HONOLULU, HAWAII (March 7, 2011)—PacRim Marketing Group celebrated its 20th year anniversary by posting its 500th Japanese language video about Hawaii on YouTube and its popular Japanese web portal, www.Hawaii-Arukikata.com, this week.  The 4-minute video features Jake Shimabukuro, Hawaii’s ukulele talent, who congratulates PacRim on the milestone, as well as scenic views of Hawaii and highlighted activities.  The video can be viewed on mobile sites in Japan, on iPads, and on other mobile devices from which YouTube can be viewed.  

PacRim Marketing Group’s video team has been producing YouTube style videos on a daily basis as a way to leverage “new media” for tech savvy travelers from Asia for the past three years.  “An increasing number of travelers from Asia are using social networking to learn about travel destinations,” said Dave Erdman, president and CEO.  “Video is one of our ways of gathering information on trends in Asia and communicating messages to prospective travelers to Hawaii from Japan, Korea, and China.”

“Travelers request interviews on our web portal www.hawaii-arukikata.com, often by sending us email messages,” said Akiko Mori, Chief Editor and Content Manager of Hawaii Arukikata.  “We then post their interviews for other travelers from Asia to help promote Hawaii.”

PacRim has produced and posted the most videos about Hawaii on YouTube in Japanese.  The most viewed, in this order, are:
• ihop
• Embassy Suites (Waikiki Beach Walk)  
• Hula Kahiko (Hula Conference )
• Winter Surfing at the North Shore at Pipeline  
• The Cheesecake Factory  
• premiere of LOST  
• Loco Moco,
• How to enjoy the North Shore of Oahu  
• Lisa’s English Lesson (for a hotel)
• Giorgio Armani Fashion Show at Neiman Marcus   

The videos, shot in high definition since 2010, are typically 2.5 minutes in length and feature interviews with visitors, movie stars, musicians, and gourmet chefs, as well as events and activities at various Hawaii hotels, restaurants, and tourist locations.

The company’s multilingual videos about Hawaii are viewed on average 3,200 times per day and have received 1.35 million views since 2008, based on Google analytics.  Viewership is shifting from web portal sites and increasing on mobile devices, especially in Japan.  While at least 8.5% of viewers watched the videos on their mobile devices in February 2010, the number nearly doubled to 16.8% in Feb 2011.

The company chose to upload all videos on YouTube to give clients more exposure.  “Right now YouTube is the biggest video website that people will access,” said Kikuko Byrne, Creative Design and Video Production Manager.  “By uploading to YouTube the videos get the most exposure; it’s very International.”