerk said,


"Wish I could help you but alcohol sales are illegal on Sundays."


"Yeah, I know that. How about if I give you $20 to sell me just one beer?" The clerk shook their head, "No!" I kept upping the bribe,


"$50, $80, $100!" No deal. The clerk said,


"I'd love to sell you a beer but the cases are all locked." I went to look, sure enough, they were all chained and padlocked closed. The chains were huge and the padlocks looked like something you'd see at Fort Knox.


I couldn't believe it. This was the USA. Texas of all places. Supposedly the hot seat of freedom and the land of the free. In Japan (a nation that was supposedly not nearly as free as the USA), I could buy a can of beer anytime I wanted to at anytime of the day or night (24/7) and walk down any public street drinking it anywhere I wanted. Not being able to buy a can of beer in the Land of the Free? In Texas of all places? "Alcohol sales illegal on a Sunday"!? What rubbish. I'd never heard of such a thing. Must be impossible. These people were joking.


I went back to my friend's apartment. By then another of his friend's had already shown up to meet me. My friend, Steve, laughed as he lit up another joint and said, "See? Told you that you couldn't buy any beer! Have a hit of one of these. This is good stuff!"


Still, I didn't want to get high on dope, I just wanted a drink to calm down and go to sleep. I asked Steve to call his friends and ask if they have anything to drink. 


"My friends don't drink alcohol, Mike. This is pretty much a dry county and my friends just smoke. Sure you don't want none of this?" He handed the joint to me.


"No. Really. Seriously. I don't do that anymore. It just makes me paranoid as hell and I'm already paranoid enough as it is."


Steve called around to his friends. Sure enough, no one had any drinks at home. One friend, though, suggested that he knew a "Speakeasy" where I might get a drink.


Speakeasy's were popular in the 1930's during Prohibition when the idiots in control of the government made drinking alcohol illegal across the United States. Underground bars, posing as tea and coffee houses, began popping up everywhere where people could get in, knowing a secret password, and have a drink. Here it was 2005 America and they still had them in Texas operating on Sundays. Steve's friend tried to get me into one. 


After several tries, he gave up. No dice. The bosses of the Speakeasy's were very strict about who they served alcohol to. I understood. My friend told me that if they were caught serving alcohol on a Sunday, they would go to prison. They didn't served booze to anyone they didn't know for years personally. You never know when an FBI sting will be setup to bust one of these operations (a FBI sting that will have cost millions of dollars over a few years just to bust some old guy serving whiskey to ten people....Good deal for the taxpayers, eh?)


What a wonderful country! I'm sure the Taliban would approve.


Unbelievable. Sunday in Austin Texas and there was no way one could buy even one can of beer. Like I said, compare that with unfree Tokyo Japan where one could buy a beer anytime of the day, 24 hours a day, and drink it anywhere they wanted too, even on a public street! So much for the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.


Finally, one more friend of Steve's came over to meet me. He was a fan of my scribblings too. He felt sorry for my not being able to get a drink. 

A typical Sunday's entertainment in 

"God's Country"

"God's country!" He cynically proclaimed as he poured out lines of cocaine onto the glass table top.


Steve kept smoking marijuana, and this new friend kept chopping up cocaine. They both kept offering me some and I kept declining.


"All I wanted was one little drink, yet I couldn't have it." I said as I lay down on the sofa. The friend snorted the cocaine and rubbed his nose. Through his gasps he looked at me and said, 


"Mike! This is a dry county in a Christian country in the Land of the Free. Why is it you have a problem with that? Why do you hate the baby Jesus!?" He laughed sarcastically at the absurdity of it all and handed the straw towards me. I refused. After a 24 hour flight, snorting cocaine was the last thing I needed.


On the left of me, here's a guy breaking the law by smoking marijuana. On the right of me, a guy breaking the law doing cocaine. Me, in the middle, I cannot even buy a glass of wine or a beer just because it is a Sunday? What is this? Enforced Christianity? Didn't Jesus drink wine?


In the country that is supposed to be the Land of the Free, I can't even buy a can of beer on a Sunday? And this is the nation that is supposed to bring freedom and build democracy to people's in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East?


Lord, help us. And please give me a drink.

Two People Win a Vacation Business Class to New York & 5-Star Hotel w/ Domino Pizza

Domino Pizza Japan is having another fantastically fun and exciting campaign! One couple is eligibile to win Business Class round-trip fare courtesy of Delta airlines and a 4 nights stay at a 5-star hotel in Manhattan courtesy of Delta Tours and all you have to do is signup! There is no purchase necessary!


日本語はこちら：http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html

FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE

That's not all! 100 people will also win a Francis Ford Coppola red and white wine set courtesy of Japan's online wine superstore, iwine.jp! www.iwine.jp is Japan's online wine superstore and you can order in Japanese or English and have your wine delivered right to your door! Go to: http://www.iwine.jp/

FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE

Domino Pizza is having their Brooklyn Pizza campaign and it's another winner! The campaign runs from August 30 until October 30 and all you have to do is go to the Domino Pizza Japan webpage and signup. No purchase nessessary! The URL is: http://www.dominos.jp/

FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE

So get in on the action! What do you have to lose? Signup now.... 


Of course, I, Mike Rogers, give my stamp of approval to this great campaign because I helped arrange it! Join now and win the vacation dream of a lifetime! 


For more information, click here. If that link doesn't work: http://www.dominos.jp/topics/110829_c.html

FOR LARGER VIEW CLICK ON IMAGE

(Hint: Domino Pizza also has an English ordering site that has specials that are an even better deal than their regular Japanese page like their 2 for 1 special! Buy one pizza and get one free! Check the Domino Pizza English webpage here: http://www.dominos.jp/eng/.


