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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
COURTESY OBUN HAWAII GROUP
Sutekina Hula Style is one of the Ikaros Publications magazines with ads sold by Obun Hawaii Group.
Obun Hawaii practices
what it preachesObun Hawaii Group landed its newest Japanese advertising account by advertising its own product.
Ikaros Publications chose Obun as its Hawaii ad sales representative for Sutekina Hula Style and Rasin (pronounced "rah-shin") magazines aimed at the Japan visitor market.
Obun attracted Ikaros' attention with its 2003 hula event calendar -- that was advertised in a competing publication. It makes Obun President Don Ojiri chuckle shyly.
Ikaros publishes more than 100 aeronautical, military, wine and other books and magazines as well as Sutekina Hula Style, with a circulation of 80,000, and Rasin, which boasts a circulation of 100,000. Both are quarterly publications sold in bookstores in Japan. Sutekina Hula Style is for hula and Hawaiian culture enthusiasts while Rasin is intended for the 50-and-over set interested in world travel.
Obun will coordinate sales through agencies or directly with advertisers such as retailers, restaurants, shopping centers and hula supply companies, "whoever would benefit from this kind of media," Ojiri said.
The company projects $100,000 in ad sales for the first year, which Ojiri said is conservative. "We'll start off small and hopefully we can grow this."
The ads will be transmitted electronically to Japan for publication in the magazines, which will be on newsstands in December. The publications may influence travel planning for the spring, Ojiri said.
The Japanese visitor market has dropped "probably 20 percent" since it peaked in 1998 and 1999 with more than 2 million arrivals, Ojiri said.
If the number were only 1.2 million, Ojiri said, "It's still a nice market."
"It was a very big market in the past and we want to still maintain the focus on the Japanese market because they're the ones that spend a lot of money."
About one-third of Obun's 40 employees speak Japanese and they specialize in serving Japan-related clients.
Obun has won Hawaii Advertising Federation Pele Awards for its work, including a Best of Show award for a cover of Aloha Street, a visitor magazine now published by Wincubic.com Inc., a former sister company. The cover shot pictured a red onaga snapper dressed in a hula skirt, Ojiri said.
The 33-year-old Obun offers commercial printing and publishing, Japanese translation, graphic and interactive design, advertising media sales and mailing services.
It has worked with Stryker Weiner & Yokota Public Relations Inc. for two years on the annual Honolulu Festival, which draws thousands of visitors from Japan.
"They handle the production of collateral material and Japanese translation," said President Neal Yokota.
"Japanese translation is one of the primary reasons we have worked with them on that project and others," he said. "Japanese translation isn't just literal word-for-word conversion of English to Japanese, it's understanding the nuances of language and culture."
It has been handling Japanese production and media sales since 1980 and serves more than 14 publications, including visitor guidebooks for the Japanese market. The company also publishes programs for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival as well as membership directories for the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.
That connection got it deeply involved in efforts to raise $9 million to save the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Island Holdings Inc. Vice Chairman Colbert Matsumoto, also a Star-Bulletin investor, led the fund-raising effort and is the new president of the center's board.
"When we launched this effort we had no resources, no budget," Matsumoto said. "Obun came forward and they were very generous in terms of their willingness to work with us. We couldn't assure them that we were going to be able to pay them anything. They donated a lot of services.
The services included printing and mailing, which were crucial for the center's direct mail appeal, Matsumoto said.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
