Title | CENTER LANE |
Brand | SK-II |
Product / Service | SK-II |
Category | D02. Use of Branded Content created for Digital or Social |
Entrant | MEDIACOM Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Idea Creation | MEDIACOM Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Idea Creation 2 | GREY Tokyo, JAPAN |
Media Placement | MEDIACOM Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Production | BLUE ONE INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Production 2 | ENNET INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Leo Savage | Grey London | Creative |
Graham Drew | Grey Malaysia | Creative |
Siddika Dehlvi | Grey Singapore | Creative Business |
Danni Mohammed | Grey London | Creative Strategy |
San Takashima | Grey Tokyo | Creative |
Nihar Das | MediaCom | WPP Lead |
Sudhir Pasumarty | Grey Singapore | Creative |
Ashley Chen | Grey Singapore | Creative |
Ken Mitani | Grey Tokyo | Creative |
Katie Mulligan | Grey London | Creative & Copywriting |
Nathan Wilson | WPP | Global Integration |
Stuart Harkness | WPP | Creative |
Yukika Anan | Grey Tokyo | Copywriting |
Yuta Kudo | Grey Tokyo | Copywriting |
Shoko Akutagawa | Grey Tokyo | Producer |
Angelique Malabanan | Grey Singapore | Project Management |
Shane Lester | Grey Tokyo | Creative |
Sue-Ann De Cruz | Grey Singapore | Client Relationship |
Iris Gu | Grey Tokyo | Client Relationship |
Hiroko Matsuo | Grey Tokyo | Strategy |
William Godwin | Grey London | Business |
ChewLing Loke | Grey Singapore | Project Management |
Prajat Khar | MediaCom Singapore | Media |
Daryl Bryan Lim | Hogarth Singapore | Producer |
Hirokazu Koreeda | BUN-BUKU | Director |
Wataru Togashi | ENNET, inc. | Director |
Naoki Morita | ENNET, inc. | Producer |
Eiji Kitahara | ENNET, inc. | Producer |
Susumu Kawasumi | BLUE ONE inc. | Producer |
Yuta Nakajima | BLUE ONE inc. | Producer |
Ryuto Kondo | N/A | Creative |
Masanobu Hiraoka | CAVIAR | Creative |
Akira Kosemura | SCHOLE | Creative |
Matt Holyoak | Matt Holyoak | Creative |
Yuko Matsuda | N/A | Producer |
Choei Suzuki | Gambit | Casting |
SK-II is a premium, Japan-born, global skincare brand and a Tier-One sponsor of the Tokyo-Olympics. The brand took what could have been a standard athlete sponsorship and turned it into a media event the entire nation talked about, expanding its relevance beyond the stadiums and arenas to inspire and instill hope amongst a wide audience. This campaign acknowledges the craft of smartly orchestrating and distributing content as a key responsibility of the media function of marketing communication and as a crucial factor in the success of marketing ad campaigns.
SK-II had signed a host of inspirational female athletes for their Olympics campaign – set to define the brand’s purpose of ‘#changedestiny’ for a whole new generation. Then for the first time in history outside of wartime, the Olympics was postponed, leaving Japan devastated by both the pandemic and the impact of the Olympic-games potential cancellation. SK-II aimed to restore hope to its homeland whose dreams had been shattered. So SKII turned to another of their athletes, one who was fighting a far bigger battle. Rikako Ikee was a Japanese swimming-sensation and Olympic favorite – until in 2019 she was diagnosed with Leukaemia. Passionate about wanting to share her story to the public, SKII gave voice to her recovery, an extraordinary story of hope & determination that would eventually in an unplanned manner come to define the brand’s #ChangeDestiny purpose unlike any other.
#CHANGEDESTINY is at the heart of SK-II’s brand philosophy, celebrating how destiny is a matter of choice not chance. SK-II believes in the power of storytelling to influence culture and create positive change. So when the Olympics were rescheduled, SK-II partnered with Ikee to give voice to a powerful human-story of beauty in strength and resilience – a much needed antidote to the tough times Japan was experiencing. In Japan, illnesses and sensitive personal topics aren’t talked about openly. There’s the cultural tradition of Honne (public-face) and Tatemae (private-face) that keeps people from sharing their true feelings. 70% of female users even have additional fake social media where they can feel more authentic. We realized that Ikee’s personal story could become an example for the entire nation. A real-life account of not surrendering to the difficulties and trying to overcome obstacles in life in order to change one’s own destiny.
SK-II and Ikee had one aim: to inspire hope during unprecedented times through the power of storytelling. Ikee’s story was commissioned to be directed by renowned film-maker Hirokazu Kore-eda. But we didn’t stop there and turned inspirational storytelling into action by setting up a unique viewership based #CHANGEDESTINY Fund, the first ever views-based charity, contributing $1 for every view in support of women pursuing their destiny to create positive change. A significant segment who needed assistance were small-business owners as 87%(!) of women business owners have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Viewers of “Center-Lane” would also gain access to a virtual shopping alley --#CHANGEDESTINY STREET within a virtual city (SK-II CITY) featuring virtual versions of real stores owned by women in Tokyo. Visitors will also be able to join a virtual masterclass, listen to entrepreneurs’ story and shop in the stores as if they were in Tokyo.
“Center Lane” is a powerful message of hope and resilience that did not end with the closing titles, with each view the #ChangeDestiny Fund was activated and funds were contributed to support women entrepreneurs. In partnership with Shibuya City, Facebook, Google and MEETALK - a Tokyo-based women entrepreneurship network, we equipped women with digital and social-media skills as well as business networks/platforms to build and keep the business of their dreams alive. The program used a three-pronged approach to tackle the biggest challenges women-owned small businesses faced: • “Learn” - tailored training bootcamp and business consultation (building digital presence, social commerce and international expansion). • “Connect” - connecting entrepreneurs to a wider network and matching them with relevant role-models. • “Access” - giving women-owned-businesses access to a wider audience and unique brand building experiences via “SK-II CITY, a Tokyo inspired virtual city.
“Center Lane” became the most watched SK-II video in history garnering more than 49 mn Views with the launch premiere livestream witnessing a 1.2 MM audience (a record for the industry in Japan). Even more importantly it created an unprecedented engagement from the Japan audience and Media with positive consumer sentiment reaching highest ever levels (99%). Our entrepreneurship support program was joined by more than 550 businesses 88% of them women owned small businesses affected by the pandemic and suffering a major drop in sales. Program participants found that it led to their acquisition of business know-how, and the building of networking among women entrepreneurs (based on post program survey). All of the above led to SK-II sales growth in Japan of +30 pts ahead of FY 20-21 growth. New users (penetration) grew +7 pts ahead of FY20-21 growth.