TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Twenty-year-old Aloha Street magazine, a free publication for Japanese visitors, is back on top of the world. Media mix a win
for Wincubic.comAfter being ranked No. 7 last year, the magazine this year tops the heap of Japanese language visitor publications in the most recent OmniTrak survey.
Produced by Wincubic.com Inc., Aloha Street and its cyber-cousin www.alohastreet.com appear to have increased each other's success through what Wincubic officials call a "media mix" strategy.
President Osamu Hayakawa said since the Web site launched in October 1999, the magazine's penetration doubled, and "our pickup rate has grown 25 percent with each issue." Also, he said, three months ago there were fewer than 1,000 subscribers to the magazine, who pay &YEN2,000 (about $16) to cover postage costs. Now he said, more than 2,000 people pay to receive the otherwise free publication. The glossy, quarterly magazine has an annual circulation of 480,000 and is distributed at 100 locations on Oahu and Japan.
OmniTrak President Pat Loui explained that "penetration is the percentage of Japanese visitors who obtained the publication," while "readership is the percentage who not only obtained the publication but actually read it."
The magazine and its Web site have entered into a new affiliation with the Web site Excite-Japan called "Happy Hawaii 2001." The two similarly named media ventures have engaged in similar programs with Yahoo! in the past two years.
The two-month "Happy Hawaii 2001" promotion from the Excite-Japan Web portal provides links to aloha street.com and "advertorials" about Hawaii retailers, restaurants and attractions.
"According to a survey, 36 percent of the Japanese visitors are using the Internet to get information about their Hawaii travel," Hayakawa said. He said the Web site primarily attracts "young women in Japan, like 20- to 30-some-years-old, which is the prime target of the Hawaii industry for Japanese visitors."
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