The Brief

In Tokyo, over 2 million bikes are being disposed on the city streets every year, creating huge litter, blocking traffic, as well as being esthetically disturbing. But despite this reality, the abandoned bikes went largely unnoticed sitting in the same spot, day after day. Our hypothesis was that it’s because the problem was “invisible.” With COGOO, an organization aiming to create cleaner cities, we set out to raise awareness of this problem of abandoned bikes by making the “invisible,” more “visible.”

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We transformed bicycle-parking lots with abandoned bikes into art galleries displaying SADDLE BLOSSOMS: A Beautiful Solution to an Ugly Problem. First, we collected dozens of abandoned bikes and recycled saddles into planters to be used as an unforeseen new medium. We then got support from botanical experts to plant special seeds that grow fast. The plants left outdoors grew under the different weather, and in just a few weeks, abandoned bikes became art objects that created a unique plant gallery that caught the attention of many passers-by who stopped to ‘watch’ and ‘feel’ the hitherto-invisible problem.

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

During the 1month campaign, the art galleries created in bicycle parking lots in major train stations, college campuses and other locations around the city had over 100,000 visitors. Also, in just 1month, the exhibition helped reduce 40% of abandoned bikes in the area, which in actual numbers meant about 12,000 bikes. This unique campaign was featured in various news programs and the media value (non-paid publicity) reached more than ＄1,000,000. This meant a very high ROI given that the campaign budget was as little as $30,000.

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

The execution was extremely relevant for the brand because we created a unique medium for the campaign within the problem they wanted to solve- abandoned bikes themselves. Through careful observation, we realized that bike saddles were ideally shaped to be used as planters as well as being ideally located outdoors allowing the plants to grow under the different weather. We enabled the bike saddles to ‘speak’ for themselves. This idea converting an ugly problem into a beautiful artwork that people could appreciate was highly appropriate for a brand wanting to create cleaners cities.