The Campaign

Last year we introduced the Odnaro-Dude, a fun-loving, yeti-like beast from Portland. For this year's campaign, he announced that he will be starting his own travel agency specifically designed to inform people about the weird and wonderful world of Odnarotoop. (Od-na-ro-toop = ‘Portland’ pronounced in Japanese, backwards) Introducing Dude-O-Vision! In high-traffic locations in Tokyo and Osaka, the Odnaro-Travel Agency set up shop. Because Japan is a place where you are constantly flooded with stimuli, it takes a lot to catch someone's attention. To capture the attention of passersby, we created three large hairy replicas of the Odnaro-Dude's head and encouraged people to try them on. This didn't just make for one-of-a-kind photo opportunities; the commotion created drew people in. When people put on the heads, they got a VR experience centered around three different Portland destinations.

Creative Execution

Dude-O-Vision was available to be experienced at pop-up events in Tokyo and Osaka. Each oversized head made for a scene that was so ridiculous to see from afar, that people couldn't help but be drawn in. Visitors to these events could choose from three different replica Dude heads; Portland's famous food carts, skiing at Timberline Lodge or a D.I.Y. building center. When they put on the head, they got a 360-degree view of each location. Whacky animations of the Odnaro-Dude and his friends helped bring each location to life.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

• Over 2,000 people experienced Portland through Dude-O-Vision! • Since the launch of the Odnarotoop campaign, arrivals from Japan were up 9% in Portland, while arrivals from Japan for the rest of the US were down 4%. • Over the course of three events, over 60,000 people had direct, in-person interaction with Odnaro-Travel Agency. • Facebook posts about the campaign had an organic reach of close to 40,000. • 29 publications covered the campaign and associated events.

The pop-up travel agency concept allowed for a place where potential travellers could engage directly with a representative from Portland to find out about everything Portland has to offer. Since high-traffic areas in Japan are filled with audio and visual noise, we knew we needed to do something that would catch attention and draw them in.