| Title | KUMAMON |
| Brand | KUMAMOTO PREFECTURE |
| Product / Service | CITY PROMOTION |
| Entrant | JR WEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS Osaka, JAPAN |
| Entrant Company: | JR WEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS Osaka, JAPAN |
| Advertising Agency: | JR WEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS Osaka, JAPAN |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Yuki Imai | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Creative Director |
| Keiichi Aoki | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Agency Producer |
| Kaoru Shinno | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Art Director |
| Miyuki Endo | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Producer |
| Junsuke Takaichi | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | National Strategy/ Planning Director |
| Masashi Kita | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Copywriter |
| Toshio Misumi | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Planner |
| Takako Nakano | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Planner |
| Shiho Asakura | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Art Director |
| Norimasa Usuda | JRWEST JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS | Planner |
| Kenichi Wakita | UNCLE | Copywriter |
| Hiroshi Takata | UNCLE | Designer |
| Shotaro Soejima | UNCLE | Designer |
| Jiro Sakaguchi | UNCLE | Producer |
| So Koshida | J STREAM | Director |
| Hiroaki Murata | J STREAM | Director |
| Taisaku Harada | J STREAM | Cameraman |
| Yoshimasa Fujiwara | Yoshimasa Photo Studio | Photographer |
| Yoshihiro Suzuki | neu | Art Director |
| Naoki Hiraoka | neu | Designer |
A campaign was conducted in the city of Osaka to attract attention to the prefecture of Kumamoto and advertise tourism there. The campaign was carried out in Osaka with a focus on “Kuma-mon,” a mascot bear we had introduced as an image character for the prefecture. It was named after the “Kuma” (which means “bear”) of Kumamoto prefecture. Even the governor was asked to personally participate in the promotion campaign. He attended a special ceremony and press conference, where Kuma-mon, acting as a staff member of the prefectural government rather than just its “character,” was given 10,000 business cards of his own, and a mission to distribute them.
Involving the governor into the PR campaign using a mascot character successfully gave the impression that people in Kumamoto have a sense of humor, and are enthusiastic in their enjoyment of silliness . The campaign generated media exposure equivalent to seven million dollars in advertising expenditure. On Twitter, Kuma-mon obtained 5,000 followers during the campaign (He is now followed by more than 10,000 fans). A questionnaire survey shows that the rate of people who recognized Kuma-mon rose to 41.0%, and that Kumamoto was visited by almost double the amount of people compared to the previous year.
Kuma-mon suddenly appeared all around Osaka, from parks and streets to even news media sites, such as TV and radio stations. These scenes were distributed via website video and through out-of-home (OOH) media. Even with the gigantic scale of the campaign, including the governor involved as a player, it was Kuma-mon’s unprecedented actions as a mascot, his tendency to appear in unpredictable places, and his as many as 32 types of business cards, which brought the campaign to the center of attention on many websites, including Twitter. The bear shot up to be a popular idle, often invited to events and requested for interviews by the press, and worked successfully to advertise Kumamoto.