What it's Like Doing a Marketing Pitch to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
Over the years working in marketing in Tokyo, I’ve been able to work with larger international companies, small startups and boutique businesses, as well as a couple municipal governments in Japan.
Each project is different, and the desired way of pitching and presenting can vary according to the potential client, but the way that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government does theirs is unlike any other I’ve experienced.
RFP & Initial Phase
In order to even have a chance at presenting, your company has to first be registered as a potential partner in a database. This is to check credentials.
The government will send out an RFP (Request for Proposal) as they head into the next fiscal year, which begins each April. The project in our case, is a one that gets re-evaluated each year, so the period is from April until the next March.
If after your submitted proposal is accepted, an appointment to go and present is handed out.
Pitch / Presentation
Each company is allowed to have 2 people present. They check in with security at the bottom of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, then go up to appropriate floor 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.
There is a waiting table to wait at, then someone comes to greet you and take you to the presentation room.
Presentation room
The organization of the presentation room is as shown above.
There is a desk and chairs for 2 presenters.
Directly in front are 5 desks each on the panel. They’re made up of government officials and possible a consultant that they work with, depending on the project.
On the side are 3 more people who work with the government and serve as moderators.
Procedure
Once you enter the room, you bow and give your greeting (in Japanese, of course).
One key rule here is that you are never allowed to say who you are or what company you’re from. This is to maintain anonymity so people on the panel aren’t subconsciously swayed by a name.
After all, it’s a government project that’s funded by tax payers, so legally and morally, it’s best to not have give preference to one private company over another. Presenters will be referred to as “Company A”, “Company B”, and so on.
When everyone is ready to begin, the moderators will run a stopwatch for 10 minutes. This is for the entire presentation. Japanese marketing presentations are quite detailed and don’t contain large visuals or impact slides like some Western pitches do, so it’s impossible to cover everything sufficiently in the 10 minutes.
A pitch has to be carefully prepared ahead of time, highlighting the key areas. This is to make the presentation time efficient.
Next, another 10 minutes are timed for Q&A. Here, members on the panel will freely ask questions in which the presenters need to respond quickly and concisely.
Finish
After the Q&A session, the presenters stand up, bow and give their greetings, and walk out to conclude the pitch.
Results are given a little later.
You may check out the project that this was for here.