HANASAKE NIPPON

TitleHANASAKE NIPPON
BrandA GROUP OF HANASAKE NIPPON
Product / ServiceSAKE
CategoryB04. Public Service, Charity & Fund Raising
EntrantHAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Entrant Company:HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Sales Promotion/Advertising Agency:HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Makoto Takahashi Hakuhodo, Inc. Creative Director
Yuki Tokuno Hakuhodo, Inc. Art Director

The Brief

The cherry blossom season is a special season in Japan. People cerebrate the coming of spring by holding "Hanami(cherry blossom)" party and by drinking sake. To sweep away the “mood of self-restraint” blanketing the whole of Japan, that had also been pushed by the government since the great earthquake disaster of 3/11, in order to protect Japan from secondary economic losses. Not with short-term donations but rather by supporting the disaster area’s recovery through continued consumption of sake.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Disaster area’s sake-brewers broadcast their message to encourage “hanami” via YouTube. The crux of their message was not “HELP!” but “Enjoy!”, not “Donate!” but “Drink!”. Establishing an official website to be the hub and using social media to spread the message. Create and distribute posters from people with their personal messages of support. PR promotion through mass media developed the campaign and sales space linked to participating ecommerce websites, restaurants and major retail chains. Many more people gathered under the cherry blossoms than in previous years.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

You Tube access = 650,000PV in 2 weeks. All the Japanese TV & newspaper medias(including overseas medias) visited the brewery. Resulting media impression = US$3,300,000. Sales in Tohoku area = 400% increase from previous year.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The non-victims of Japan forced each other to be in "mourning mood" from feeling of "guilty pressure" and restrained themselves from enjoying Hanami party. To eradicate this mood, we brought the "real-voice messages" from the actual victims, and passed the truth across Japan using SNS, YouTube, posters, etc. This was effective because, the messages came from the real victims and revealed what was really needed at the disaster stricken areas, instead of controlled information given by the government and public opinions.