Why is this work relevant for Media?

We established “Department of SimCity BuildIt” in Kobayashi-City Miyazaki prefecture as a totally new regional creation project. People Create a new city using SimCity BuildIt to facilitate discussions about an ideal city. This was the World First Dream Regional Creation Collaboration. SimCity BuildIt Used to Establish Department. This work produced an unprecedented business impact, as well as social impact through creation of a media called "department" beyond the advertising. Therefore, this initiative suitable for the Media category.

Background

Kobayashi-City in Miyazaki prefecture was designated as a "city at risk of disappearing" in 2014 by the Japan Policy Council's Depopulation Problem Subcommittee. Overall, Miyazaki Prefecture leads all other 47 prefectures across Japan in terms of 2016 and 2017 high school graduate outflow rates, making efforts to stem the outflow of people from Kobayashi and Miyazaki a serious issue. To inculcate an interest in city planning among the younger generation, brand new solution was needed.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

We established “Department of SimCity BuildIt” in Kobayashi-City Miyazaki prefecture as a totally new regional creation project in cooperation with Electronic Arts K.K making SIMCITY BUILDIT. The Department is an initiative approved by the Mayor aimed at creating a new city using SimCity BuildIt to facilitate discussions about an ideal city. Comprehending and envisioning plans for urban development through conventional documentation is a difficult task. The visualization enjoyed in popular video games is, well, game changing. It allows everyone to join in the discussion and planning process. The department is a virtual organization that encourages younger generations to think about city planning. It is staffed by Mayor, Kobayashi-City employees and students from Miyazaki Kenritsu Kobayashi-shuho High School. Its workshops began in late september 2018, These Department workshops began in late September, and over the course of approximately three months, students created their ideal city.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The Department cooperated with public high school, and it is staffed by Kobayashi-City employees and students from Miyazaki Kenritsu Kobayashi-shuho High School, where SimCity BuildIt is used as a teaching material in an official learning program utilizing integrated study time in which students imagine ideal futures for Kobayashi-City visualized using this familiar city planning game. The ideal city means something different to each person. Through these workshops, we intend younger generations to take a fresh look at the place where they live, become interested in city planning and develop into the human resources needed to create a new era in Kobayashi-City.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Many high school students in Kobayashi leave the city without being interested in the city. So we conducted a class to think about their hometown at a local high school for three months before graduation. We provided official goods to high school students and created a mechanism to raise their sense of belonging. In the class, students grasped the present Kobayashi-City from various viewpoints, and thought about the attraction of the city for the first time. Furthermore, they discussed how to satisfy the citizens and how to attract people from the outside. And they thought about the idea of ​​growing Kobayashi-City in the future, and made the future plan of Kobayashi-City in Simcity. We announced the town, repeated the discussion, and kept updating the town. Finally, they presented their ideas to the mayor. The state of the activity was made public on the Web page, and caught the fan dynamically.

List the results (30% of vote)

"･Advertising expenditures in terms of the amount was about 300 millions. ･350+ MEDIA EXPOSURE ･250M MEDIA IMPRESSION This campaign increased app downloads by 275%.The proposed ideas for urban planning by the SIMCITY Department were approved, and cloud funding in support of implementation will start in June 2019. A plan created by high school youths using a virtual game is changing the real world. On top of this success, other governments have started showing interest, and Kariya City in Aichi Prefecture is planning on establishing a SIMCITY department in 2019. * For personal information protection, We change the account names of twitter in caseflm to fictitious name."