The Brief

While Japan has developed a very strong space industry over the years, Japanese people do not really feel concerned by space-related news. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) wanted to take an initiative that would foster people's interest and awareness in space development.

Creative Execution

As a public organization, one of JAXA’s missions is to inform the Japanese citizen about its activities and achievements. Connecting people to the ISS through a social network is doubly relevant to this mission. It demonstrates JAXA’s most advanced achievements (Japanese contribution to the ISS), and does it through the favorite means of communication of younger generations (social networks). Besides, it was clear that other media (TV etc.) would relay the event in the news, further contributing to JAXA’s mission to inform as many people as possible.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Our solution is based on a simple assumption: If people were able to chat with astronauts from their home, they would feel much closer to space and become more aware of it. We thus proposed an event, the first of its kind in the world, where we would connect people’s computer with the International Space Station (ISS). Google+ Hangouts was the perfect platform to achieve that, so we asked our business partner Google to collaborate with us to bring this challenge to reality.

Results

This event, the first of its kind in the world, really succeeded in bringing people closer to space than ever before. It was also a tremendous success in the media, making its way to the front page of Japan's largest daily newspaper (10 Million copies), followed by more than 100 media including TV and the Web. JAXA's objective to foster people's interest in space was achieved beyond expectations. This event was also a step forward for all the people dreaming of space, especially for the many children dreaming of becoming astronauts.