Why is this work relevant for PR?

“recipist” , a skincare brand for Japanese young women, started this project to raise issue about job-hunting in Japan by focusing on the fact that job-hunting in Japan must be done while hiding job seekers’ individuality. This project is very PR-oriented because it made conversation about job-hunting in Japan. Also, in response to this campaign, Shiseido's CSR activities and job hunting in Japan have changed.

Background

“recipist” from Japanese influential cosmetic company “SHISEIDO” is a skincare brand that is mainly for dairy use by Japanese young women such as skin lotions. The brand policy is to brighten up Japanese young women’s lives through their brand activities and products. According to the brand mission, “recipist” tries to change the phenomena that Japanese young women feel hard and blue. Then, we decided to change Japanese job-hunting phase positively for Japanese women and have them emphasize with the brand mission. Japanese job-hunting phase called “Shukatsu” is a weird custom. It is odd that everyone goes to job interviews in black suits and sacrifices their individualities even at such an important life phase. Japanese women feel frustrated about it. Thus, “recipist” focused on this melancholy phase of Japanese women and tried to change their feelings and behaviors towards job hunting.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

【Exchange the black job hunting items with “recipist (skincare by Shiseido)”. It means “ Change the Black start line”.】 We held “change” event, where Japanese young women exchanged black items , the symbol of melancholy of job hunting, with recipist’s skin care goods which advocates brightening women as its brand mission. It means “Change the black start line” This event was held at a shrine, a power spot for Japanese people, and imitates Japanese traditional ceremony which dedicates their graceful items to the Gods. We delivered a message “Stop being a prisoner of your past. You can move on and brighten your life .“In that way, we transformed negative feelings into positive toward their following working careers and their lives. We created this idea in relation to a specific issue” job hunting” in Japan.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

We target Japanese young women who just finished job hunting as well as companies and media participated in job hunting activities. Women in target felt negative about job hunting that forces them to sacrifice their individualities and values, which indicates that women don’t need to build great career. We focused on “black job hunting items (black suits, black bag ,black heels and so on )“ the symbol of the black start line and painful memories. With these items, we pick the issue of the black start line and empower young women with the key message, “Change the black start line”. To deliver this message, we had an event and a web campaign where they can exchange the items instantly.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We conducted an online survey towards female students who are to start their working lives. It revealed that 57.3% of women felt blue when deciding jobs. After publishing this result, we collected job hunting items, from an event, an internet, and college communities for easier access. (campaign participants:4100）We piled those items at a graceful place for all Japanese people, “shrine”, in a traditional manner. After these activities, we exposed true feelings and mindsets of job hunters in Japan by items and episodes gathered. 4100 Japanese women took part in this project and shared on their SNS. Also, media postings were 284 earned and 1.9+ billion UU. It was also published on social aspect of an influential morning newspaper. We did it on a budget of 0.16 million dollars.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

【4100 participants + 284 earned media & 1.9+ billion UU】 4100 Japanese women took part in this project and shared on their SNS. Also, media postings were 284 earned. It was also published in the social aspect of an influential morning newspaper. Besides, the project has brought a new custom after job hunting for Japanese women. It is way beyond a simple promotional campaign. “This event allows Japanese women to live their lives with own will.” -Yomiuri Shimbun 【The tone of article about job hunting in Japan has changed.】 After this event, job hunting has changed　and some companies started to prioritize women’s individualities. They don’t have to wear black suits anymore. 【SHISEIDO CSR activities have changed.】 This project changed SHISEIDO CSR activities. The company started activities to pull out women’s individualities. 【Feel love to the brand:98%】