【Investors’ Interview vol.3】Shogakukan's Vision for the Relationship between Future Media and AR
Mr. Shimano SHOGAKUKAN Inc.
Chief Producer, Universal Media Business Department and General Manager, XR Business Promotion Office, Shogakukan
Graduated from Waseda University. After joining Shogakukan, he served as chief editor of women's fashion magazines such as "CanCam" and "AneCan". As chief producer of the Women's Media Department, he promoted "branding of magazines. He is currently collaborating with Pretia on an AR business called "AR Town" based on the concept of "love the towns more”. In addition, he is currently working on a mission to expand the possibilities for publishers in the XR domain, including the launch of S-PACE, a metaverse originating from Shogakukan.
ーCould you tell us why you invested in Pretia this time?
Shimano: We at Shogakukan had been trying to "turn places into media" for some time, but our efforts came to a halt with the Covi. At that time, Mr. Ushio and the people at Pretia showed us the potential of AR, and I thought that we could take on the new challenge of "turning the city itself into media" by using AR. We decided to invest in the project to promote it jointly.
The concept of "turning places into media" was first embodied in a night pool project produced by a women's fashion magazine called CanCam. We gathered insights from our readers, such as "I want to go to the beach or pool in the summer, but I don't want to get a suntan," and "I want to wear a swimsuit, but I am embarrassed to be seen by strangers.
Since CanCam was producing the project, we had romantic decorations, floats, and other items, and because they were cute, a number of young women started taking selfies at the night pool and uploading them to their own social networking sites. This became a hot topic, and the number of people who said they wanted to go there increased, and it quickly became a boom. Although it was not our intention, this resulted in the word "Insta-bae (Instagenic)" winning the 2017 New Words and Trendy Words Awards.
Through such efforts, we realized that even swimming pools, for example, can be used as media, even if they are not books or websites. From there, we decided to turn various places into media, and implemented projects at ski resorts, university campuses, and other locations.
Even now that the Covid has made it difficult to conduct business, we thought that there might be something we could do with AR, and we decided to work together on the project.
Ushio: So it was not so much that you had a clear idea of "making places into media" from the beginning, but rather it was born out of your pursuit of what was interesting and in demand at that time.
Shimano: That's right. We will continue to take good care of our publications printed on paper, but we will not be satisfied with just that, and we will always be willing to take on new challenges.
Ushio: So the timing was right, or rather, the last piece of the puzzle that you had been thinking about for a long time just fell into place.
Shimano: I didn't start using AR because it was a popular tool, but because I was interested in AR as a means to accomplish what I wanted to do.
I had not been doing digital-related work at Shogakukan for a long time either, and came to be in charge of XR as an extension of my work on "making places into media”.
ーWhat was your impression of Ushio and Pretia when you first met them?
Shimano: I thought they were straight-forward in a good way, and I really liked that they had a high goal and did not hide it.
I had worked with some startups on a spot basis before, but Pretia was the first time we had the experience of working with a company over a long period of time. So I was very nervous at first, and I made a lot of new discoveries as we talked.
Basically, I felt that Mr. Ushio was smart, not only from the excellence of the product he was developing, but also from the way he answered my questions. When I thought about what was good about the company compared to other startups, I thought that Pretia sets high goals and communicates them without hiding them.
Pretia could have done a better job of concealing their risks, but instead they were very clear about the risks involved, saying, "We want to do this, so please invest in us”. I thought this style was good. Aiming for the world is no easy task, but if you don't aim for it, you will never achieve it, and I felt that good members would gather together because of your clear commitment and the banner Mr.Ushio set up.
Ushio: This was the first experience for Pretia to work with large corporations on a multi-year scale, and I always had the feeling that we were working with very experienced adults. I am aware that I may sound cocky, but I feel very reassured by the fact that everyone listens carefully to my opinions and thinks together with me.
Shimano: In that respect, we are learning a lot from the opinions of Pretia. By working with Pretia, we are able to implement new initiatives more smoothly than before.
ーWhat do you think about the future of AR and what you are aiming for?
Shimano: I think the point where we can say that AR has really spread is when it has become a kind of commodity to the point where people are no longer aware of the words "AR glasses" or "metaverse. Times move faster than expected. It is difficult to predict the exact timing of when they will become widely used, but Shogakukan would like to create content so as not to miss out on any opportunities. What are the prospects you see for the future, Mr. Ushio?
Ushio: The first step is to greatly expand the AR space, and the second step is to have many users create contents on it. I have been talking with creators in our company, but if only companies related to AR create contents, it will never be enough. Currently, it takes time and money to create AR experiences, so there must be a system that allows users to create content easily and play freely. There are people who are thinking about it, but no one is doing it, so I think this is an area we should be working on.
And when AR glasses become more widespread, we would be happy if the first AR content users come across will be Pretia's, by utilizing the power of our partner, Shogakukan, to create and disseminate interesting contents and release them to the world.
ーShogakukan, as a media professional, how do you think AR will change the way people interact with media and the way they receive information in their daily lives?
Shimano: I feel that as towns and spaces can be used as media, technology will become more important in terms of how to avoid receiving too much information and how not to be bothered by it.
For example, in your daily life wearing AR glasses, even if you are not doing anything, is a future where the person's body temperature comes out of your eyes, the news comes naturally, you are playing a game on the AR glasses screen while talking... is this a comfortable future for humans? I don't think so. I think that only when content becomes commoditized and we are in an environment where a lot of information comes in on its own, we will need technology that does not overload us with such information.
In a real sense, the spread of AR means that AR can be implemented everywhere at low cost, so there should be an overflow of information. It may be good up to a certain point, but beyond a certain value it will become noise. We need technology and ingenuity to strike a balance between the two.
Ushio: Currently, even with push notifications on smartphones, it is not possible to read through all of the information, and it is doubtful whether truly useful information is being broadcast. For example, rather than inserting AR advertisements between TV programs, I would like to provide a seamless experience that has no boundary with reality, such as when your eyes are naturally drawn to something that is actually an advertisement.
Shimano: In the future, people will no longer need to be conscious of "watching media" such as TV or smartphones as they are now, and people will always be "in the media" without being aware of any particular device. I envision a multi-layered hierarchy of media worlds, including virtual space and the real world, in which we can choose multiple selves. As this happens, I believe that the value of media that convey truly necessary information will become even higher.
I would be happy if we could work together with Pretia to create such a future.
ーLastly, what are your expectations for the future of Pretia?
Shimano: I would like to see Pretia become a larger organization by hiring and training good members. We cannot go beyond the limits of individuals in a situation where the president has a detailed grasp of everything. Because you are an excellent person, Mr. Ushio, I would like you to leave the responsibility to others and make the organization into a world-class one.
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