Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

This campaign offered touchpoints for 750,000 people, with over 100,000 participating actively, and contributed to raising the brand value of the character, Doraemon. Although everyone had to stay home during the pandemic, this campaign delivered to children the experience of entering the world of Doraemon from their own homes.

Background

Under the pandemic, the Japanese voluntarily stayed home for most of the first half of 2021. All events were cancelled, and for children, it was turning into a year with hardly any memories. This was an opportunity to provide children with some hope and dreams, something they can remember, utilizing the nationally popular character, Doraemon.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The idea was to have a surprise birthday party for Doraemon. With Nobita, Doraemon’s best friend, the plan was to have the whole country of Japan celebrate Doraemon’s birthday. On September 4th, Doraemon’s birthday, a surprise party that can be attended from home was held. The anime program aired on TV was a story that made children feel they were participating in the surprise. On August 30, 5 days before the TV airing, a newspaper ad designed as an invitation from Nobita was placed. From the invitation to the reply and participation, the children were able to experience the Doraemon surprise birthday party through various media touchpoints.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Doraemon is a Japanese anime program loved by all generations, that has been on air for over 40 years as an anime that provides hopes and dreams. But because of the change in lifestyles of children who are the main viewers, and less TV viewing, ratings were declining. The idea was to provide a rare lifetime memory for the summer of 2021, where the children could spend time with Doraemon. By having a huge number of children experience this anime program in this way, we wanted to create an opportunity for children to enjoy Doraemon on TV again.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

On the newspaper ad placed 5 days before the birthday, children were invited to gather in front of the TV at 6:56pm on September 4th. The ad had space to write in a message to make the experience interactive. The children could write their response to RSVP and a birthday message and tweet their responses using #DontTellDoraemon. To those who responded, there would be a response from Nobita thanking them. And on Doraemon’s birthday, an anime story featuring a surprise birthday that children could participate in, was aired. Everyone in the story pretended they had forgotten Doraemon’s birthday and surprised him, making it a story where TV viewers could also experience being part of the surprise with the anime characters. Viewers were also encouraged to post Happy Birthday messages through social networks at the moment of the surprise celebration.

List the results (30% of vote)

Large numbers of children participated in the birthday party by watching TV, and tweeted birthday wishes to Doraemon on social media at the moment of the celebration. Through the invitation, reply, and party attendance in various media, the Doraemon surprise birthday party experience was delivered to the children. As a result, there were 104,500 replies to the invitation, 765,900 retweets, and impressions totaled 636 million. The TV rating for the program was 2.1 times compared to the previous week.