Standard Award

On June 17 the Visual Grand Prix 2005 SUMMER awards were announced in AV Review, a monthly magazine published by our company, and on our Phileweb audiovisual and home theater portal site (www.phileweb.com). At the same time, retail store websites and store POPs lavishly displayed the VGP mark to enliven their sales campaigns timed to coincide with the payment of summer bonuses to company employees.

Among these campaigns, the efforts of Yodobashi Camera to display the VGP mark have been overwhelming. Yodobashi has incorporated the VGP fully as a tool in the sale of audiovisual equipment, including the VGP in its employee training and clearly explaining the VGP to customers.

Have you seen Yodobashi? website (www.yodobashi.com)? The top page alone receives five million page views a day, which translates into 150 million page views a month. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the number one distribution site in Japan. The Visual Grand Prix collaborates with this site and is a permanent feature in the AV column. According to Yodobashi, over the past decade the hit products in its stores matched the models that received the VGP, which is why Yodobashi thought of collaboration with our company. Our company operates the Phileweb portal site, which boasts 60 million hits a month and carries announcements of the VGP and the Audio Equipment Award, so we welcomed the idea.

As the VGP was in its third year and had become more elaborate, we decided to establish and announce the Visual Grand Prix SUMMER selection.

Essentially, websites strive to develop as the number one in attracting viewers in their field, and then websites that are number one in their respective genres collaborate with other number one websites, and they thereby gather strength together.

Fortunately, as shown by various surveys, our company? Phileweb is the overwhelming number one in the audiovisual and home theater fields. The contents of Phileweb embrace the audio magazines Audio Accessory and Analog, the monthly AV magazine AV REVIEW, Japan? only regular home theater magazine Hometheaterphile, and the industry? total information magazine Senka 21. Using the Phileweb as their central pivot, these magazines exist like satellites and are bolstering their overall strength by establishing a value chain and increasing the multiplier effect.

It was natural, therefore, that the number one site in our business, Phileweb, and the number one site in distribution, Yodobashi dot com, should come together in collaboration. The tie-up with the site of AVAC, a specialty store in the audiovisual and home theater field, was also a natural outcome.

The Phileweb site, which serves as the key station for the Visual Grand Prix, also provides links between the VGP products and their distributors. This function can be easily manipulated just as if your own company were operating it, so I hope you make plenty of use of it.

The Visual Grand Prix will be further strengthened as the standard award for the prosperity of our industry. In particular, toward the year-end sales campaign, we are planning the VGP 2006 as a major event combining the Internet, special magazines, and general magazines. Something to look forward to!