March 2017
SKY Perfect JSAT - Annual Report Renewal & Contribution to Global IR
A Great Design from the Get-go
Ohsato: Regarding the design, this time we presented you with four possible options, and you chose one of them., What kind of reaction did they garner at SKY Perfect JSAT?
Iwase: Quite a few of us thought the design was much trendier than usual.
Sato: The services you offer are basically at the antipodes of one another: the visually familiar B2C services, and the B2B services. It's interesting and surprising that both of these diametrically opposed services are provided on such a large scale. Plus, they both help the realization of people's dreams and future. So, based on these ideas, we considered how to express the concept and tried to illustrate it in the design. In the end, you chose our first design option. It was the one that made the most drastic change of direction compared to the previous designs. And although the designer, Koichi Ogawa, and myself recommended it the most, we were almost sure you would pick a different one! (Laughs)
Iwase: We wanted to completely renew our annual report along with the announcement of our medium-term management plan. So, from this perspective too, your first proposal was eagerly adopted at the company.
Harumoto: When we went through the internal approval process with the management, this design was okayed as soon as it was presented. A lot of the feedback we received was about how light and good a design it was.
Sato: Thank you for these kind words. It's very heartening. (Laughs)
Balancing the Contents for Both Businesses
Ohsato: As for the contents, one of the difficulties lied in how to arrange the balance between the multi-channel pay TV - highly popular to general consumers - and the less known but global-scaled, high profit-churning satellite communications service. We were committed to bring a sense of consistency to the report, and to being comprehensive without being redundant.
Hiroshi Watanabe: In order to strongly stress SKY Perfect JSAT's consistency and to link past, present and future in the medium-term management plan, we suggested discussing the plans and future based on your present and past.
Iwase: This idea wasn't ours, but we felt that it was a component that was requested by our stakeholders and decided to adopt it.
The Project's Progress: Timely Delivery Through Internal Adjustments and a Single Contact Point
Hiroshi Watanabe: As the project manager, I thought that having Mr. Harumoto as the only contact point simplified the process. Thank you for your assistance. This is the principal reason why the project went so smoothly.
Sato: To avoid any trouble during the last month, first thing every morning, we assessed the previous day's situation and current progress, and made sure we had solutions to handle any possible risk. In the end, this proved unnecessary, most likely due to the smooth communication between the project managers on both ends. We are really grateful for that.
Press Release Translation: Accurate and Easy to Understand
Ohsato: Apart from the annual report, we also carried out the translations of another project. What did you think about the press release translations?
Yoko Watanabe: In my opinion, press releases need to be both accurate and easy to understand. Repeated use of similar expressions can hinder a translation's clarity, so we strive to construct our sentences with a broad variety of carefully selected words. On this point, we were really impressed with the refinement of your word choices. This especially applies to our new services: we write our drafts while studying overseas terminology, so having a native professional checking our output was a great relief.
Ohsato: In fact, in this case a native speaker didn't merely check the sentences but translated them.
Yoko Watanabe: That was the greatness of it. When we prepare a Japanese press release, we tend to use a lot of specialized terminology, so having this complex Japanese perfectly transposed into English by a native speaker was excellent. We were really surprised when we first saw the finished translation!
Ohsato: I think this really showcases our translation coordinators' strengths. I will let them know when we get back to the office. (Laughs)
Future Annual Reports: An Improved Process for an Improved Annual Report
Ohsato: It feels like we have only just finished working on 2016's annual report, but the time to start thinking about next financial year's report is already drawing closer, isn't it?
Iwase: With regards to the annual report, we wish to keep in mind the integrated report you proposed to us. With 2016's annual report, it feels like we have upgraded the sections on governance, social contributions and sustainability compared to the previous versions. Now, the next issue seems to be finding a way to further expand on this.
Ohsato: Do you have any ideas about further developments in the PR field?
Yoko Watanabe: s a shame that our space and satellite services aren't better known in Japan, especially considering that we have reached the fifth spot worldwide. Also, we intend to proactively draw up press releases for our new services in order to raise awareness that our activities go beyond SKY PerfecTV! Additionally, when we send out information in English, we want to be able to release information in a style that all of our departments can feel proud of - and we count on your assistance in this regard.
Ohsato: Thank you. If you continue sharing your challenges and difficulties with us, I believe we can provide you with various solutions, so please continue giving us your frank opinions. Thank you very much for granting us such a long time today.
You can read the annual report we helped renew (dated March 2016) at the link below.
http://www.skyperfectjsat.co.jp/en/information/annual.html
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