The
natural habitat (1) __for___Japanese teenagers is a small area (2)
__in____central Tokyo between Shibuya and Harajuku stations which is
full (3) __of___ boutiques and music shops. (4)__At____weekends,
teenagers (5) __from___the city and the surrounding provinces go there
to spot the latest street fashions. The area is also a magnet
(6)__to___ anyone researching or selling (7)__on___ the teenage
market: fashion and cosmetics companies, record producers, editors
(8)__of___young fashion magazines, soft drink and snack promoters, and
makers (9)__of___games and gadgets.
One such company was Bandai, the toy company responsible (10) _for___
Tamagotchi, the eggshaped, pocket-sized virtual pet which swept the
world in the late 1990s. Tamagotchi's first appearance was (11) __like__ a
test marketing exercise (12)__in__ the streets (13)_of___Shibuya.
The schoolgirls that saw it were so impressed that told all their
friends, and the first Tamagotchi to hit the shops sold (14)
__out___immediately. Such is the power of word of mouth. Normally,
word-of-mouth promotion is free, but impossible to arrange. In Japan it
can be arranged__according__ (15) ___to__ a price. There are agencies
(16) __for___hundreds (17) ___of___teenagers (18)___in__their books
who receive new products and tell their friends (19)__about___ them, others
are paid to queue up (20)___for___ a new product or opening of a new
store, creating an "artificial buzz" (21)__to___it. Mr. Morita set (22)
__up___the agency Teens Network Ship which is the best specialist
(23)___on____the teenage market, and often uses informal,
word-of-mouth style marketing methods. It has a register of 2000 senior
high pupils in the Tokyo area, and is now expanding nationally.
Information spreads more rapidly (24) __within__the 15 to 18 age group than
(25) __at__any other life stage. A teenager tells (26)
___in___average 50 of his or her friends (27) __about___the
"discovery", so that a group of 1,000 can spread the word (28)
__to___-50,000 or more.