*This article was originally posted on COVER’s note on September 29, 2023.
Since creating our note, we have posted interviews with various different departments, but there are still many other departments at COVER.
Even if we just focus on businesses, here at COVER there is such a wide range including streaming/content (live streaming), 3D streaming, merchandising (MD), promotions, live events and the metaverse, and we would need quite a while to explain about them all one at a time.
This time, we are focusing on events outside Japan, vital to our overseas expansion, so we talked with R and Y from the International Event Team, who manage such events, and with M on the overall International Business Department. We hope this gives all of our readers an insight into the thoughts behind these overseas events, what initiatives the department is engaged in, and what the future holds.
The interviewees from the International Business Department:
M: Head of the International Business Department
R: International Event Leader/Producer
Y: International Event Team Member
■From the Planning Phase to Management on the Day
──Let’s start with the International Event Team members. R and Y, could you give us a self-introduction and tell us your role(s) at COVER?!
R: In the International Event Planning Team, our main duties center around planning the set-up of booths at overseas conventions, event participation, and activation (including for pop-up stores, collaboration projects, etc.). We, of course, get invited to external events, but we also plan COVER events as well.
Since last year, hololive production has participated in overseas conventions with approx. 5,000 attendees to those attended by around 160,000 people. We have also had stage events at venues with a capacity of 500 people up to those that can hold up to 2,600 people. This year, we have already planned and produced close to 20 events.
As well as the planning and holding of international events themselves, we are also in charge of and therefore manage the progress of the content and overall production of the overseas hololive Meet.
Y: I am in the same International Event Team as R, so we are essentially doing the same job. However, if I were to add something, another role we have besides planning that is particular to our team is that we are in charge of the event staff working such events!
──So you have a wide range of duties! And you’re in charge of not only event planning and production but also event staff on the day as well?
R: Exactly right. For events that we are invited to, of course there is also staff from the organizer, but we are present for and oversee everything. For example, as well as checking the background during the event, venue stage diagrams, internet speeds, and the surrounding technology, we are involved with giving directions and timekeeping from the rehearsal stages to the main event to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Y: We even sometimes give cues!
We also sell event collaboration T-shirts and our original merchandise, so we also coordinate with related internal departments as well as external parties.
──You don’t just simply plan the events then. Are there any difficulties that you experience in your jobs?
R: It can’t be helped sometimes, but I wish we were able to coordinate a bit better with overseas staff. For example, because of time differences, we will receive correspondence at completely different times to normal. In the case of the U.S., they start work sometime after we finish work and before we go to bed!
Y: It’s not necessarily a difficulty, but what can be challenging is adapting to the culture and specific preferences of the host country where the event is being held. For instance, what may be considered common knowledge here in Japan, may not be overseas. Unlike Japan, VTubers themselves are not that well-known in many places, so the biggest challenge is negotiating what we can and can’t do, and then implementing it.
■How close can we get fans to talents?
──It seems like you have a lot on your plate when holding overseas events, but what are some worthwhile aspects of your jobs?
R: Something that is worthwhile for me is how close we can get fans to talents. We have held around 30 events since I joined COVER, and for every successful event held, we are able to challenge ourselves in even newer areas. I would like to challenge myself and focus on, not only YouTube streams, but holding successful in-person events and seeing how far we can push the boundaries.
Y: For me it’s being able to feel the passion that local fans have for our content. There isn’t a lot of direct interaction with fans on talents’ regular streams which means you don’t get to really see how fans react. However, when we hold in-person events, there are people crying with happiness, and others thanking us for putting on such an event, so seeing these reactions is so rewarding.
R: Also, it’s rewarding because of the large scope of the content. I had experience in event-related work before joining COVER, but I hardly ever felt such a response up until now. Now, I am really enjoying being able to carry out large-scale promotion and knowing how fans respond.
■Continuing to do new things at a fast pace
──What is important to the members of the International Event Team?
R: I think I can speak for the entire International Business Department when I say this, but as well as a knowledge in other languages and culture, speed is important. While this is also true for the speed in which one can do their work, the rate at which the VTuber industry evolves is also very fast, so we have to constantly be a pioneer in new areas, and not just do the same thing over and over again.
Y: For me, it is important that fans and talents alike enjoy taking part in the events. I absolutely want fans to not only come to our events but enjoy them, and equally, I want the talents to enjoy being there as well. At in-person events, fans and talents can interact with each other in ways they are unable to normally, so I hope to create many opportunities where this is possible.
──I want to ask you now, M, as the Head of the International Business Department, what kind of people would you like to see join COVER?
M: First of all, from the standpoint of the skills required in the International Business Department, one needs to have foreign language skills. Currently more than half of those in the International Business Department are non-Japanese staff members, and more than anything, having a high understanding about overseas events and the international VTuber community is necessary to ensure fans from all over the world enjoy our content as well.
Also, as R mentioned before, VTubers are still not yet very well-known outside of Japan. Therefore, in order to make VTuber culture more widely known and to make the hololive production brand a VTuber household name worldwide, having more team members who constantly continue to take on new challenges would be great.
──Have you thought about what kind of department you would like the International Business Department to be?
M: A common misunderstanding is that the International Business Department only manages talents who are outside of Japan. But this is not the case: rather, our mission is to share the wonderful VTuber culture we have in Japan with the world!
I believe that hololive production and COVER can be at the forefront of the industry, so I would like to continue to expand on the various events that we hold and are a part of and the International Business Department itself in order to get us there.
