E Design Insurance has released unique products and services such as DX-type advanced automobile insurance "& e (Andy)" and mileage app "Norck" that promotes healthy and eco-friendly movement. Mr. Tomozawa, the CMO, has been working with Future Design Shibuya on each of the several companies in his career.
From the story of the project that Mr. Tomozawa is currently working on, I asked him what he thinks of "social good".
What is "social good" in the true sense of the word?
—— Looking back on Mr. Tomozawa's career, you have traveled to a relatively large number of companies. At first glance, it looks like Yahoo Japan, PERSOL HOLDINGS, and the current E Design Insurance Co., Ltd.
I agree. But for me, there is something in common, so to speak, Yahoo is making news infrastructure, and Parsol also has the aspect of creating work styles using human resources as social infrastructure. Of course, E Design Insurance and Tokio Marine HD are insurance companies, but some sort of security and guarantee are also social infrastructure, so these three companies are "how to share with society" in my mind. It's a place where you can pursue a big theme for yourself, "Do you want to create it?"
If you really want to co-create with society, or if you really want to create something together with customers and consumers, you often need the cooperation of local governments, so we are in these three companies. I am also collaborating with Future Design Shibuya (FDS).
——What kind of initiatives did you take when you were enrolled in those three companies?
At Yahoo, the first thing I did was win the Silver Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Advertising, and I created a "touchable search". For the visually impaired, the search results are touched by hand using a 3D printer. Also, at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Yahoo! The act of searching in Japan is transformed into a donation, and the height of the tsunami arrival point in Tohoku is shown on the outer wall of the Sony Building in Ginza. Among such disaster prevention efforts, in relation to FDS, when we conducted the "Yahoo Disaster Prevention Mock Test" where we could try and learn our own disaster prevention knowledge, we would like to spread it together with the local government. It was made into content at SOCIAL INNOVATION WEEK in 2018.
At PERSOL HOLDINGS, although it was not that deep, we worked with local governments to properly and correctly convey various work styles to the world.
At E Design Insurance, our mission is to "create an accident-free world," and we are now participating in the "City Dashboard" initiative in Shibuya Ward in terms of data linkage for that purpose. I am allowed to do it.
——You have consistently continued to make social good efforts across companies.
Up until now, I've been wondering how to get customers to make purchases through direct mail, digital advertising, and point services. However, if that is the only thing, our services will eventually be overlooked by customers, and as a result, if competitors make products cheaper, customers will easily flutter there. You intend to differentiate your services compared to other companies, but in fact you have created a market that is homogeneous.
In that reflection, I realized that customers must love me properly. That's why I wondered what was really good for customers. Then, instead of playing a good commercial, we have to improve our relationship with the society around us and let our customers really think that "this company has done really good things". , You can't be a true fan. After all, I thought that if I didn't really do social good corporate activities, I wouldn't really be loved by customers.
——Not just saying “We are working on social good measures” as a CSR appeal.
Anyone can say "It's social good". However, because it is "social," I think that it is not really social good unless it is good for everyone, including companies, local governments, and the people living there.
Will car insurance eliminate traffic accidents in the world?
——Under such circumstances, the first thing that Mr. Tomozawa is working on is “& e (Andy)”.
"& E (Andy)" is a so-called DX type new style car insurance that gives you a small sensor of about 3 cm x 3 cm. If you attach this small sensor to the dashboard of the car, the sensor collects the behavior data of the car such as braking and turning, and with that data, you can see the tendency of your driving and the degree of safety with the score on the smartphone application. If you drive well, you can collect points and exchange them for products such as coffee.
Also, of course, it has excellent functions in the event of an accident. The sensor automatically detects the accident and you can contact the accident with one tap on the smartphone, and the sensor automatically records the situation for several seconds before and after the impact, so the person in charge of the accident grasps it and at the time of the accident It not only reduces the anxiety of customers, but also helps to speedily resolve accidents.
——DX has improved convenience in the event of an accident. In addition to that, what I would like to pay attention to this time is that each customer can enjoy and be aware of safe driving in their daily lives, and as a result, we can create a safer society together.
Furthermore, by linking such data with local governments, for example, it should be possible to improve places where accidents are likely to occur in the first place. By doing so, the number of traffic accidents will decrease, and I wonder if society will move in a better direction.
——But it may be a frustrating question, but wouldn't the profits of an insurance company decrease if the accidents disappeared from the world?
