The Campaign

Use the current trend of visiting the site of film and animation scenes to support tourism in Minami Aso, a village that has suffered a decline in tourists due to natural disaster. Gain brand recognition as a hot beverage that helps keep Japan warm. Target housewives in their 30s and 40s who plan the family year-end holiday using a nostalgic love story featuring a love song that was popular 20 years ago, and film it in the disaster-stricken area. Show the advertisement across a variety of media including movie theaters, outdoor screens, online, and on television. Visiting tourists will copy the scene and post pictures to social media, providing a welcome piece of cheerful news about the disaster-struck area. Change the image of Minami Aso from disaster area to the scene from a well-known love story, to stimulate tourism.

Creative Execution

We shot the love story in Minami Aso, which had experienced a decline in tourists due to the Kuramoto Earthquake and Mt. Aso eruption. Filming took place three weeks after the eruption. It was shown at movie theaters around the country, on outdoor screens, online, and on television. People who independently visited the tourist site shared on social media. This was the first happy piece of news from Minami Aso since the disaster. The popular image of Minami Aso changed from disaster area to the scene from a love story, stimulating tourism and resulting in a 2000% increase in tourists to the site of the commercial compared to before. It was even added to sightseeing tours.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The story was taken up by 106 media outlets, and the economic benefit from the PR was approximately 100 million yen. Miharashidai Station, the site of the commercial, experienced 2000% tourist growth. The product advertised, Gogo no Kocha bottled tea experienced a 126% increase in winter sales year-on-year, selling more than 1.2 billion bottles for the first time in its 30-year history.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

This love story takes place in Minami Aso, which was impacted by a decline in tourism due to the Kumamoto Earthquake and Mt. Aso eruption. It was shown in movie theaters, on outdoor screens, online, and on television. By changing its image from a disaster site to the site of a love story, the location saw a 2000% visitor increase. It was even included on local tours. The hot beverage Gogo no Kocha experienced a year-on-year increase in winter sales of 126%. It sold over 1.2 billion bottles for the first time in the 30 years since it was released.

Make a nostalgic love story featuring a love song that was popular 20 years ago in order to target women in their 30s and 40s who plan year-end family holidays. In order to make a love story that is known throughout Japan, we took a diverse media approach, showing it at movie theaters, on outdoor screens, online, and on television. Minami Aso has a strong image as the site of two natural disasters, but we will change that image so it becomes the site of a love story. We can use the recent trend to visit sites of famous film and animation scenes to entice people to go sightseeing in Minami Aso.