STILL LIFE

TitleSTILL LIFE
BrandTHE END ALS ASSOCIATION
Product / ServiceEND ALS
CategoryA07. Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages
EntrantMcCANN ERICKSON JAPAN Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation McCANN ERICKSON JAPAN Tokyo, JAPAN
PR VECTOR GROUP Tokyo, JAPAN
Production McCANN ERICKSON JAPAN Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 AOI PRO Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 3 SABUROKU Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Masahiro (HIRO) Fujita McCann Erickson Japan Strategic Planning Director
Isamu Nakamura McCann Erickson Japan Executive Creative Director
Chiharu Ozaki McCann Erickson Japan Creative Planner
Yasuaki Kurata McCann Erickson Japan Art Director
Shotaro Adachi McCann Erickson Japan Art Director
Yuki Saito McCann Erickson Japan Art Director
Ryosuke Yoshitomi McCann Erickson Japan Creative Planner
Akihiro Orimo McCann Erickson Japan Planner
Miyoko Ohki McCann Erickson Japan PR Director
Kiyoshi Kindo McCann Erickson Japan Agency Producer
Mai Fukuda Craft Worldwide Japan Web Producer
Kensaku Kakimoto office SAKU Film Director
Satomi Inagaki office SAKU Film Director
Asami Koyama K FIBE INC. Cinematographer
Hisao Usui TAMCO Inc. Sound Engineer
Satomi Inagaki office SAKU Film Director
Hiroki Okumura Digital Garden Inc. Mixer
Junichi Murata AOI Pro. Producer
Taisuke Shirasawa AOI Pro. Producer
Mana Hashimoto AOI Pro. Production Manager
Tomomi Teramoto AOI Pro. Production Manager
Yuyua Masuko SABUROKU Inc. Editor
Eiji Nishida Craft Worldwide Japan Special Thanks
Midori Nissato Momentum Japan Special Thanks
Motoi Ito Ad Hoc Inc. Special Thanks
Hirofumi Hayashi Dentsu Inc. Special Thanks
Masahiko Futara Hakuhodo Inc. Special Thanks
Masatane Muto Hakuhodo Inc. Special Thanks
Kaori Mochizuki McCann Erickson Japan Translation
Taro Fujiwara BISHOP MUSIC Music

The Campaign

To illuminate the cruelty of his disease, ALS patient Hiro Fujita decided to use his condition (complete immobility of the body except for eye movement) to his advantage by serving as the model for a still life painting. In a country where patients are prone to withdraw from society and hide their disabledness, Hiro’s decision to intentionally put himself on display for public scrutiny was an attempt to provoke people into contemplating the disease and learning more about it.

Execution

Hiro called out to people on social media, asking them to paint him as a human subject for a still life painting. Artists of all levels gathered to create paintings and drawings of Hiro, and the finished works covered the walls of the gallery. The collected artworks will be used by END ALS as creative assets to further promote awareness for ALS. They have already been exhibited at a gallery, displayed at a subway station, and shown digitally on an outdoor vision at Tokyo’s Harajuku district.

The video of the event was posted on social media, attracting 72k views in just 1 night. The event was documented in a 30-minute TV program for NHK, Japan’s national TV channel. Also, a number of media spaces and exhibition spaces offered the use of their spaces for free. Monthly sales of the official END ALS T-shirts doubled compared to that of the previous month. Resulting in a total of $3.8 million worth of earned media and still continuing to grow.

The Strategy

The naming of this event is intended as a wordplay of the END ALS slogan, “I’M STILL ALIVE” and Hiro describing his inability to move due to ALS as “Still Life.” The event aims to create social impact by intentionally taking an ironic approach of having an ALS patient serve as a painting model.

Links

Website URL