Osaka Expo adjusts to same-day ticket sales due to sluggish advance sales - Dentsu JV's ticket PR and promotion struggle
On February 5, 2025, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and proposed same-day ticket sales for the Osaka Expo (opening ceremony on April 12 and opening on April 13) due to sluggish advance ticket sales. Prime Minister Ishiba agrees with this, and it is expected that it will be formally discussed at the Board of Governors meeting in February.
As of the end of January 2025, only about 7.66 million advance tickets have been sold, far short of the target of 14 million. Many of the purchasers are considered to be companies that belong to economic organizations that support the association or companies that profit from projects related to the Osaka Expo, and sales promotion to general consumers is an issue.
Governor Yoshimura pointed out the complexity of the online purchase procedure as the reason for the slump in advance ticket sales, saying, "We want to provide opportunities for more people to visit the Expo through same-day ticket sales." On the other hand, it is also possible that the sale of same-day tickets will increase the interest of the general public and dispel the topic of sluggish advance ticket sales for about two months until the opening ceremony.
Regarding advance tickets, there are concerns online about the breadth of personal information obtained during the purchase process. Personal information acquired by the Expo Association may be provided to the government (including foreign governments), sponsoring companies, exhibitors, advertising companies, etc. code Many consumers are concerned about privacy.
Initially, the Expo Association intended to introduce an advance ticket system to prevent confusion during same-day ticket sales, assuming that the momentum for the event would increase. In the end, advance ticket sales did not go as expected, and from around last summer, there was a need to improve the ticket sales method.
From October 2024, the World Expo Association will start selling ticket vouchers for convenience stores and travel events nationwide, and in November, Vice Chairman Sato of the Kansai Economic Federation (Panasonic HD) called on local travel agencies to cooperate at a PR event in Beijing, China.
In addition, the public relations and promotion business of the ticket is 1,051.6 million yen by a consortium represented by Dentsu (not disclosed except for Dentsu). Orders 。 The specifications of the project stipulate that content production and social media strategies will be carried out until the end of the exhibition to achieve the goal of selling 23 million tickets and a total of 28.2 million visitors.
