Why is this work relevant for PR?

In order to have the Japanese realize that the climate crisis happening on a global basis affects them too, the unwanted results of climate crisis were localized to depict the 47 Apocalyptic Scenes, showing what could happen to the future of the target’s hometowns. The creative work showing unwanted future scenes of each of the prefectures were taken up by various media and celebrities and spread widely. The Ministry of the Environment and many global humanitarian organizations as well as climate crisis-related organizations showed support for this campaign.

Background

Global warming has now become a climate crisis. The impact is no longer just rising temperatures, since the climate crisis is affecting many aspects of our daily lives. Japan has been heavily affected by natural disasters, but the Japanese people’s interest and concern toward climate crisis has remained quite low. Therefore, there was a need to have more Japanese people face the climate crisis and realize that it is something that affects them.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

In order to reflect the impact of the climate crisis happening on a world-wide basis to the hometowns of the Japanese, “47 Apocalyptic Scenes” were depicted of all the 47 prefectures of Japan, showing unwanted climate crises that may occur in the future. When the name of the prefecture is clicked on the special website, illustrations that show an image of an unwanted future resulting from climate crisis appears with an explanation. The visitors to the site are also able to see what they can do to prevent this from happening. For instance, for Tokyo, the illustration shows Sky Tree flooded in water from the powered-up typhoon. And for Kyoto, the scene shows a heat-struck Maiko (young Geisha girl). The scenes showed illustrations of the climate crisis that will affect the landmarks and culture of the local areas of Japan.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The target was the Japanese public, who have been heavily affected by natural disasters, but have had low concern for environmental issues. There was a need to send a message to them, that climate crisis is not just happening elsewhere, and is something that very much affects their daily lives. By collaborating with the Ministry of the Environment and many other special organizations to acquire weather forecast data, scenes of actual climate crisis that could happen close to the target were depicted. The special website also functioned as a portal site for climate crisis information. By suggesting concrete actions that can be taken now to prepare for the future, the site was designed to connect the awareness of each individual to action.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The creative work for the various prefectures were used to approach media and celebrities of the local prefectures. This resulted in the illustrations for the local prefectures being exposed on local media as well as SNS, and lead to spreading the message. By localizing the environmental issue happening on a global scale and making them relevant to the prefectures, the campaign achieved local exposure, and led the target to realize that the issue is something that could happen to their daily lives.

List the results (30% of vote)

Japan is separated into 47 prefectures, and each prefecture has their unique culture and dialect. In order for people to feel that the climate crisis happening on a global scale is very much affecting them as well, famous landmarks, festivals, cultural symbols or regional specialties were featured to illustrate the issue. The unwanted future scenes showed what may happen to the hometowns of people in each prefecture.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Japan is separated into 47 prefectures, and each prefecture has their unique culture and dialect. In order for people to feel that the climate crisis happening on a global scale is very much affecting them as well, famous landmarks, festivals, cultural symbols or regional specialties were featured to illustrate the issue. The unwanted future scenes showed what may happen to the hometowns of people in each prefecture.