The Ministry of Finance issued a request to financial institutions that they proactively monitor print, online, and television media for inaccurate information, and report these occurrences to the Ministry. The purpose of this request was to minimize the financial fall-out from the spread of false information, because the earlier a financial institution learns of such activities the faster it can warn consumers. This has become critical with the advent of websites like YouTube that enable very fast and broad dissemination of videos. Aflac found it was relatively easy to monitor print and online media, but the company found television broadcasts more difficult to monitor in a timely manner. Aflac started using the Spider Pro because it was the only product that allowed nearly real-time searches of television broadcasts for any topic, including financial news. The public relations group now checks all television broadcasts three times a day, and whenever anything is said about Aflac on television the PR group can quickly create an accurate abstract to provide to top managers and pertinent departments.

JAL first used the Spider Pro to monitor TV coverage of a promotional event publicizing the launch of their domestic first class service. Using to the Spider Pro, they found that 19 sections of coverage on 11 programs discussed their promotional event. JAL would not have been able to record the media coverage so comprehensively without the Spider Pro, because the Spider Pro recorded every single mention of JAL on television and gave them the ability to watch those programs. This provided JAL with a plethora of valuable information, such as the level of enthusiasm of television commentators, the comments made by different demographic groups, what aspects of the service where most popular, etc. This information enabled JAL to craft far more compelling messages for their commercials.

The Search Engine Department is tasked with daily search term monitoring and analyses. They had long noticed that the popularity of search terms varied each day. They tried to identify the reason for this phenomenon, but it eluded them. After they started using the Spider Pro they finally found the answer. They determined that the main reason for changes in daily search term popularity was television. If a topic receives television coverage, people search the internet for more information. Now, when the Search Engine Group identifies unexpected, unusual rises in search term popularity, they go to the Spider Pro to see what exactly was discussed on television, and then they can recommend sites that give the information that is most pertinent to their search engine users.

A cosmetic company is using the Spider Pro to monitor their competitors’ commercials as part of their market intelligence strategies. If one of their competitors launches a new television commercial they will know about it the next day and be able to watch the commercial to learn about their competitors’ claims and product positioning. The company can then immediately start to develop their responses. Also, if there is any coverage in the media that they need to be aware of, the Spider allows them to know about that coverage within 3 hours of broadcast. They also monitor TV coverage of promotional events publicizing new products, new packaging, and new advertising campaigns. However, the advertising group found that it was very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of these events in terms of the additional media coverage generated. Now that they use the Spider Pro, they can monitor all television broadcasts much more quickly and then quantify the television media coverage of these events, allowing fast ROI analyses.

T-Card and Marketing, a division of the CCC Group (TSUTAYA), issues cards that retailers and restaurants use to award points for purchases made by their customers. These points can then be redeemed for discounted products and services. More importantly, these cards also allow data on customers’ purchases to be captured, which aids in the development of well-targeted advertising, promotions, and product development. For this business model to be viable, T-Card and Marketing needs many partners. The company collects daily data on purchases made at over 100 companies, and has strategic alliances with 40 companies. The T-Card and Marketing Sales Department uses the Spider Pro to identify potential sales prospects. They desire large, well-known firms with a high number of retail locations. These companies tend to get coverage on television shows. The sales group uses the Spider Pro to gather information that will be useful to use when contacting these companies.

McCann Ericson is using the Spider Pro to make their sales efforts more effective. The company has sales people who target specific industries. The Spider Pro allows these sales people to quickly find and watch all commercials being broadcast by companies in their target industries. Without the Spider it would be almost impossible to know about every single commercial being broadcast by all companies in a specific industy. The Spider Pro enables the sales people at McCann Ericson to be far more well-informed about their target industries than they otherwise would be, due to the fact that they now are able to keep updated on each company’s television advertising strategy, positioning, and new product introductions.

The Customer Service Group at this company receives phone calls from viewers who complain about the content of television shows that the company sponsors through advertising, or who request more information about the content of those television programs. The problem for them was that they needed to respond to the callers in a knowledgeable and timely manner. They would have to research the show’s content, which was very labor intensive. It could take as much as a week to give an accurate reply to the callers. Often, this process would involve multiple departments and many people within the company. The Spider Pro allows their customer service people to instantly find and watch any television show at the exact point that the topic of interest was discussed. The Customer Service Group’s employees can now immediately learn what was said on the show and respond quickly and accurately to callers. By doing this, they have improved customer satisfaction significantly.