COGY WHEELCHAIR

Bronze Spike
TitleCOGY WHEELCHAIR
BrandTESS CO., LTD.
Product / ServiceCOGY
CategoryF04. Innovation & Solution
EntrantTBWA\HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation TESS Sendai, JAPAN
Idea Creation 2 TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Sendai, JAPAN
Idea Creation 3 TBWA\HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Media Placement TBWA\HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
PR TBWA\HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Production GEEK PICTURES Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Kenji Suzuki TESS CEO
Chieko Ito TESS Head of Secretarial Section and Community Contribution Staff
Junichi Tarumi TESS Sales Divison Distribution Promotion Office Chief Manager
Yasunobu Handa Tohoku University Professor Emeritus
Ryuichi Iihoshi M2 Design Product Designer
Kazoo Sato TBWA\HAKUHODO Chief Creative Officer
Satoshi Chikayama TBWA\HAKUHODO Creative Director
Yuki Tokuno TBWA\HAKUHODO Art Director
Hyewon Choi TBWA\HAKUHODO Designer
Hiroshi Yamazaki TBWA\HAKUHODO Copywriter
Yuta Enoki TBWA\HAKUHODO Designer
Yoku Ishida TBWA\HAKUHODO Copywriter
Kazuaki Kuribayashi TBWA\HAKUHODO Buzz Machine
Issei Ishikura TBWA\HAKUHODO Creative Technologist
Satoshi Suzuki TBWA\HAKUHODO Account Director / Digital Communication Director
Toshiatsu Kobayashi TBWA\HAKUHODO Account Director
Akiko Onodera TBWA\HAKUHODO Agency Producer
Chikako Nagai TBWA\HAKUHODO Agency Producer
Yusuke Yamanaka AID-DCC Producer
Takanobu Noso AID-DCC Developer
Hidemitsu Yokoi GEEK PICTURES Producer
Kenichi Sumide Freelance Movie Director
Takayuki Niwa SPIRITS Inc. Movie Director
Takahiro Kojima Hakuhodo Product’s Photographer
Koji Togoe Hakuhodo Product’s Producer
Yasuko Furukawa Hakuhodo Product’s Photographer
Masakazu Hirata Hakuhodo Product’s Photographer
Ryo Ito Hakuhodo Product’s Retoucher
Takahiro Miura TBWA\HAKUHODO PR
Eunhee John AOI Pro. Inc. Colorist

The Campaign

Honorary Professor Handa of the National Tohoku University of Japan has discovered that by stimulating the primitive motor reflex located in the spine, even immobile legs are spurred into movement by “reflex”. To instigate and perpetuate this reflex movement with the greatest of ease, the COGY seating is designed very low and its pedals are ultra-light. How it works: 1. The slightest force pushes the pedal forth. 2. This movement stimulates users’ primitive motor reflex in the spine. 3. The reflex causes the opposite leg to move as well, creating a cycling motion and hence, self/leg-generated movement for the user.

Creative Execution

The one existing weakness that COGY has in terms of communication, is that its effect is so game-changing and so “new” that it still lacking somewhat in terms of being perceived as “reliable” and “authentic” information by the public. In order to address this, the real voices of users were placed at the center of this communication. STEP1. Produced an emotional movie of patients using COGY for the first time. STEP2. Held COGY test rides across Japan. The “miracle of COGY” was delivered/demonstrated to all corners of the country. STEP3. Web site and EC site constructed to maximize sales channel paths. Special designed catalogues were given to sales personnel as tools to drive their sales efforts.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The movie got more than 1.6million views within the first week of its release. COGY’s recognition went through the roof, with coverage on TV, and print media. Units sold increased to 180% from the year before, with more and more patients switching to COGY. Recognition of COGY spread overseas, which included a query from Stanford University’s medical research bodies. COGY was also selected as one of the Top 10 most beautiful chairs of 2016 (selected by the BBC).

COGY is the world’s first wheelchair that allows immobile patients to actually pedal with their own legs again. To communicate this revolutionary product, we took the following approaches. 1. Positioned COGY as “The wheelchair for those who still believe.” (also acts as a tagline) This does not only differentiate COGY from other wheelchairs but also tells people that they now have an option of not giving up on their legs. 2. Named COGY after the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of pedaling (cogy-cogy). 3. The real voices of COGY users were documented both in movie and text format. These were uploaded to COGY’s brand new website.

Links

Website URL