Solution
MICE Solutions in Japan and Worldwide
Resource
About JTB
About JTB
Case Studies
2025.10.15
Industry :JTB Self-organized event
Participants :152 on site, 456 online
Destination :Conrad Tokyo, Shiodome, Tokyo
Period :July 18, 2025
・More than 150 people from around the world gathered in Japan for GBU AWARDS 2024, an in-house awards ceremony hosted by JTB Global Business Unit Headquarters.
・An impressive program of keynote, an awards ceremony, and a party.
・With the focus on “Refining Our Strengths,” the event was planned with attention to detail, from venue production to program arrangement.
・A sense of unity was formed among the audience through immersive staging and sharing the vision for the future.
JTB Global Business Unit Headquarters (GBU) held the GBU AWARDS 2024 to honor the achievements and contributions of its global business in fiscal year 2024, as well as to provide an opportunity to share best practices and indicate future business directions. This event has been held since 2012 and features many of JTB’s Global Network, with award categories designed to highlight the achievements of all employees around the world. During Covid-19, the event had to be scaled back and held online only, but the ceremonial event with on-site participation restarted in 2023.
The theme for this year's event was "Rise to Shine.” Building on the previous year's “Reborn to Rise,” this year's theme carried a strong message of refining the strengths for further growth. The event program consisted of three parts: keynote, an awards ceremony, and a party. The department in charge was the JTB Global Business Unit Headquarters, which has successfully organized numerous Meetings & Events around the world. The program was designed to help participants enjoy and motivate themselves in their own work through the 5-hour event.
The GBU AWARDS was not just a place to reflect on past achievements. We also intended for the presence of the award winners to encourage their peers to take on new challenges, and that such positive energy would spread. In order to increase participant satisfaction, we needed to look back on past events and identify which areas were to be retained and which to be improved. The main event—the awards ceremony—was what we looked at first. In addition to the awards in each category, some of the awards were to be presented on the day, with the Grand Prix winner decided by a vote of all participants during the event itself.
Since this is a popular program every year that generates much excitement and emotion, we were conscious of following the standards set in previous years while adding minor improvements based on the questionnaire conducted the previous year in order to further increase participant satisfaction. The next most important aspect was how to effectively deliver the message to participants to “refine our strengths.” At corporate ceremonies, it is sometimes difficult for each employee to make such a message personal if the program is simply implemented.
While keeping in mind a sense of unity, it was necessary to create a memorable event for everyone by incorporating elements that would surprise and impress them in ways that differed from their everyday work. In addition, comfort was also important. For guests coming from all over the world, in addition to time differences, lifestyles, cultures, and climates, they also have different expectations about how to spend time at the venue and what they perceive as comfortable. Creating a space where everyone could enjoy themselves naturally and without stress was an important issue.
・Plan an event that brings all participants together, whether onsite or online
・Establish a system that smoothly accommodates participants from around the world
・Improve venue set-up based on the results of the previous year's survey
・Create an experience that can be enjoyed by participants from diverse backgrounds
・Incorporate a production and program that keeps participants engaged
A customized version of the existing voting application was used to determine the Grand Prix winner by creating a system that allows all online and on-site participants to vote smoothly. In addition, the time of the event was carefully adjusted so that employees who would otherwise have difficulty participating due to time differences would be able to vote. This successfully created a sense of excitement by conveying to the participants the tension of award prospects and the weight and responsibility of each vote during the speeches on the day of the event.
Various creative elements were incorporated throughout to convey the message of “refining our strengths.” Among these, one that was particularly well received in the previous year was the symbolic tree installed at the venue representing the new phase of the company's growth. This year, the design was changed to one in which the branches and leaves have spread and grown larger, creating a more impressive presentation of the story of how the participants and the company have grown together.
In addition, as a device to foster a sense of unity among the audience, a performance was staged to resemble the ritual of throwing salt into a sumo ring by a former professional sumo wrestler at the end of the keynote. We liken our business to a small-sized sumo wrestler who defeated larger opponents with unique and hard-to-imitate techniques, a metaphor for our strategy of building a strong competitive advantage through high inimitability.
