Yamanashi´s Business Cards…with Manga!?

Business Cards are one of the most important tools people have to do a proper presentation for their business or making contacts with others…But what happens when a company in Yamanashi prefecture wants to print manga in their business cards?

A team promoting brands from Yamanashi Prefecture has decided to advertise local specialties by printing manga or photos depicting those products on the back of its prefectural government employees’ business cards from April.

At the same time, the team also has decided to add the prefecture’s public relations messages about upcoming events and other news at the end of each e-mail message sent by local government employees from the beginning of the same month.

It reached a decision on this project on Feb. 13.

The business cards of prefectural government employees will come in four designs. Two of them will bear scenes from popular culinary manga Oishinbo, authored by Tetsu Kariya, 67. One scene celebrates a perfect match of Koshu (the old name of Yamanashi) wine and Japanese-style meals. The other is called “Men Okoku Yamanashi” (Noodle Paradise Yamanashi) and uses scenes from the manga that introduce local noodles, such as “hoto,” Fuji-Yoshida’s udon and “mimi” of Kajikazawacho.

The project is unusual for Japan, according to the Yamanashi Governor’s Policy Office. Gov. Masaaki Yokouchi already has been using his Oishinbo cards since autumn as the prefecture’s “top salesman.”

The third design focuses on “Yamanashi for Fruits,” since the prefecture leads the nation in the commercial production of peaches, plums and grapes.

The fourth design, “Jewelry of Yamanashi,” features photos of jewelry made in Yamanashi, which accounts for about one-third of the jewelry produced in this country.

Yokouchi, who attended Feb. 13 meeting, proposed that the cards carry punchier phrases. He suggested, for example, the jewelry design should say: “Buy jewelry in Yamanashi–it’s cheaper than in [Tokyo's] Ginza.”

Each prefectural employee can choose which design he or she will use for their business cards. The government plans to print 200,000 cards by April, when a personnel reshuffle will be carried out at the prefectural government. It hopes about 2,000 employees, or half of those on the payroll, will use the new cards.

The special cards cost the government 20.3 yen apiece, compared with 18.9 yen for ordinary cards.

“We hope the new cards can help us publicize our products effectively at just a little extra cost,” the governor said.

In April, virtually all e-mail messages sent by prefectural government employees will carry the prefecture’s PR messages, such as about an exhibition at the Yamanashi Prefectural Art Museum, outdoor events held near or at Mt. Fuji or even the cherry blossom forecast to let people know when and where they can view cherry blossom in full bloom in the prefecture.

Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun

It seems this could be a good idea because besides publicizing products in a more effective way, customers will have something to read during coffee breaks!

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