Also check the iwine.jp page for great everyday specials on the best in wine selections at www.iwine.jp!

In Japan? Give the Gift that Shows You Have Taste and Style: 7-11 wine!

In Japan, as with most civilized countries, I think it is customary when visiting someone's house or accepting and invite for dinner, that you bring along a gift that shows you care. A gift that displays that special savoir fare of the distinctive class of gentleman (or gentlewoman) that you are. That is why, especially in Japan, when visiting or intruding on friends, one must never arrive without a present in hand.

Chateau de Marshall - The Marshall Family Summer Escape Palace

This weekend my family and I were invited to one of my ultra-rich friend's homes out on the beach overlooking a beautiful ocean view. The house is fabulous and the view breath-taking.


We awoke at 3:45 in the morning to begin the 3 + hour drive down to Shimoda from Tokyo to visit my friend's holiday retreat palace.


Shimoda is a famous ocean and beach resort town and is well known for being the city that Commodore Perry and the famous Black Ships visited in 1853 when forcing Japan's doors open to the world.  It is a special place rich in tradition and history.


Since we woke up so early to drive down to Shimoda, I was pretty drowsy and not thinking straight as I had worked until 11:30 the night before and only gotten in about 3 hours of sleep. I would soon come to regret that.


Nevertheless, without a care in the world, we all hopped in the car and began the long trek to our last dream vacation of the summer of 2011.

Along the way, we stopped at many convenience stores to visit the rest rooms and relieve ourselves... At one of the final stops, a 7-11 just on the outskirts of Shimoda, I realized that I had made a gross fox pass (or is it foie gras?)... I had committed a gross error equal to the level of participating an orgy of evil: I had forgotten to buy a classy present to bring to our hosts.


Quickly I scanned the 7-11 shelves for the best wine they had! Wow! Oh, thank heaven for 7-11 (いい気分〜ん）I was in luck. They had the good quality stuff!

Note the 7-11 label. The sign of distinction!

It was tough to choose from the fine selection of fine wines they had available. The Yosemite Road looked quite appealing and, at only ¥598 yen a bottle (about $7.81 USD) for quality Cabernet Sauvignon, who could go wrong?

But my friends are worth a bit more than that to me! So I splurged and bought the 7-11 Bourdeaux (Bor-dorks for you American readers) at ¥798 a bottle (about $10.28 USD). It is a fine wine and tasteful vintage... And, not only that, the wine comes in an easy to open screw top bottle. No messy corks to deal with. Isn't that "special" convenient? 

After all, my friends are worth that much to me! 

Thank God for 7-11 for saving my a*s for forgetting to buy a present for my friends. I mean, after all, if I am going to visit my millionaire friend's summer vacation home and be a guest, I'd better bring a killer bottle of wine with me! 

Upon paying for the wine, my wife appeared from the restroom and asked me what I was doing. I showed her the wine. 

She gasped, "You're not going to give that cheap wine to your friends are you?"

I hid the bottle behind my back... "Er, of course not, honey... I , er, was thinking that we needed to buy a present... "

"I already took care of that!" She replied. 

Like the good Japanese wife she is, yesterday she went to the ritzy department store and bought a bunch of very expensive sweets for our hosts.

When she gave the cookies to the hosts, they seemed really happy to receive them.

Of course they did. These people are refined and have good taste. 

I wouldn't be seen in public with them drinking that dredge that 7-11 calls wine..... Yuck! (I'll just drink it by myself at home - after all it's probably a heck of a lot better than the ¥218 a bottle one cup Takara Shochu rot-gut that I usually drink !)

Ah! The good life... Every once in a while, it's nice to see how folks live on "the other side".

Thanks to Roger and Miki Marshall     

Red Wine Helps Protect Against Radiation.

Tim Williams, president of iwine.jp "Japan's only online wine super-store" shares some great information about how red wine can help protect against radiation.

JERRY LEE LEWIS - DRINKIN' WINE SPO DEE O DEE

Tim, a trained molecular scientist, wine expert and all around good dude says:

"Mike!  Red wine helps protect against radiation. Google it to find stuff like this...."



I did and found thousands of articles like this one from The Telegraph UK. It has a stupendous headline. It reads:

Impending nuclear attack? Then scientists may soon recommend that it is best you start drinking heavily and not just because you may be facing oblivion.

According to the latest research, red wine - along with its many other claimed benefits - may also protect you from radiation exposure.

A team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered that resveratrol, the natural anti-oxidant found in red wine, can protect cells from the damage caused by radiation.

In experiments on mice the scientists found that when combined with the chemical acetyl and administered before radiation exposure it protected the cells 

Protects from radiation? Now I finally do have an excuse to say to my wife when she asks me why I love drinking so much wine... And not only does red wine help protect me from that, it also helps women keep their skin looking younger with its anti-oxidation qualities. 

The article also goes on to state that, in spite of what the snake-oil salesmen tell you that:

"Currently there are no drugs on the market that protect against or counteract radiation exposure."

Uh, nothing on the market that protects or counteracts against radiation exposure!? Yikes! 


So I guess we better drink up on the red wine! Hallelujah! I no longer need an excuse to open a bottle!


By the way, let me make a shameless plug here for iwine.jp. I can honestly say that my wife and I always order our wines online from iwine.jp because they are dependable, quick and they deliver it right to our door (who wants to be carrying cases of wine around?) AND we get free delivery for orders over ¥10,000... Not only that, they have really excellent and delicious red wine for under ¥1,000!!!

I especially recommend the Chile wines from Emiliana. iwine.jp has a wide selection of them!

2008 Emiliana, Eco Balance, Pinot Noir

iwine.jp price: ¥930!