The Campaign

Japan, especially Tokyo, is a hyper-train-based society. The top five busiest train stations are all in Tokyo. Thousands of people pay their fare, extremely swiftly. That was our inspiration. The Yahoo! JAPAN Giving Gate (O-en-kai-satsu) is a gate that collects donation as people simply tap their IC cards. This "ticket gate" format made donating easier and less intimidating. The donations will aid "Sanriku Railway," a local train in the Tohoku, whose train tracks are partially unrestored. When the reconstruction is complete, all routes will connect, and this story become a symbol of hope.

Execution

We decided to debut the Giving Gate through an event on the 7th anniversary of the disaster, March 11. Before the event, we pitched to the media with our PR release that covered the three points through informing the up-coming event, both from Yahoo! JAPAN and Sanriku Railways. The event was held in the heart of Tokyo, from March 9 to 11. People were able to experience the IC card donation. "Instagenic" points were strategically placed within the experience, for example, a 1/10 scale model of Sanriku Railway placed in front of a screen showing the window view from the actual train, and an original Giving Gate ticket to take home for donors. In addition, two conductors from Sanriku Railway attended the event to attract the media and greet donors.

Donations were made every 20 seconds in average (achieved on March 11). Yahoo! JAPAN's brand image as a company contributing to society increased 27% since last year. 17% increase comparing before and after the Giving Gate event. Exposure: 5 news programs, 767 web article Coverage on diverse media categories such as: general news, business news, city guides, entertainment and buzz news, train fan magazines and news sites, social news, tech news, and local news in Tokyo and Tohoku. The news program of the Japanese public broadcast, NHK, picked up this story as "the trending word on social media today." Retweets from local governments and public sectors not only in Tohoku but also Kumamoto prefecture, which is another disaster affected region from an Earthquake in 2016. According to a social listening report, 97.9% of news media picked up the story in a positive manner. Also reported, 98% tweets were positive reactions, including agreement and praise to the donation method, suggestions to implement it in train stations throughout the country, and desire to ride the recovered Sanriku Railway.

The Situation

The Giving Gate gives a new perspective to the public about donating; showing that it could be easier and less intimidating. While we created deep memorable experiences at our three-day event, through the power of PR, we were also able to influence a bigger population and expand the conversation about donation methods and the affected area to a nation-wide level.

The Strategy

To reach other than the people who pass through the gates, we created three hooks for the media and public to start a conversation about donation and Tohoku: 1. The innovative method to donate by IC cards. 2. The collaboration with Sanriku Railways. Only after 5 days after the disaster, Sanriku Railways re-opened for business and came to be known as the "symbol of hope." As the very first implementation of the Giving Gate, aiding Tohoku's local transportation and the symbol of hope will help create fans for this new concept. 3. Japanese people's insight about donation. Yahoo! Japan conducted a research to prove that Japanese people are shy and feel intimidated when donating in public. These facts created a new angle in the story, making the media want to cover it even more.