After graduating from Waseda University, I launched an Internet venture, studied abroad, and worked for a PR company before joining Naver Japan (now LY Corporation) in 2008, where I was in Head of the Marketing Communication Department for the LINE business. In October 2017, I moved to Mercari, Inc. to serve as the Group PR Manager for about five years, where I was responsible for risk response, the company’s listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market, and large-scale business alliances. I left Mercari in March 2023 and founded Hane.,Inc. in June of the same year as a consulting firm specializing in strategic PR management.

I first met Mr. Tanigo about 15 years ago when I was in charge PR and marketing for the Naver Matome curation service at Naver Japan. I had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Tanigo who was running the curation service 30min.as an industry peer. Since then, we continued to interact from time to time. What triggered my involvement in COVER was when Mr. Tanigo approached me in June 2023, just before I started my own business. He consulted me about reviewing COVER’s PR program. About all I knew about the VTuber industry was that COVER had gone public and that events were popular. Yet the more I heard about it, the more interesting it seemed, and I was intrigued. After that, I officially became independent, and since September 2023, I have been involved as a corporate PR advisor for COVER. Together with COVER’s PR team, I develop strategies from the perspective of how to showcase the company to the outside world, and I support things like planning teach-in sessions and presentations for the media.

Of particular interest to me was the rapid growth of the VTuber field and the depth of engagement between VTubers and their fans, who engage in interactive communication through live streaming and other means. This is an area that has strong fan base of young people, so companies can use VTubers to reach them. I also I feel that the fact that VTubers can also influence consumption is a tremendous strength. At the same time, I feel that there is potential for the VTuber culture to spread to even older generations.

When I saw a hololive concert for the first time, I was quite impressed by the technical capabilities, expressiveness, and communication skills of the performers. I was also surprised to find that there was a wide range of fans, both male and female, among the younger generation. It was a completely different experience from watching it on YouTube, and in a good way, it defied my expectations. I believe this kind of emotional impact transcends generations, so as VTubers become more familiar, I think that they will spread to new generations of audiences.
I see great potential for hololive to spread to become an integral part of lifestyles for all generations, rather than just a niche entertainment or subculture. In other words, I envision the VTuber field not as a passing fad, but as a domain that will grow as an industry.

At present, there is a large gap in perception between the general public and the younger demographic regarding the VTuber domain, and this needs to be narrowed. As VTuber is a new domain that has only just emerged, I think that journalists from newspapers and business media have yet to be aware of who the industry as a whole is perceived or its position in society.

When I first talked with Mr. Tanigo about COVER, I was struck by how passionately he spoke about the future of VTubers.
I think this reflects his ambition to bring the VTuber culture into the mainstream and demonstrate that anyone can have a place to shine, regardless of their appearance or looks, as long as they have the singing ability and communication skills. The VTuber domain is often thought of as a fad, but in reality it plays an important role in providing talented people with new opportunities for self-actualization. Furthermore, Japan’s content is globally competitive, and I think that by combining it with cutting-edge technology like VTuber, we can achieve success on a global scale as a new content industry. The role of PR is to communicate these intrinsic values and messages and to expand the touchpoints with society.

Based on this premise, COVER’s current PR strategy is centered on the story of amid declining GDP, expand Japan’s traditional 2D content to the world by combining it with technology.

As for specific measures, we announced the establishment of our overseas base, COVER USA in March 2024. Prior to the announcement, we held a VTuber Market Teach-in in January inviting journalists from major media outlets to deepen their understanding of the VTuber industry and of COVER. Our aim was to provide a holistic understanding of the VTuber market and industry, including aspects such as the economic impact and potential of VTubers as well as COVER’s aspirations within the space. By following this with the announcement of establishing COVER USA in March, we sought to communicate in easy to understand terms COVER’s commitment and significance in taking on the world.

Through these teach-ins and other events, I sense that the understanding among economic media in particular has gradually deepened, but we are still about 20-30% of where we want to be. One presentation or teach-in won’t change everything. We have only just started, so I think we need to keep communicating COVER’s vision and worldview. COVER is still often perceived externally as just a VTuber agency or as an entertainment agency, handling niche content. Instead, we want to emphasize that COVER is an integrated entertainment company that leverages the power of content and IP to invigorate consumer behavior and lifestyles, particularly among younger audiences, while exporting outstanding content originating from Japan to the global market.

I place the utmost importance on working closely with companies that are serious about changing society. In my opinion, the role of PR goes beyond just communicating the value of a company’s products or services but also to conveying its purpose—why the company exists—and the significance or value it aims to offer to Japan’s economy, society, and consumers through its business and services. It is about externally sharing a company’s stance and greater mission, gaining the empathy of stakeholders, and ultimately supporting the company in becoming an integral part of society. With the belief in genuinely transforming society, I named my company “Hane” (meaning wing) to embody my ambition to support companies that are determined to achieve significant breakthroughs.

As was the case with LINE and Mercari, companies offering innovative services and products are inevitably subject to criticism and conflict from society. By overcoming such social friction and promoting consensus building with society, the service will gradually be accepted by general consumers.

For this reason, it is important to consistently communicate and take action without losing sight of COVER’s raison d’être and value proposition and the greater mission it should aim for. When communicating as a PR representative, it is more important to think about “why you are doing it” than “what you are doing”. Also, the most important thing is to clearly verbalize this and communicate it without wavering.

I feel that the current COVER is a transitional period, moving from being seen as a VTuber agency to being recognized as an integrated entertainment company, including how it is viewed from the outside.

With hololive production at its core, COVER is simultaneously advancing in a wide range of fronts, including merchandise sales and MD businesses, metaverse business, and overseas expansion. During this phase, the user base is expanding from core fans to a broader general audience. At the same time, various challenges tend to surface, both internally and externally, and this is also a juncture where friction with society can more easily emerge.

In such cases, if the leadership is overly influenced by negative comments, the company’s greater mission can become blurred and the business itself can lose momentum. To prevent this from happening, it is important for PR to continue to communicate the stance and greater mission to society from a medium- to long-term perspective and to win the empathy of society through persistent efforts. While the VTuber field has grown rapidly in a few years, I think there may be some unintended reactions and backlash as it becomes more mainstream. Under such circumstances, there is a possibility that the organization’s structures and governance will not be able to keep pace. That said, I think that once we overcome that, we will be able to take root in society as an industry. It is precisely when public opinion turns strongly against a company that we are in the process of strategizing how we should send out our message and how we should overcome such a situations.

On a three to five year horizon, I expect that the COVER will be recognized as an integrated entertainment company and that the VTuber culture will have become a part of people’s lifestyles. I am confident that COVER can contribute to the overall growth of Japan’s IT and content industries as a driver of new industrial development. To that end, I would like to widely disseminate success stories of mainstreaming both domestically and internationally and focus on making them familiar to a wide demographic.

I’d say”puberty”, as word that describes climbing toward adulthood.
I think COVER will experience various kinds of growing pains, but by overcoming these challenges it will be recognized by society and be able to achieve further growth. I feel COVER has huge of potential for growth.