By scattering a large number of shining ribbons that resemble “salt” in the air, the performance expressed the strong determination of all participants to aim high by leveraging their individual strengths to develop businesses that are difficult to imitate and build a competitive advantage. The experience and staging of the event, which exceeded what we had imagined, created great emotion and a sense of unity in the venue. This left a stronger impression of the message we wanted to convey as the JTB Group.
In order to keep the participants entertained during the long in-house ceremony, the program content was varied. Keynote and the awards ceremony were designed to create a presence with powerful lasers and other special effects. Based on feedback from the previous year, minor improvements were also made to the air conditioning and coffee service to create a more comfortable environment.
Later on, we changed the proceedings to a more Japanese style. We designed the space to be calm and relaxing, opening with a shamisen performance to bring employees together.
To make it easier to coordinate the overall schedule, staff were notified of the event 7 months prior instead of 3 months. With a longer preparation period than before, employees visiting from overseas were able to arrange schedules, visa procedures, and lodging arrangements in good time. The early advance preparation enabled us to coordinate visits and face-to-face meetings with clients in Japan at the same time, making the most of the trip as a business trip to Japan as well as participation in the awards ceremony.
The GBU AWARDS 2024, held by the JTB Global Business Unit Headquarters, was a large-scale internal event with more than 600 In-house and online participants from around the world. It successfully raised employee motivation and created a sense of unity throughout. In addition to comments on the excitement generated with the presentations and voting, as well as the comfortable venue layout, many participants expressed a greater sense of ownership in their work, saying they wanted to be on the receiving end of an award next year. This further raised expectations for the next event.
There were also active interactions across all departments and regions, providing an opportunity to experience the connections of the JTB Global Business Unit beyond national and cultural boundaries. Many participants mentioned feeling the excitement and sense of togetherness that comes from actually meeting and interacting in person to be particularly delightful, especially in terms of the travel industry and being able to hold a large-scale gathering after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The success of the event was due to the combination of the Japanese levels of hospitality that the JTB Group's global business has developed over many years in the travel industry, one that caters to each individual, and the creative skills that have been refined in our work in the MICE business. This is one of JTB's unique strengths. This event was an opportunity to confirm the direction the JTB Group was heading and to foster a sense of unity toward that future. Going forward, JTB will continue to grow and evolve based on the strengths we have developed in our global businesses, while creating solutions that both solve issues for client companies in the global community and increase participant satisfaction.
・JTBGMT
As Japan’s leading Destination Management Company, JTB Global Marketing & Travel has welcomed countless visitors from overseas. JTBGMT’s total solutions for guests and event organizers include leveraging our unmatched experience, thorough planning skills, a wide network of partners, excellence at making all types of arrangements, and ability to provide reliable operations in order to meet and exceed the needs of our clients. We strive for continuous improvement in our Total Management efforts.
・MC&A
MC&A is an event management specialist company, acquired by JTB in 2016, to elevate the guest experience across the continent and has presence in six cities across the United States. MC&A has been providing a trusted, hands-on service in the U.S. market and this time, in collaboration with JTB GMT handling Meetings & Events for foreign corporations in Japan, they provide support from the planning stage to create a global perspective that represents JTB as a global corporation.
JTB Corp.
Global Business Unit Headquarters
Planning Team Manager
Began career in retail sales at JTB Corp., spending seven years specializing in overseas travel sales, developing strong hospitality and customer service skills.
After promotion to Manager, served as Office Manager for five years across multiple locations, gaining comprehensive management experience in team leadership and operations. Transferred to the Leisure Business Department focusing on promotional activities and learning targeted marketing strategies in the Merchandising Management Team. Served as the Personal Assistance to CEO for four years, developing organizational skills and high-level communication abilities through schedule management and client relations. Currently in the Global Business Unit handling global communications and serving as Person in Charge for internal award ceremony.
