THE PROJECT OF “#THANKS TO FARMERS”

TitleTHE PROJECT OF “#THANKS TO FARMERS”
BrandTHE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS
Product / ServiceGRATITUDE TO FARMERS FOR PROVIDING UNINTERRUPTED AGRICULTURAL AND LIVESTOCK PROD
CategoryG05. Cultural Insight
EntrantASAHI ADVERTISING Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation ASAHI ADVERTISING Tokyo, JAPAN
Production AZ INC. Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Yoshiharu Oyama Asahi advertising Inc. Senior Creative Director
Yusuke Fukushima Asahi advertising Inc. Creative Director
Yoshinori Nishimaki Asahi Advertising Inc, Planning Director
Takefumi Iizuka Asahi advertising Inc. Account Director
Tomoki Fukuyama Asahi advertising Inc. Account Supervisor
Norio Hara Asahi advertising Inc. Senior Director
Megumi Saito Asahi advertising Inc. International coordinator
Yuji Takano Asahi advertising Inc. Senior Director
Kinuyo Kawadu Asahi advertising Inc. Communication Designer
Natsuki Yuboku Asahi advertising Inc. Media Planner
Satoru Watabe Freelance Director(Film Director)
Takuyuki Saito d'Arc inc. Photographer/Cinematographer
Yasumasa Terui Freelance Sound Recordist/Sound Editor
Toru Wada kickup inc. Music Producer
Yasuhiro Takano Freelance Composer
Yusuke Hayashi Freelance Composer
Takahiro Watanabe AZ,inc. Producer
Yuka Kobayashi AZ,inc. Production Manager

Why is this work relevant for PR?

The Japanese mass media reports daily on "Medical Workers" struggling on the front lines of COVID-19. On social media, more and more Japanese people were expressing their gratitude and cheering for the "Medical Workers". On the other hand, there was no appreciation for "Farmers". In this project, we thought it was important for the Japanese people to voluntarily notice the efforts of farmers. So, we focused on a PR approach to make the movement to thanks to farmers.

Background

<Situation> People stock up essentials in many country when “Stay Home” started. However, food did not disappear from stores. This is the result of the efforts of Japanese farmers, but many Japanese were not aware of this. <Brief> The idea is our own idea to express the gratitude and support for the farmers with school band Because there is a culture of cheering for people who are working hard with school band in Japan. As in other countries, many Japanese high school students lost the opportunity to challenge their dreams under COVID-19 crisis. Nevertheless, we could give the opportunity to perform for high school students and school band performance of Narashino High School deeply impressed Japanese people. <Objective> To create a movement to thanks to farmers

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We designed the idea of creating the buzz of "thanks to farmers." “Summer” and “High School Student” reminds Japanese people “Koshien,” Japanese high school baseball championship. Narashino High School has a strong baseball team participated in Koshien several time before and Japan’s top level school band. Dream of high school students of the school band is to cheer on baseball players from the same high school with their school band performance at Koshien Stadium. However, the "Koshien" was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 and school band students lost the opportunity to perform on the stage of their dreams. Therefore, the school band of Narashio High School's performance earned the attention from target audience and created a strong emotional impact. In the middle of the promotion, the secret was revealed that the "Ping Pong" sound in the video was the sound of Kasumi Ishikawa lifting a ping-pong racket and ball.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

<Insight> Idea was designed for the following reasons. Many Japanese people have a desire to be impressed by high school students concentrating their effort during the summer months. However, opportunities to watch these events have decreased under COVID-19 crisis. <Key Message> Thanks to Farmers <Target Audience> Target Audience Female & Male who lives in Japan <Detail> Video Ads on Twitter Female & Male aged 10's to 20's Video on YouTube Female & Male aged 20's to 40's <Media Coverage> TV Female & Male aged 20's to over 60's Web Female & Male aged 10's to 50's Newspaper Female & Male aged 40's to over 70's <Creation and Distribution of Assets> The video of "thanks to farmers" that expressed by the wonderful performance of school band on Twitter and YouTube

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

<Implementation of PR> Press Release to the media Request web media and TV program for publicity Video material for the interview with Kasumi Ishikawa <Timeline> 1. From Friday, July 31, 2020 Release of video of Ishikawa discussing the significance of the project and her findings. 2. From Friday, August 21, 2020 -. Release of video of the school band of Narashino High School expressing their gratitude to the farmers <Scale> Ad value: US$1,4 million (Total of 1, 2) 118 web media: 490,306 PV. 5 TV programs 15 newspapers.

List the results (30% of vote)

Tier 1 Ad Value: US$14 million 5 TV News Programs Articles on 118 Web News TV coverage made people realize that farmers should also be thanked, the message reached people all over Japan, such as an announcer said "In the middle of the news about COVID-19, let us work together as one, just like in this video.” and so on. Tier 2 - The number of people expressing their gratitude on social media with "#Thanks to farmers" increased from zero to about 150,000 in three months. - 589,000+ views on Youtube and Twitter. - Even after the promotion ends on September 30, 2020, the number of posts with "#Thanks to Farmers" continues to increase (approx. 240,000 as of January 17, 2021). - Tier 3 - 146,323 social media posts with “#Thanks to Medical Workers” - 150,957 social media posts with "#Thanks to Farmers" - As a result, the number of social media posts expressing gratitude to farmers exceeded those expressing gratitude to medical workers.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Based on the following background, Narashino High School’s great performance in the summer strongly impresses the Japanese people - In Japan, there is a culture of cheering on people who are working hard with school bands. - “Summer” and “High School Student” reminds Japanese people “Koshien,” Japanese high school baseball championship. - Koshien as Japanese high school baseball championship is one of biggest event in summer for many Japanese people including not fans of baseball. - Narashino High School has a strong baseball team participated in the championship several time before and Japan’s top level school band. - Dream of high school students of school band is to cheer on baseball players from the same high school with their performance at Koshien Stadium. - However, the "Koshien" was cancelled this year due to COVID-19 and school band students lost the opportunity to perform on the stage of their dreams.