NIKKEI BLEND

Short List
TitleNIKKEI BLEND
BrandNikkei Inc.
Product / ServiceNIKKEI BLEND
CategoryB02. Promotional Item Design
EntrantDENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
PR DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN
Production DENTSU LIVE INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 DENTSU CREATIVE FORCE Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 3 TOW CO.,LTD Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 4 MASKMAN Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 5 DANCE NOT ACT Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company NIKKEI INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company 2 JIGOWATTS Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company 3 TAKI CORPORATION Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company 4 VONS PICTURES Tokyo, JAPAN
Additional Company 5 NISSHO Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Kazuhiro Shimura Dentsu, Inc. Creative Director
Yusuke Imai Dentsu, Inc. Art Director
Ryo Seki Dentsu, Inc. Planner
Ryo Sasaki Dentsu, Inc. Copywriter
Junta Yoshikawa Dentsu, Inc. Planner
Miki Kikuchi Dentsu, Inc. Account Manager
Togo Fujii Dentsu, Inc. Account Manager
Takashi Kibe TOW CO.,LTD Producer
Tatsuya Murayama DENTSU LIVE INC. Producer
Ryuta Ito TOW CO.,LTD Production Manager
Mai Ito TOW CO.,LTD Designer
Keigo Nakanishi MASKMAN inc. Digital Director
Fumiaki Takasu MASKMAN inc. Digital Director
Keishu Nakajima MASKMAN inc. Programmer
Tomoki Shibata Jigowatts Inc. Programmer
Kouichi Nakamura KAMOGAWA COFFEE Barista
Manami Masuda TAKI corporation. Designer
Daisuke Isozaki VONS pictures, Inc. CG Director
Tae Yoshioka VONS pictures, Inc. CG Designer
Masaho Ota NISSHO co.,ltd. Producer
Kotaro Tsujimoto Freelance Photographer
Takaomi Maeda DENTSU CREATIVE FORCE INC. Creative Producer
Shota Matsumoto DENTSU CREATIVE FORCE INC. Creative Producer
Shinichi Takamura DIGITAL GARDEN Inc. Director
Masashi Yamaguchi DANCE NOT ACT inc. Producer
Koichi Maeda Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR Planner
Hitoshi Kato Nikkei, Inc. AR Producer
Wataru Murayama Nikkei, Inc. AR Chief Director
Takeshi Yamada Nikkei, Inc. AR Planner
Shunsuke Takagiwa Nikkei, Inc. AR Director

Background

This present age is full of information and the economy is becoming increasingly irrelevant and unrelatable to the general public. However, research shows that people with a higher level of economic literacy have a heightened sense of moral responsibility about social issues which in turn, contributes to creating a happier society. NIKKEI is Japan's top financial newspaper with a 140-year long history and we took on the challenge of arousing people's interest in the economy. If we make the economy relevant to more people and improve their economic literacy, surely we can contribute to the creation of a better society.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

We focused on the Nikkei Stock Average, a stock market index calculated by the NIKKEI and one of the most important and up-to-date indexes of the Japanese economy. However, excluding people in business management, fluctuations in the Nikkei Stock Average are irrelevant to the general public. But what if this index was linked to our daily lives? We realized that many businesspeople always start their day with coffee. Using this to our advantage, we created the NIKKEI BLEND, the world's first coffee with a taste that changes as stock prices fluctuate. Based on real-time Nikkei Stock Average data, the coffee gets more bitter as stock prices rise, and more sour as they drop. We also developed a system that converts the data into logos in real time. The project literally gave businesspeople a taste of the economy and piqued their interest.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Real-time data on the Nikkei Stock Average was acquired through one of NIKKEI's unique information sources. Together with our algorithm that automatically produces a coffee that gets more bitter as stock prices rise and more sour as they drop, our specially-developed coffee machine equipped with five motors, controlled how the five different coffee beans were blended to produce over 1000 flavors. A stand was set up in the famous Nihonbashi business district where this coffee was handed out to passers-by. We also developed a system that converts stock price data into logos in real time, which meant that each cup had a different logo depending on when it was poured. People could scan the logo with the NIKKEI AR app to read NIKKEI's most up-to-date economic news and watch commentary videos by journalists. The result was a system which allowed curious participants to discover why their coffee's taste had changed.

List the results (20% of vote)

The coffee stand had a huge queue for days on end. It became a place where businesspeople gathered to discuss the economy. The project became a hot topic around the country as the first of its kind to link the Nikkei Stock Average with people's taste buds. Reaching 25 million people, 96% of participants claimed that it was innovative, and 70% said they were more interested in the economy. By incorporating this unrelatable topic into a daily cup of coffee, even people who had never shown an interest in the economy began posting about the latest stock prices on social media. Economic fluctuations became a familiar topic thanks to a coffee changing flavor. The project literally gave businesspeople a taste of the economy, and the NIKKEI BLEND contributed to the improvement of Japan's economic literacy as well as demonstrate new possible ways of transmitting information.

Links

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