Our thoughts on our 100th anniversary.
Towards a website that strongly represents the company brand
~Interview with Hochiki Corporation~

Hello. This is the Monosus BtoB team. We are always working on proposing the creation and operation of websites for BtoB companies. As part of our activities, we conduct interviews with people in charge of the renewal of companies that we have worked on to look back on the projects.

Our partner this time was Hochiki Corporation, which completed the renewal of three websites: its corporate website and recruitment website in January this year, and its 100th anniversary website in April. The company developed the first fire alarm in Japan, and is now a comprehensive disaster prevention manufacturer that operates a wide range of businesses, including disaster prevention, crime prevention, and information and communications.

The producer for this project, Tatsuta, and sales representative, Sakamoto, spoke with Yoshioka and Kido of Hochiki Corporation about the background to the renewal, behind-the-scenes stories from the production, and the changes that have occurred since the film's release.

Further enhancing brand power on the 100th anniversary

Sakamoto: First of all, could you tell us how you came to renew your website?

Mr. Yoshioka: Hochiki celebrated its 100th anniversary in April 2018.
In preparation for our 100th anniversary, we launched the 100th Anniversary Project Committee about two and a half years ago. We spent about six months discussing what would be the perfect 100th anniversary for Hochiki.

These were the three pillars: "Improvement of brand power," "Increasing employee motivation," and "Strengthening CSR and social contributions." Among these, it was decided that in order to achieve "improvement of brand power," a website renewal would also be necessary.

The previous corporate website had many parts that were added gradually, and was edited from the perspective of each department. As a result, the site itself was very difficult to navigate, and the bounce rate was very high, which was an issue.

Sakamoto: I see.

From there, we decided to reach out to eight production companies. At that time, our Corporate Planning Department asked us to reach out to Monosus as well.

Originally, the Corporate Planning Department was in charge of the IR-related pages on the site. Previously, Monosus had proposed competitive research and renewal to the Corporate Planning Department staff. The communication at that time was very smooth, and they responded quickly to questions, so there was an opinion that Monosus could be trusted and relied on.

Hochiki Corporation Mr. Yoshioka

Proposals based on an understanding of the purpose were the deciding factor

Sakamoto
You received proposals from eight companies, and the selection process must have been very difficult. What made you choose Monosus?

We evaluated eight companies based on several criteria, including Mr. Yoshioka's proposal, company structure, design, and price.
Among them, Monosus was highly evaluated for its recruitment page, new content proposals, and design. All members agreed that Monosus was the right choice.

The deciding factor was that they fully understood one of the goals of this renewal, which was to improve our brand power, and proposed a solution based on that understanding.

Sakamoto: Thank you. This was the first time we worked together, so did you have any concerns about starting a new business?

Mr. Kido: There are companies that say, "The proposal is great, but what are the results?" When dealing with a company for the first time, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to grasp their true capabilities.

Mr. Yoshioka: In that respect, there was no difference between the plan proposal we received in February and the actual product. I think that's because you had thought it through carefully from the time of the proposal, and it made sense to us.

Mr. Kido: Even in the manufacturing field, it is common for the finished product to look different from the sample when it comes to processed parts. I was impressed by how Monosus was able to grasp Hochiki's needs in terms of technology and design, and accurately output them.

Thank you Tatsuta .

Hochiki Corporation Mr. Kido

A website that strongly represents the Hochiki brand

Mr. Kido: With the establishment of the PR department in October last year, the company has been focusing on "improving brand power," and the newly redesigned website now strongly represents the Hochiki brand. The corporate color was also taken into consideration, and I feel that the website was also very good in terms of functionality, such as the ease of reaching the desired page and ease of searching.

When I heard about the establishment of the Tatsuta Public Relations Office, I remember being impressed that the company was serious about improving its brand power.

