Client Voice | TEPCO Energy Partner — Takeshi Nakamura
An interview with TEPCO Energy Partner. We asked about achieving both dramatic cost/speed improvements with AI video production and emotionally moving visual expression on their owned media 'Kurashi no Lab.'
[Client Voice] Takeshi Nakamura, TEPCO Energy Partner, Inc.
When launching our owned media, we believed content production absolutely had to keep experimenting in step with how the world changes. We held a competition with that conviction — and the one who connected most with the fun of it was Movie Impact.
Why does TEPCO run owned media through the "Kurashi no Lab" videos?
As a TEPCO employee, providing optimal energy (electricity) services is our mission. To fulfill our wish — for customers to use this precious energy conveniently and enrich their own lives — owned media was the perfect fit.
With video, you can reach tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of viewers. A burst of being featured in a newspaper or on TV has impact, but in a sense it tends to be fleeting. With video content, the back catalog keeps accumulating, generating value with synergy that keeps going. That's one of the great things about distributing video.
What led you to choose Movie Impact for video production?
When it came to adding various elements in step with how fast the world changes, I wanted a partner willing to try lots of things, so I held a competition. The one who felt the fun of the plan with us the most was Mr. Miki (Movie Impact's representative) — and since I thought that mattered most, I entrusted the production to Movie Impact. In return, every time I see him I tell him, "Give us 100% of your power." It's probably pressure, the other way around (laughs).
Mr. Miki is the video pro, and I'm the pro at coming up with the material — it works because of that combination. I also believe you need at least one video a week on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. We often partner with big ad agencies, but beyond cost, there were concerns like production cycles not lining up, so I judged it overall.
Why don't you say the product name at the end of "Kurashi no Lab"?
As the channel name "Kurashi no Lab" (Lifestyle Lab) suggests, it's not an electricity lab or an appliance lab. What I'm interested in is enriching daily life. Being useful for social issues is at the core, but with only that, people won't keep watching — they drop off partway, so we weave in light, chuckle-worthy humor through exchanges with the assistant. As a rule, we don't reveal the product name.
It's not that we don't want to tell you — we're just showing, through the performance, that "this isn't affiliate marketing." If asked on social media, we answer with a URL. I think it's the originality only an owned media like "Kurashi no Lab" can have.
Watch the interview video with Takeshi Nakamura of TEPCO Energy Partner here!
Kurashi no Lab YouTube channel — updated every Monday!