The Campaign

Aomori city, located in the northern Tohoku area of Japan. It is very well known for its fisheries. The previous Japanese Women’s National Curling Olympic Team, based in Aomori, had made a request to refurbish their team uniform. Having achieved the challenging task of uniting the 1,360,000 people of Aomori, we also managed to gather people in Aomori to share the feeling of victory by having the tairyo bata ('victory message'), as a concept in order to get back the pride, as well as their vibrant spirit, which had suffered the disaster of a lifetime. This whole movement led the 1,360,000 people of Aomori to unite as 1 team: 'Team- Aomori'. We believe that this entry is appropriate to PR Lions as this whole campaign meant so much to Aomori, as people in Aomori have been devastated, as Team Aomori had to give away its position as a representative of Japanese national curling team that they had secured for 8 years. The key PR element of the campaign was the unity of 1,360,000 people, the Aomori people by sharing the feeling for victory throughout the concept of using TAIRYO BATA.

The Brief

The goal for this campaign was to unite 1,360,000 people, the whole population of Aomori, into 1 team. The target-audience is the whole Aomori people and the research that we had undertaken was on tairyo bata, where we studied the meaning of the flags and what they meant to the people of Aomori. We later came up with the concept for the campaign; the usage of the tairyo bata to unite the whole population of Aomori.

Results

The result was that people who heard about the news of this campaign throughout the mass media along with the outdoor media and the activities had gathered around to produce these cheering items, such as flags and gloves. In order for people in Aomori who had suffered the disaster of a lifetime to regain their pride and the town's vibrant spirit. 1,360,000 people, the entire population of Aomori had united as 1 team: 'Team Aomori'.

Execution

During 9th February to 14th February, 2012, a uniform for Team Aomori that used the tairyo bata was made to coincide with the Japan Curling Championships. In total, over 150 flags had been donated by the fishery harbors all around Aomori. During January 2012, the remaining tairyo bata were used to make cheering items, such as flags and gloves. These items were made by the people of Aomori, voluntarily. Places including Aomori Airport, Aomori Train Station, New Aomori Train Station, Aomori city hall, various outdoor media and curling-competition venues had been adorned with these cheering items. The campaign run as we had planned along with our original schedule.

The Situation

Aomori city, located at the very north of the Tohoku area of Japan was full of energy. It had been catapulted into the limelight as 'Aomori: the city of Curling' by the appearance of the National Women’s Curling Team, Team Aomori, who had represented Japan in the Torino Winter Olympics and 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. However, people in Aomori were devastated when Team Aomori had to give away its position as the representative of Japanese curling - a position they had secured for 8 years. When this happened, PR that would unite Aomori was required.

The Strategy

The main strategy was to use the tairyou bata, the 'victory message' for the city's fisheries - the pride of Aomori. The tairyo bata are raised on fishing boats to let people at the harbor know that they have had a great catch of fish. By uniting 1,360,000 people from the population of Aomori, who became involved in this project, by employing the TAIRYO BATA as its concept, inevitably created a shared feeling of victory.