Mr. Yoshioka: It takes a lot of courage to completely redesign a corporate website.
It costs money, and it's hard to coordinate with each department. Previously, there was no central department in the company, and no department was set up to get the budget. Even if you work hard to create a website, you can't maintain it without a central department. In that respect, the timing was good this time, since we were able to set up a PR department in conjunction with the 100th anniversary project.

In parallel with the website renewal, we also produced a video of our company's 100-year history. As they were completed at the same time, I feel that the website has become more substantial as a result.

Sakamoto : What kind of reaction has there been both inside and outside the company since the renewal?

Mr. Kido, your company has received particularly good reviews from customers outside the company.
While using Hochiki colors, it has a calmness characteristic of our company and also has the appeal of the brand. I think it has a considerable advantage as a corporate website. It has been generally well received.

There are some remaining tasks, such as updating the product page information, and customers are asking about that. In other words, customers are paying attention to even the smallest details. I think that's proof that we've created something that's easy to use.

Another good thing was using YouTube.
After 10 years, residential fire alarms will start to warn of dead batteries. Looking at the number of views on YouTube, videos about residential fire alarms from exactly 10 years ago have far more views than any other video. From the number of views, we can now understand what kind of content our customers are watching.

Tatsuta Hochiki has many customers from overseas, so I think it will be easy for them to use the global infrastructure that is YouTube.

Mr. Kido: We have also revamped our recruitment website. I think it is now much easier for students to use.

The aim of the Tatsuta recruitment site is to improve the quality of applicants rather than to increase the number of applicants. We planned the site with the idea that "we want students who want to work for Hochiki to fall in love with Hochiki." I'm excited to see what kind of results we'll get from this recruitment activity.

Producer Tatsuta (left) Salesperson Sakamoto (right)

The feeling that we took the time to create something good together

Mr. Kido: As an aside, we are considering changing part of our company newsletter from PDF to blog format in conjunction with the website renewal. We want to provide necessary information in a timely manner and deliver it to employees as quickly as possible.

Until now, even if such ideas were present within the company, they had not been realized, but while working with Monosus, the options for the PR department have increased. From the perspective of "I want to make it a good company" and "I want more people to know about Hochiki", there are other ways to do it. My knowledge has expanded.

In addition, the Fire Service Act will be amended in June to include private lodgings.
The general public does not know what kind of equipment is necessary for private lodgings. Private lodgings require specific small-scale automatic fire alarm systems, but we would like to reflect such information on our website as we watch trends in the world, such as "You can use these types of equipment from Hochiki."

Sakamoto: The idea is to add content from a new perspective that is different from what we've had before.

Mr. Kido: That's right. If we don't have regular meetings, such things will just get postponed. We haven't really started yet, but we've put someone in charge of the website in the PR department, and we hope to be able to keep up with developments both inside and outside the company and communicate with them.

Tatsuta: This was a year-long project, so it was a long one compared to the projects we usually work on. I think it was good that we were able to take the time to communicate thoroughly. You mentioned that the project proposal and the final product were the same, but I think we were able to work out the content well.

For example, I interviewed Tokyo Tower, one of Hochiki's clients, and interviewed employees in charge of Tokyo Skytree Town® and the water cannon project. It's easy to conduct an interview, but coordinating it is a lot of work, so it often doesn't come to fruition. I was grateful that they went to the trouble to help me out.

We had many discussions when we were creating content for people who are learning about Hochiki for the first time, such as "What is Hochiki?". We were very happy with the project because we were able to take our time and create a great website together.

We are currently working together on the operation of the site, and would like to meet regularly to discuss "what can be improved?" We would like to continue working on improving the site even more, including analyzing access.

Hochiki Corporation Corporate Website https://www.hochiki.co.jp/

Hochiki Corporation Headquarters: 2-10-43 Kami-Osaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Business: Utilizing the know-how it has cultivated in the disaster prevention business, it is expanding into three business areas: disaster prevention, crime prevention, and information and communications. It has a consistent system from disaster prevention consulting to design, construction, and maintenance.