Appropriately responding to people who have suffered an accident is a natural service as an insurance company, and on top of that, our purpose is to "realize an accident-free world." If efforts such as "& e" become widespread, it may be possible to reduce the number of people who are hit by accidents. The more we become such a society, the better it is to say "& e", or I wonder if it is safer and safer to enter "& e".
I think the reason for taking out conventional insurance was "let's get insurance in case something goes wrong", but the real intention of consumers is "I don't want to have an accident in the first place". That's why I think we should provide a service that seriously faces it.
From a superficial point of view, it may be said that the so-called conventional automobile insurance will not be necessary in a society without accidents, but it is better to seriously eliminate accidents as a result of E Design Insurance. The number of fans and people who agree with the "& e" philosophy will increase, that is, the number of contractors will increase, so I think it will be a successful business.
——As an insurance company, in the past, almost all cases of accidents were involved with customers, but with “& e”, touch points with customers are shifting to everyday life. hey. The idea around that is different from conventional insurance in the first place.
I agree. Insurance is originally included because there is a risk when trying something new. The essence of insurance is to get insurance because you are afraid of failure when starting a new business, or to pay insurance premiums to avoid risks, but for automobiles, insurance is more and more like that. I think it's disappearing. I think many car insurance companies are moving towards lower premiums with DX. But it might be easier to think of it as an approach that uses technology to eliminate accidents so that customers can have a happy experience and thereby reduce the motivation to cancel our service. Hmm.
——It's a “social good” initiative that benefits everyone involved.
Balancing social contribution and business, aiming to utilize data
——You also launched a service called “Nork”. Here too, there is a "social good" perspective.
This is a smartphone app that can be used even if you are not a contractor, but it automatically determines the means of transportation such as whether you walked, drove a car, got on a bus, etc., and that means of transportation is healthier and more eco-friendly. The more points you earn. You can get various items and services with the points you have accumulated, and you can also donate using the points.
——I'd like to ask you again, but what are the benefits of operating such “Nork” for E Design Insurance?
First of all, achieving Purpose is our serious branding. If you don't get the favor of E Design Insurance, or if you don't get the feeling that you're doing something interesting, no matter how much you say "Our service is new" on TV commercials, it won't reach your heart. I think.
Cars are not the only means of transportation for people living in the city. By considering the traffic safety of people who are not car movements and who are not our contractors, we may end up heading for an accident-free world, so in the sense of branding, " One is that we provide a service called "Nork".
The other is that there are few people in the world who only drive cars. Similarly, no one just gets on the bus, and no one just walks. In other words, there are various means of transportation, and by properly covering it, our insurance will guide people who want to buy a car, for example, faster and more appropriately than anywhere else. May be possible. In that sense, the aim is as a marketing device to have contact with a wide variety of people.
Of course, this is a pretty grand experiment, though. With Mr. Shibuya and Mr. New Balance, we will work together with Mr. Shibuya and Mr. New Balance to determine whether such data can be collected and effectively used while maintaining privacy, and whether consumers really think it is good. Through events such as plogging at Yoyogi Park and social contribution activities, we are going to repeat the demonstration experiment. By accumulating a lot of them, I am trying to confirm whether it can be really good data, or whether it can be a good form for society and business in itself.
How to contribute to society unique to large companies
—— After all, it is necessary to have the two wheels of earnestly working on social contribution and succeeding as a business properly.
When it comes to corporate social contributions, the kind of cooperation between local governments that startups work on is something that breaks regulations and makes it better with the advancedness and leadership unique to startups. I think. In my case, I've always been a big company working with local governments, so even if I do the same things as startups, I can't change society at all. After all, because it is a large company, I think we must work with strengths such as the sense of security we have, the medium-term way of thinking that does not stick to the immediate future, and the ability to execute.
Startups go pretty straightforward because changing regulations directly leads to their business. In our case, our business will not grow immediately tomorrow because the municipalities will change and the social infrastructure will change. However, I think it is important to take the time to work on big things that cannot be done by the private sector alone, such as realizing an accident-free society, while connecting with local governments.
For example, by collaborating with FDS, I don't expect that the number of "& e" subscribers will increase by 20%. It was only then that the social infrastructure changed even a little from such activities, and when we looked at the medium-term social good, we could look back and talk about "that initiative came to life here." I think it will be branding in the true sense of the word. I hope that the private sector and the government will continue to work together on such efforts.
