From the Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2001 issue

News

Foreign Pitch

Aggressive Marketing Campaign Brings Japanese to Seattle

by Pat Kearney

A group of Japanese twentysomething tourists sits on the corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street, smoking cigarettes and drinking Starbucks coffee. They're taking a break from the long walk down to Safeco Field, where the Mariners and the team's most popular player, Japanese-born Ichiro, are playing that evening. "We love Mariners," says Kenji Kawamata, 25, wearing a blue jumpsuit and a baseball hat with the words "water warrior" written in kanji. "We hear about Seattle all the time in Japan."

Indeed, a swirl of newspaper ads, package deals, and colorful promotions pitching Seattle are appearing in Japan at a near fever pitch these days. The campaign appears to be working. In Seattle, Japanese tourism is way up. Hotels are reporting record numbers of Japanese guests; tour companies are booming; and baseball games are selling out. But it's not just Ichiro and the Mariners who are making Seattle so popular. A reinvigorated, collective marketing campaign by the Port of Seattle, the Washington State Tourism office, and the Seattle--King County Convention and Visitors Bureau is trying to make Seattle the buzz of Japan. Promoting Seattle and Washington state is nothing new to each of the groups, but in Japan, with Ichiro as the catalyst, the efforts have taken on new vigor and importance.

The three-group partnership recently hired a public relations firm called Kennedy International to aid the cause. The firm set up shop in Tokyo early this year, renamed itself the Washington State Tourism office, and promotes, besides all things Mariners, a "Seattle lifestyle." Through newspaper ads, Internet sites, television interviews, and glossy brochures, the campaign sells a hip lifestyle coexisting with the natural environment. The P.R. firm came up with a tailored logo to sum it all up: "Seattle, Washington: Living Cool and Loving Nature." We really wanted to showcase Seattle's hipness," says Michael Kurtz, director of the Seattle--King County Convention and Visitors Bureau, about the campaign. "You know, not just baseball, but Capitol Hill, some galleries, and downtown." In Japanese brochures and websites, advertisements for Seattle restaurants, clothing stores, and travel agencies meld with Japanese pop culture. For example, IACE, a local travel company on Third Avenue, uses anime-style cartoons, clip art, and exaggerated comic-book figures to promote its travel service. Northwest Airlines uses adolescent cartoon faces and airplanes to pitch Seattle vacations and flight deals.

"It's been amazing," says Kurtz, from his cell phone at the Sea-Tac Airport. "It used to be that the Japanese tour groups would hardly talk to us. Now, they all want to talk." In fact, Kurtz was at the airport waiting to greet a group of Japanese vacation operators to take them on an extended tour of the city. The tours, often sponsored by airline companies like United and Northwest, are part of the bigger effort to familiarize the Japanese with Seattle. "It's like being in school for five days," jokes Kurtz about the tours. The tour, which involves day trips to Boeing, evening cruises on Lake Union, and dinners downtown, gives vacation operators a sense of the city so they can market it better back in Japan. "They like to bring home a clear product of Seattle," says Kurtz.

Japan and the rest of Asia are extremely important to Seattle and Washington state. Besides the airport, Seattle has a major shipping port for importing and exporting Asian goods. Everything from apples to computer software and clothing is traded. In fact, according to Karin Zaugg, communications director for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, one in three jobs in Washington state is dependent on international trade. Recent census figures show Washington state's Asian population increased 65% during the 1990s. Traditionally, Seattle was considered just a gateway by Japanese tourists. A place to stop for a night, before heading to Los Angeles or New York. The partnership's marketing efforts appear to be changing the trend.

According to Linda Botts, sales director for the Pacific Plaza Hotel, business is booming. "It's been absolutely incredible. Our business is up 400 percent since last year!" Botts says gleefully. "Often, Japanese guests make up 60 to 80 percent of our occupancy. But now they're staying for 10 days, as opposed to just one night." In fact, business has been so good that the Plaza recently started hiring Japanese-fluent interns to take reservations and work the front desk. Other downtown hotels have experienced similar jumps in occupancy. Botts credits the Mariners and the Ichiro craze for the Plaza's recent success, but also the marketing efforts by herself and the partnership. "We've been really focusing on the Japanese market the last few years," she says. "Our hotel alone has invested at least $100,000 in promotions over there." (This year the partnership is investing $90,000.)

Other businesses have also responded to the apparent influx. The Attoria Gift Shop, on Fourth Avenue and Seneca Street, has started stocking Japanese magazines and Mariners clothing. Along First Avenue, makeshift stands are popping up that sell not only Ichiro paraphernalia, but Japanese brochures, maps, candy, tacky rising-sun flags, and magazines. (It's interesting that Ichiro and Japanese culture are such hot commodities, when just a few years ago fans and critics screamed at the idea of the Mariners being bought by a Japanese businessman.) The Sports Den on First Avenue and Jackson Street, a sports clothing store, is also profiting from the Ichiro craze and increased tourism. "This is the first time in five years that we've been in the black," says shop owner Mike Cummings proudly. In fact, Cummings and co-worker Kevin McCluskey have been on Japanese TV five times. The official visitor numbers and the impact on the Washington state economy are still being determined, but according to last year's Port of Seattle figures, tourists from Japan were the most frequent visitors to Washington state.

pat@thestranger.com