J.D. Power Asia Pacific Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Iku Suzuki; hereinafter referred to as J.D. Power), an international specialist in research and consulting on customer satisfaction (CS), CCC Marketing Inc. (Head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Noritake Takeda; hereinafter referred to as CCC Marketing), a group company of Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as CCC) that engages in database marketing, and CCC Car Life Lab Inc. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Shiro Horie; hereinafter referred to as CCC Car Life Lab), a provider of automotive information, have agreed to enter into a business partnership to develop new marketing solutions. Following this agreement, we are pleased to announce the results of the first joint survey conducted by the three companies, "Survey on Autonomous Driving Technology."

The joint survey was conducted online in August 2016 among 1,295 T members* aged 18 to 69 who own a car in their household.

*T members who have rented DVDs at TSUTAYA at least once within the past six months

- "Autonomous driving systems" are of high interest among people in their 20s and younger -

Currently, various technologies that support safe driving, such as collision avoidance and damage mitigation systems, false alarm prevention functions, and blind spot monitoring, are being developed and released to the market, but this survey found that many of these technologies are of greater interest to the senior generation than to younger generations. On the other hand, younger generations showed more interest in "autonomous driving systems," which allow vehicles to drive automatically without human drivers, than seniors, with the highest percentage of people in their 20s and younger responding that they were "interested" at 30%.

Additionally, when asked what they would like to do in the car once fully autonomous driving becomes a reality, the top answers given by all respondents were "relaxing/daydreaming" (50%), "sleeping" (41%), "enjoying conversation" (34%), and "watching a movie" (32%). In particular, the younger generation aged 18 to 29 chose "watching movies" at 39%, higher than other age groups. They also cited items such as "reading," "playing games," "eating delicious food," "drinking alcohol," and "working" at higher rates than other generations, suggesting that they want to actively utilize the travel space and time that only fully autonomous driving can provide, without having to drive themselves.

Next, an analysis of purchasing data held by CCC Marketing revealed that the younger generation who responded that they were interested in autonomous driving were 15% more likely to purchase books (magazines) and 12% more likely to rent CDs than their peers who were not interested, indicating a higher rate of exposure to entertainment content.

The current automotive industry is facing challenges such as declining sales and young people turning away from cars, creating a tough market environment. However, this survey revealed that, in this situation, the new technology of autonomous driving has the potential to bring about major changes in the market.

In particular, improvements in autonomous driving technology suggest that the younger generation's image of cars is likely to change from one of status or a means of transportation to one of personal space and private places for enjoying content. These results provide a clue as to the new ways in which consumers interact with their cars, and are thought to indicate consumer expectations for future innovations in the automotive industry, such as IoT and connected cars.

CCC Marketing, CCC Car Life Lab, and J.D. Power are convinced that in order to accurately grasp new consumer expectations and needs in the future, an approach from a new perspective that differs from conventional approaches, linking consumer awareness with actual behavior revealed by purchasing data, will be effective. The three companies will continue to work together to provide new marketing solutions.

[About the joint investigation]
For nearly 50 years since its founding in 1968, J.D. Power has consistently collected and analyzed consumer opinions in major automotive markets around the world, including the United States and Japan. In Japan, the company also conducts and publishes surveys targeting over 100,000 automobile users annually. In addition, CCC Marketing has a membership base of approximately 60 million people and holds annual purchase history data worth over 6 trillion yen through 156 partner companies, and CCC Car Life Lab has a wealth of experience in providing information on the Japanese automobile market, including publishing automobile-related books.

By combining the know-how of the three companies, the three companies will combine the "actual behavior" of consumers based on big data from purchasing data with the "awareness and inclinations" of consumers, and work to develop a new type of marketing research platform, analytical framework, and marketing solutions.

In the future, we hope to combine big data with "consumer voices" to discover consumer insights from new perspectives and provide marketing solutions. Initially, the two companies will conduct joint research targeting the automotive industry, periodically release press releases, and conduct research to develop effective solutions.

About J.D. Power
J.D. Power (headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, USA) is an international marketing information services company that provides insights into customer satisfaction and solutions for performance improvement. Each year, we conduct quality and customer satisfaction surveys with millions of consumers and business users around the world. The company has a total of 17 bases in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. In the Asia Pacific region, the company has offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok and Malaysia, and conducts research in Japan, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For more information, please visit our websitehttp://japan.jdpower.comto.

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CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464