The Campaign

The number of visitors to Ise Shima area, one of the major tourist spots in Japan, has been decreasing to about a half in this past two decades. In response to such situation, our client, Kintetsu Corporation, the local railway and tourism company, requested us with an idea to bring tourists back to this area. The first thing that we did is to re-clarify the value of Ise Shima and its brand positioning. After the research, we defined Ise Shima as “the best place to express gratitude.” The definition came from the original purpose of Japanese people to worship Ise Jinguu, a famous site in Ise Shima considered as the most revered shrine in Japan, which was to appreciate their lives. We proposed a new purpose of making a trip to Ise Shima, to express gratitude to someone special, by reviving this traditional mindset in our times. At the same time, we focused on to create Ise Shima as a place where people can express their gratitude romantically. Our campaign matched the potential needs of Japanese people, who recognized the importance of family and surrounding people after the great earthquake. The campaign has been successful in inviting more tourists to Ise Shima. For instance, the number of visitors to Ise Jinguu marked a record high of 14.2 million. We believe that the campaign meets the elements of PR section in that we succeeded in inspiring people to visit Ise Shima with a new purpose, which is to say “thank you.”

The Brief

The objective of this campaign was to attract tourists back to Ise Shima area. In order to achieve this goal, we researched how people decide their destinations when going on a travel. According to our research, Ise Jinguu marked 23rd on the list of “places you want to travel this year,” although many people think they want to visit Ise Jinguu once in a lifetime. Taking these results, we reconfirmed the necessity of discovering new values and the reason why everyone should visit Ise Shima.

Results

The campaign became a hot topic mainly on the websites and 483 social medias. The page view counts reached up to 276,352 in the first month. As a result of this campaign, many hotels in Ise Shima marked the increase in guests up to 150% from the previous year. The sales of tourism and leisure section of Kintetsu also increased 230% from the previous year. The number of visitors to Ise Jinguu marked a record high of 14.2 million, which is in calculation, one in every ten Japanese people have visited the shrine. Moreover, the campaign has changed the lives of those who participated. There were 2 couples became engaged by writing a letter of marriage proposal.

Execution

To carry out this campaign, we firstly asked people to write a letter to someone special to make an entry. This campaign was advertised in Tokyo area for a month expecting it would go viral because it featured a letter written by a famous broadcast writer to his wife. As expected, mass media picked it up as news and the ad spread nationwide, making floods of posts in social media such as facebook, twitters and blogs, saying "His letter moved me." "heart-touching!". At the same time, we created Ise Shima as a place where people can express their gratitude, by making “Thanks-Spot Map” and special dinner menu in collaboration with the local restaurants. Then, we delivered those heartfelt letters to Ise Shima by surprise to the participants’ precious people.

The Situation

In Japan, there are many attractive tourist spots such as Kyoto, Osaka, Hokkaido, and Okinawa. Various sightseeing spots, such as Mt. Fuji, are registered as a World Heritage Site. However, the number of visitors to Ise Shima area, one of the major tourist spots in Japan, has been decreasing to about a half in this past two decades. In response to such situation, our client, Kintetsu Corporation, the local rail transit and tourism corporation, requested us to come up with an idea to bring tourists back to Ise Shima area.

The Strategy

To promote Ise Shima, we had to discover a new purpose of visiting the area other than just sightseeing. After the research, we defined Ise Shima as “the best place to express gratitude in Japan,” from the Japanese people’s mindset to worship Ise Jinguu in the old days, which was to appreciate their lives. Taking from this mindset, we proposed a new style of Ise Shima trip to say thank you to someone special. We expected that the campaign attracts many of those who recognized the importance of family and the surrounding people after the great earthquake in Japan.