THE FLOATING CITY IN ACNH

TitleTHE FLOATING CITY IN ACNH
BrandBRUE FRONTIER
Product / ServiceFLOATING CITY
CategoryB07. Use of Digital Platforms
EntrantDENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation 2 DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
PR DENTSU PUBLIC RELATIONS INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production MAKE IT CO-OP INC. Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Takamasa Kameishi MAKE IT CO-OP Inc. Executive Producer
Yusaku Sekine MAKE IT CO-OP Inc. Project Manager
Mutsumi Funayama Freelance Director of GAME
Kousuke Kiryu Freelance Design of GAME
Tadashi Inokuchi Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR
Akio Kobayashi Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR
Asako Yanagisawa Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR
Yuki Koda Dentsu Public Relations Inc. PR
Hiroaki Kajiwara Material Inc. PR
Shinya Honda Material Inc. PR
Reira Suzuki Material Inc. PR
Momoko Kawakami Material Inc. PR
Kentarou Kagawa Freelance Project Manager
Masaya Yamamoto SHIFTBRAIN Inc. Web Producer
Sayaka Kiyose SHIFTBRAIN Inc. Front-end Developer
Serika Ikurumi SHIFTBRAIN Inc. Front-end Developer
Hiroaki Yasutomo SHIFTBRAIN Inc. Back-end Developer
Hidetoshi Hara Sunny Inc. Web Designer
Shinnosuke Takizawa SPLUCK Inc. Sound Coordinator
Tatsuo Sunaga Sunaga t experience Sound Producer
Nobufumi Aoi ONKIO HAUS inc. Editor
Yosuke Kotaki ONKIO HAUS inc. Account Manager
Subaru Matsukura NUE inc. Planning Supervisor
Reietsu Hashimoto dentsu inc. Creative Director / Planner

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Blue Frontiers is taking on the challenge of building floating city as new living spaces that meet SGDs. While many, including international and United Nations experts, believe in the floating city’ potential and have lent support, actual construction requires understanding and cooperation on many levels, including those of the general populace. Thus, Blue Frontiers have developed new communications that use video games, food, education and many other touchpoints to thoroughly convey necessity of the floating city to Generation Z and similar younger targets and thereby nurture more advocates of the company’s initiatives in the general populace.

Background

Floating city are considered to solve various SDGs issues. Blue Frontiers have been promoting the construction of them in Asian regions since 2017. Floating city are receiving praise and support, but they’re limited in scope to the United Nations and academics. It was necessary to encourage many general populace to understand the floating city’ potentials and the reason for such construction to form social agreement. Blue Frontiers’ approach of building floating city is different to the multi-faceted approaches that nations are using in a bid to reach the 2030 goals set for countering climate change. It was clear that a floating city had to be completed by around 2023 ahead of the deadline and its worth conveyed.

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

With COVID-19 keeping people at home and families adopting new ways of spending time, sales of video game hardware have surged. For the experience, Nintendo’s popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) whose motifs of nature and island were highly relevant was selected. The potential of conveying the experience of a floating city and its value through a regularly played video game was examined with this new touchpoint. An actual floating city was created in the game so that people could experience life on a floating city through their avatars. A guide is provided for the first time in the promotion using this game to guide those who visit the city, where they can learn about floating city and various SDGs issues by playing. In addition, various facilities in the game (restaurant and school) were created in the real world to provide the equivalent experience to the game.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Many players who play the ACNH video game are not only the young, but it can be also played among families including parents. Unlike other video games, it can be played within the view of the mellow world. The earnest problem of “floating city to solve SDGs” by using the world view of the game was aimed to be converted to “learning about SDGs in enjoyment for the future.” Other people than those interested in video games were also attracted to it thanks to creation of places for experience in reality with various facilities (restaurant and school) existing in this island which were built also in the real world.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

A virtual island that recreated a floating city’s features and facilities was created in the ACNH video game. The parameters were configured so that players could freely participate in and experience life on a floating city as well as the interpretative guide service in the island. A university professor who’s an expert on marine environments was invited to the elementary school to give a lesson, and the children were encouraged to learn more about SDGs while playing the video game during class. This approach was promoted in other touchpoints than the video game. A restaurant in the game offered a menu made only of ingredients that reflected sustainable practices in the real world in cooperation with a chef highly evaluated by Michelin.

List the results (30% of vote)

Reservations for guided tours that outlined the floating city’s roles and enabled visitors to experience life on one were filled in just three hours after the application started due to a surge of requests. The service received media exposure in and outside Japan as well as a plenty of favorable comments for this effort in social media, with 2.4 billion social reaches. The in-game lessons and the restaurant’s menu were created as elements of an actual school curriculum and school classes, which means that it succeeded in leading many people to acknowledging this effort and changing their awareness. The fund of 55 million dollars was procured through this series of activities.

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