SPAMUSEMENT PARK PROJECT

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Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleSPAMUSEMENT PARK PROJECT
BrandBEPPU CITY
Product / ServiceTOURISM PROMOTION
CategoryB07. Use of Events & Stunts
EntrantDENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
PR DRILL Tokyo, JAPAN
PR 2 CATCHBALL Tokyo, JAPAN
Production T&E Fukuoka, JAPAN
Production 2 CATCHBALL Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company INVISIBLE DESIGNS LAB Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Yusuke Shimazu DENTSU INC. Creative Director
Jun Nishida Drill Inc. Creative Director
Shinya Kiyokawa Invisible Designs Lab Ltd Music Director/General Producer
Takaaki Sasaki T&E inc Producer
Kazuya Wada T&E inc Production Manager
Keisuke Motomichi T&E inc Production Manager
Keisuke Tsuji T&E inc Production Manager
Shojiro Yamamoto T&E inc Production Manager
Yutaka Obara DRAWING AND MANUAL inc Filmmaker / Cinematographer
Hiroki Odagiri T&E inc Production Manager
Satoru Nishigaki Freerance Camera operator
Shunsuke Haraga Kokosimage Camera operator
Kenji Hatai T&E inc Camera operator
Keigo Nagao Freerance Light man
Kazuaki Wada Freerance First Light man
Moriyuki Migita T&E inc sound recording man
Aiko Sakai Office Nomura Makeup Artist
Tetsuya Kamihara Kamihara Design Production Design 
Saki Iyori Freerance Illustrator
Michiru Muraki Drill Inc. Promotion planner
Takanori Kubo catchball inc. Promotion planner
Taeko Yoshimoto Freerance Promotion planner
Toyonari Shibayama Freerance Colorlist
Mayor of Beppu Beppu City Cast
People of Beppu Beppu City Cast
Tetsuhiro Morinaga Freerance Online editor
Aibi Kanegae Freerance Multi-audio man
Kazuhisa Matsumoto Freerance Multi-audio man

The Campaign

By using the biggest asset of the city in a way that no one had ever imagined, and to create news buzz, the world’s first hot spring amusement park, called the “Spamusement Park Project” was announced in a promotional video on YouTube. In this concept video, the mayor of Beppu City pledged that if the video reached 1 million views, the park would become a reality. The idea sparked interest in the Japanese public, well-known for their love of a dip in a hot spring bath.

Execution

Soon after the release of the concept video, a press conferencewas immediately held, announcing the project and all it’s aspects,with the purpose of gathering public interest through various news outlets. Using the donations from the crowd funding?project, an old amusement park in the city began to be repurposed as the Spamusement Park. Newspapers and TV media regularly reported on the progress of this rebuilding, adding to the publicity. Over the course of 9 months, news and media outlets from all over Japan were a constant source of promotion and publicity.

Within 72 hours of it’s release, the concept video quickly reached over 1 million views. Donors from all over Japan raised 90 million yen (US$821,000). During the 3 days of operation, the Spamusement Park had 12,000 visitors, causing congestion in the local townships. 70% of visitors came from other prefectures, and all hotels and inns in the city were at maximum occupancy. From the release of the concept video to the opening of the Spamusement Park, was approximately 9 months. During this period, numerous TV networks, including Japan’s prestigious public broadcasting network - NHK, aired promotional segments and programs with an estimated combined value of 10.4 billion yen.

The Situation

Well known for representing Japan’s hot spring culture, Beppu City had been suffering from declining tourism and depopulation.By a completely unprecedented use of it’s unique hot spring resources, the city was able to create one of the most viral campaigns of Japan in 2017.

The Strategy

As a way to answer the challenge of sustaining interest in the creation of the world’s first hot spring amusement park, the city began a crowd funding project. The call went out over all of Japan to those interested in experiencing this unique park. Limiting admission to donors only was the strategy of Beppu City, which lead to additional publicity.

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