GATA BATTLE

Bronze Spike

Case Film

Film

TitleGATA BATTLE
BrandSAGA CITY
Product / ServiceCITY PROMOTION
CategoryA03. Online: Fiction & Non-Fiction
EntrantGEOMETRY GLOBAL Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation GEOMETRY GLOBAL Tokyo, JAPAN
PR GEOMETRY GLOBAL Tokyo, JAPAN
Production TYO Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 HOGARTH WORLDWIDE Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Masato Mitsudera Geometry Global Japan GK Executive Creative Director
Masato Mitsudera Geometry Global Japan GK Executive Creative Director
Masato Mitsudera Geometry Global Japan GK Executive Creative Director
Akihiko Ono Geometry Global Japan GK Art Director
Kengo Arima Arima Office Ltd. Director
Masao Omokawa TYO Inc. Monster Division Producer
Miyu Okuda TYO Inc. Monster Division Production Assistant
Tsuyoshi Shichijo TYO Inc. Monster Division Production Manager
Shingo Sasaki TYO Inc. Monster Division Editor
Yuta Shimotsu CHINZEI Cameraman
Naoki Yoshimine SUI Art
Yuji Takasaki Freelance Freelancer
Shoichiro Nakashima Sagan Pro. Casting
Tadataka Urakawa Sagan Pro. Casting
Hiroshi Yasuoka Freelance Freelancer
Ai Takashima PPC Editor
Hiroshi Kawagoe STEP Music Producer
Naoki Miyazoe Saga AD Center Creative Producer/ Account Executive
Daisuke Mishima Saga AD Center Creative Producer/ Account Executive
Ralph Ooi Hogarth Worldwide Pte Limited Post-Producer
Timothy Lee Hogarth Worldwide Pte Limited Editor
Anders Ong Hogarth Worldwide Pte Limited Audio Producer
Daniel Ngo Hogarth Worldwide Pte Limited Audio Engineer
Sandra Goh Geometry Global Singapore Creative Designer
David Arlett Hogarth Worldwide Pte Limited VO Talent

The Campaign

Searching for Saga’s uniqueness, we found inspiration in its fauna: A variety of rare animals inhabit the mudflats of the Ariake sea. A spectacle of nature only to be seen in Saga is the fights between the walking fish Mutsugoro and the crab Shiomaneki. However, even among the locals, only few know about the territorial nature of their hostility. They reminded us of a commonly seen theme in Japanese entertainment: Combat. Classics from the 1980s like Ultraman and The Power Rangers mostly evolve around the battles of monsters and morphing heroes. They are known as “Tokusatsu” movies (which translates to “special effects”) and are to this day one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Japan. So we applied this genre for our campaign and reimagined the Mutsugoro and the Shiomaneki as Tokusatsu-style archenemies.

Creative Execution

In a press conference in the city hall of Saga on July 9th 2015, we launched two music videos in the retro Tokusatsu style (Tokusatsu roughly translates to “special effects” and refers to the Japanese monster or hero movie genre. It is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment). The movies feature Mutsugoro and Shiomaneki, two species of the tidelands as archenemies. Music and lyrics spoof all-time classics of the Tokusatsu genre and get the smiling muscles working. On the website, people can vote for their personal winner of the battle. Among the all-local cast was Hanawa, a famous comedian and entertainer. The Mayor’s encouragement started a grassroots-movement of entrepreneurial citizens providing own goods and tourist activities. This attracted massive TV coverage (1hr 20min 15sec on national TV, worth 5,899,235 USD). Prime time variety shows sent their anchor people to Saga to explore and report about the hype.

Impact & Reach: - 140% increase in tourism against a target of 10% - With zero media spend and 15,000 USD invested in mostly production our campaign achieved 101 media impressions worth a total of 6.015.998 USD (660.282.419 JPY) between July 9 and November 13: TV coverage: 5,899,235 USD (over 1hr on prime time) Newspapers: 71,053 USD Online blogs & News: 44,726 USD Radio: 984 USD Between July 10 and 14, the campaign was raised and discussed in 63 Online Blog and news articles. These articles discussed our campaign as “refreshing” and “an innovative approach to City PR” and resounded further on social media: Twitter 670 tags; Facebook 1014 tags, 559 likes, 138 shares, 102 comments.

Everyone can make online content, right? But it takes entertaining content if you want to inspire a nation and enthuse it with the most boring town in Japan. Inspired by a theme in Japanese entertainment known as “Tokusatsu” movies, one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, we created a comedic web-series that reimagined two native creatures: the Mutsugoro and the Shiomaneki as Tokusatsu-style enemies. This “tongue in cheek” series turned these local animals into national heroes. Saga City is now a national tourist attraction and a destination for family excursions with visitors increasing by 140% since last year.

We wanted to establish Saga’s tidelands as a domestic travel destination, especially for families with young children. To make the most of our limited budget, we aimed for organic growth. How? We provided the local citizens with content and empowered them to use their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to support their city of Saga! We enlisted the support of the Mayor to drive the campaign in his monthly press conferences, on TV and with visits to related events, further ensuring citizen participation and awareness.

Links

Website URL