Title | RICE GRAIN MANGA |
Brand | KUBOTA CORPORATION |
Product / Service | CORPORATE BRAND |
Category | A05. Automotive |
Entrant | DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Idea Creation | DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Media Placement | DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Media Placement 2 | DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN |
PR | DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS Tokyo, JAPAN |
Production | ROBOT COMMUNICATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN |
Production 2 | KAIBUTSU Tokyo, JAPAN |
Production 3 | AMANA Tokyo, JAPAN |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
SHINGO NISHIDA | DENTSU INC. | Executive Creative Director |
DAUSUKE AOKI | DENTSU INC. | Creative Director |
KAZUYOSHI OCHI | Dentsu Lab Tokyo | Communication Planner |
NOBU MIYAZAKI | DENTSU INC. | Planner |
SHIMPEI MURATA | DENTSU INC. | Planner |
KENTA KUZUHARA | DENTSU INC. | Planner |
YUSUKE KITANI | kaibutsu inc. | Art Director |
YOSHITAKA NAKANO | DENTSU INC. | Creative Producer |
SEIYA YAMASHITA | DENTSU INC. | Content Cordinator |
TAKAHIRO YOSHIKAWA | DENTSU INC. | Content Resercher |
Yasuhiro Kawasaki | ROBOT COMMUNICATIONS INC. | Film Producer |
Yoshiki Hayashi | ROBOT COMMUNICATIONS INC. | Production Manager |
Manami Chiba | ROBOT COMMUNICATIONS INC. | Production Manager |
Kazuma Ikeda | P.I.C.S. Co., Ltd. | Director |
Shimon Tani | IMURA OFFICE INC. | Cinematographer |
Yasutaka Nishida | Freelance | Photographer |
Tatsuya Hirai | OFFICE DOING | Gaffer |
Ryosuke Oguri | ACS | Production Designer |
Yoko Takase | arpeggio | Food Stylist |
Naoki Niwa | TANGE FILMS | Animator |
Satoshi Yao | Freelance | Animator |
Shinnosuke Arima | EDP graphic works | Offline Editor |
Kazuya Kodaira | IMAGICA Lab.Inc. | Online Editor |
Haruka Okutsu | IMURA OFFICE INC. | Colorist |
Hiroyuki Suzuki | IMAGICA Lab.Inc. | Mixer |
Minoru Nishikigi | amana inc. | Graphic Producer |
Sho Nawa | amana inc. | Graphic Producer |
Takashi Taniai | amana digital imaging Hydroid | Photographer |
Yuta Yamazaki | amana digital imaging Hydroid | Photographer |
Kiyokazu Saito | IRISO SEIMITSU Co., Ltd. | Technical Director |
Yusuke Mineno | IRISO SEIMITSU Co., Ltd. | Technical Director |
YOHEI NEMOTO | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | PR Director |
KOICHI MAEDA | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | PR Manager |
YUKI SATO | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | PR Planner |
SAAYA SUZUKI | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | PR Planner |
KEISUKE FUJITA | cyber communications inc. | Digital Media Planner |
TAKU KATO | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | Social Account Director |
MAMI NONOGUCHI | Dentsu Public Relations Inc. | Social Account Director |
Yoichi Kanazawa | kaibutsu inc. | Web Director |
Masanobu Ishii | kaibutsu inc. | Web Designer / Illustrator |
Seiya Yamasaki | Kyuso nekokami | Artist |
Saeko Masuda | Freelance | Illustrator |
Koji Mito | Styrism | Recording Cooperation |
HIROSHI TATEWAKI | DENTSU INC. | Account Executive |
MEGUMI KINOSHITA | DENTSU INC. | Account Executive |
Rice is the most important element of washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine named a UNESCO Cultural Heritage. But declining consumption of rice among young Japanese has become a serious problem. It's also a crisis for farmers. Farming machinery manufacturer Kubota wanted to get young people interested in rice, so they delivered their message through a music video using "Rice Grain Art". It generated a huge buzz on social media and received lots of supporting comments. Young people even dressed up like rice at concerts. The project built momentum among its targets to support rice and rice farmers.
The future of rice in Japan is in danger. Rice is one of Japan’s staple foods and the most important element of washoku, the traditional Japanese cuisine named a UNESCO Cultural Heritage. However, rice consumption has dropped by half in the last 50 years. Young people especially are moving away from eating rice. What is more, the rice farming population is down to 1/4 what it was before, and the average age of farmers is now over 70. To address this crisis, Japan's leading farming machinery manufacturer Kubota wanted to tell young people about the farmers' plight and promote rice consumption. They came up with an artistic message using rice itself as the canvas.
The art of "Rice Grain Art" was brought to Japan long ago. We updated it for today’s generation. About 80% of young people in Japan read manga, which have always included lots of scenes of people eating rice. We extracted 137 scenes from five popular manga series and rearranged them into an original story about how special rice is. Then each of the scenes was carved onto individual grains of rice using a microscopic blade 1/4 the size of a human hair. We also had a popular rock group write a love song to rice and used it in the music video.
The target was young people in their 10s and 20s. To get the message to this demographic, which is difficult to reach through TV, print and other mass media, we combined manga (read by 80% of young people) and music (using a popular rock band). We produced a video using cutting-edge technology to engrave individual grains of rice. We uploaded the song to streaming platforms. We also staged live performances. Interesting trivia about rice was posted on the social media account to convey the importance of rice in a fun and wide-reaching manner. By selecting channels that young people could identify with, we promoted exposure for the project in multiple contexts.
The video was released and the social media account opened on November 2, 2018. Popular manga artists and band members involved in the project tweeted about it to their fans. This generated huge interest in entertainment media and made it a trending topic on Japan's largest news portal sites the following day. Then wider TV and print exposure brought the project beyond the target audience to all of Japan. Rice trivia from the official social media account was also picked up by other media, which got people talking about rice. Then the band went on a three-city tour in December and tickets sold out immediately. Young people singing together about their love for rice became a huge topic.
- The project was covered by 489 media outlets in two months. - The spread from Japan’s largest news portal sites to TV and print generated $1.7 million Advertising Value Equivalent and a reach of 580 million. - Reach on Twitter exceeded 29 million, and supportive tweets totaled more than 37,000. - At the concerts, 10,000 young people dressed in white, the color of rice, and sang along with the theme song. - The YouTube video has been viewed more than 10 million times and the comments section is still getting positive reviews. Young people said, “I want to eat rice!” “I want to support rice farmers!” And farmers responded, “I was moved. I’ll keep working!” The project succeeded in spreading the message about the rice crisis among young people, and they responded with their resounding support.