The Campaign

Searching for Saga’s uniqueness, we found inspiration in its fauna, specifically its variety of rare animals inhabiting the mudflats of the Ariake Sea. A spectacle of nature only to be seen in Saga is the fights between the walking fish Mutsugoro and the crab Shiomaneki. However, even among the locals, only few know about the territorial nature of their hostility. They reminded us of a commonly seen theme in Japanese entertainment: Combat. Classics from the 1980’s like Godzilla and The Power Rangers were largely based on the battles of monsters and morphing heroes. They are known as “Tokusatsu” movies (which translates to “special effects”) and are to this day one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Japan. So we applied this genre to our campaign and recreated the Mutsugoro and the Shiomaneki as Tokusatsu-style archenemies.

Execution

In a press conference in the city hall of Saga on July 9th 2015, we launched two music videos for both our heroes in the classic Tokusatsu-style. The lyrics are a parody and reminiscent of 1980’s hero series. All characters were casted locally with Hanawa, a famous Japanese comedian, playing the part of the villain. Viewed through the campaign’s website, the video displayed changes depending on which hero currently has the most votes. To emphasize the charm of Saga, the website uses the local dialect. It also features facts about the animals of the tidelands, our campaign, events, and tourist activities. The Mayor’s encouragement started a grassroots-movement of entrepreneurial citizens providing own goods and tourist activities. This attracted massive TV coverage (1hr 20min 15sec on national TV, worth 5,899,235 USD). Prime time variety shows sent their anchor people to Saga to explore and report about the hype.

(Tier 1) - 140% increase in tourism against a target of 10% - Wave of local entrepreneurship as citizens offered tourist services and merchandize, driving growth of Saga branding. Usually in Japan, the only distributor of city promotional merchandize is the city itself, however during our campaign citizens were allowed to leverage the branding for their own merchandise, thus kick starting a grassroots movement amongst local entrepreneurs. (Tier 2) - With zero media spend and 15,000 USD invested in mostly production (see “Budget Details”) our campaign achieved 101 media impressions worth a total of 6.015.998 USD (660.282.419 JPY) between July 9 and November 13: TV coverage: 5,899,235 USD (over 1hr on prime time) Newspapers: 71,053USD Online blogs & News: 44,726 USD Radio: 984 USD (Tier 3) - Content response: The campaign captured the hearts and minds of the children of Saga, as seen in school performances re-enacting our content.

The Situation

Our unorthodox campaign for Saga City revitalized the local economy and culture despite a modest investment. With zero media spend, and 15,000 USD of mostly production costs, we achieved a 140% increase in inbound tourism and 6 million USD in media impressions. With the support of Saga’s Mayor and the creativity of local citizens, our campaign gained momentum and extended into city branded tourist services and merchandize. And because our approach was so unusual, it kept people talking. We knew that our campaign had changed people’s perception of the city when costumed children on TV reenacted our content and songs.

The Strategy

We wanted to establish Saga’s tidelands as a domestic travel destination, especially for families with young children. To make the most of our limited budget, we aimed for organic growth. How? We provided the local citizens with content and empowered them to use their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to support their city of Saga! We enlisted the support of the Mayor to drive the campaign in his monthly press conferences, on TV and with visits to related events, further ensuring citizen participation and awareness. Between July 9 and November 13, we recorded 101 media impressions (TV, radio, newspaper, Online Blogs & News).