The Campaign

We wanted to increase awareness of Roppongi's garbage problem among visitors to the neighborhood, and implement our project as a means of enlightening them. We created huge social media buzz by turning garbage piles into jack-o'-lanterns, the symbol of Halloween.

Execution

The event ran from about two weeks before Halloween to the day after. Volunteers gathered in a Roppongi park at 7am, before the morning commute. Armed with the pumpkin garbage bags, they began picking up garbage. Despite the early-morning start time, we had 550 volunteers over a period of two weeks.

1. Despite attracting 1,130,000 people, the event drew only a single formal resident complaint. It attracted 550 volunteers to collect garbage. As a result, instead of overflowing with garbage, Roppongi became covered with jack-o'-lanterns. It changed negative attitudes toward picking up garbage, making it cute and fun, and personal. 2. PR costs were zero. By spending ¥1,500,000 on making the bags, we succeeded in generating ¥1,000,000,000 worth of publicity.

The Situation

We made use of the existing media of garbage bags, which had never before been capitalized on. Through the sheer strength of the design, the project got free exposure on social media and news outlets, without any direct media costs.

The Strategy

Halloween attracts a prime demographic of mostly young people and families with children. We were able to create for this audience a sense of personal connection to picking up trash by designing a "cute" garbage bag. We created a huge support base by enlisting the help of celebrities and local key radio station J-WAVE to solicit volunteers; and collecting crowdfunding donations.