The Campaign

A small village in northeast Japan famous for rice, Inakadate, was struggling with aging and declining population along with drop in rice sales. To save the village, we created huge art pictures in our rice field by planting different colors of rice. We then developed a new technology called “rice-code,” which let visitors scan the rice art with their phones like a QR code and purchase the rice. “Rice-code” transformed a scene that people naturally want to photograph into a brand new selling place. The project successfully attracted 251,320 visitors, about 30 times the population of the village and sales jumped dramatically. The power of rice revitalized the village again. This movement even moved the government to build a special train station for the visitors. Field, the oldest outdoor creative is now the newest. Key 'PR' elements ・The quality of the rice art was so detailed and sensitive that visitors naturally wanted to photograph it. Visitors actively took photos and shared it by themselves. As a result, with mostly 0 budget, the project successfully attracted 251,320 visitors, about 30 times the population of the village and the selling place of rice also spreaded. ・As "rice-code" showed the future case of the agricultural selling place, the media not only covered it by the rice art's impact, but also covered it from business point of view.

The Brief

Our goal was to lead people to the depopulated agricultural village without any use of paid media, but utilizing their resource “rice.” We wanted to re-vitalize the village by creating a fusion of agriculture art and technology by introducing a totally new way to show and buy rice.

Results

The project successfully attracted 251,320 visitors, about 30 times the population of the village. Meanwhile, sale of rice related to rice-art increased 380% over last year, when this technology was not yet introduced. A village with around $5000 for a rice advertising budget (including poster printing and design fees, but basically no media fee) gained significant media exposure, including on TV and newspaper, and a great deal of local media. The effect of Rice-code's PR was to gain more than $100000 media exposure. Moreover with SNS diffusion, we received more media reach than ever. Also, homepage access of the village increased 8 times more than usual. With the integration of agriculture, art and digital technology, a village famous for rice but struggling with depopulation gained tremendous media exposure and attention with a new purchase route of rice. The power of rice revitalized the village again. This movement even motivated the government to build a special train station for the visitors. Ground, society's most primitive outdoor media, became the newest.

Execution

We created huge art pictures in our rice field by planting different colors of rice. We then developed a new technology called “rice-code”, which let visitors scan the rice art with their phones like a QR code and purchase the rice. “Rice-code” transformed a scene that people naturally want to photograph into a brand new selling place.

The Situation

A small village in northeast Japan famous for rice, Inakadate, was struggling with aging and declining population along with drop in rice sales, since Japanese eating habits have shifted away from rice toward a more Western diet. Nevertheless, the village’s main income source remains rice. So we tried to re-energize the village by creating a fusion of agriculture and digital technology.

The Strategy

Inakadate had flourished because of its rice from ancient times, and its key assets are the extensive rice field and delicious rice. Therefore, we felt revitalizing the village by utilizing rice in a new way, was the best approach.