THE ROOM OF INNER FEELINGS

TitleTHE ROOM OF INNER FEELINGS
BrandLIFULL
Product / ServiceFILM
CategoryA01. Glass
EntrantLIFULL Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation LIFULL Tokyo, JAPAN
Media Placement LIFULL Tokyo, JAPAN
PR LIFULL Tokyo, JAPAN
Production AOI PRO. INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 NION Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Kohei Kawasaki LIFULL Creative Director / Planner
Katsuhiro Hashimoto LIFULL Project Manager / Planning Director
Takashi Yoshioka LIFULL Project Manager / Planner
Megumi Tanaka LIFULL Planner
Takaya Masuda LIFULL Art Director
Akihiro Kuwahara LIFULL Art Director
Hisaya Kato AOI Pro. Producer
Toshiyuki Takei NION Inc. Producer
Mirai Shiotani AOI Pro. Production Manager
Kohei Miyazato NION Inc. Production Manager
Makoto Sometani Freelance Production Assistant
Janmaiko Nonomura Freelance Production Assistant
Kosai Sekine NION Inc. Director
Senzo Ueno NION Inc. Director of Photography
Takao Baba Freelance 1st AC
Kiyotaka Nogami Freelance 2nd AC
Keisuke Murata Freelance 2nd AC
Shunta Ishizuka Freelance 2nd AC
Natsumi Tsuji Freelance 3rd AC
Satoshi Igarashi Freelance DIT
Tomohiro Takahashi Freelance Gaffer
Tomohiro Kawana Freelance Electricians
Hiroko Yamanishi Freelance Electricians
Hideto Ishii Freelance Electricians
Hiroyuki Asami Freelance Electricians
Ken Takahashi Freelance Recording
Shohei Funamoto Freelance Recording Assistants
Takeshi Sugawara Freelance Recording Assistants
Saori Kameda Freelance Prop Master
Mana Oto Freelance Assistant Prop Master
Tadashi Baba weeds Carpenter
Miho Tokiwa Freelance Hair & Make Up
Satoru Suzuki bonds Driver
Yusuke Wakita Freelance Editor
Masahiro Hasegawa Freelance Colorist
Seiya Matsumiya Black Cat White Cat Music Music Producer
John Shyder Freelance Composer
Temujin Shimizu Freelance Re-recording Mixer
Hayato Makinose Twinkleland Online Editor
Yohei Kataoka Twinkleland Online Editor
Yuriko Iino The University of Tokyo Advisor

Background

Japan ranked 120th out of 156 countries, in the most recent Global Gender Gap Report announced in 2021, positioned in the the bottom group among other developed nations. About 60% of the Japanese population do not feel comfortable of talking about the topic of gender. LIFULL, a leading social enterprise in Japan, committed to contributing to the fifth goal of the SDGs of “achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls”, introduced this work to the society, aiming to provide a platform that can spark conversations about gender and diversity.

Describe the cultural / social / political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

In Japan, “gender” is perceived as a taboo subject for corporate advertising. Therefore, LIFULL took a novel approach to work directly with the production crew of the project. The non-interrupted relationship between the advertiser, LIFULL and the production team, without involving an advertising agency who is the usual intermediary in creative development processes in Japan, enabled the work to create and convey an unconventional message which did not exist in Japan.

Describe the creative idea

“Home” is an iconic element of LIFULL company who hosts the largest real-estate information service in Japan. Featuring the essence of the company’s core business of “LIFULL HOME’S” and using the idea of “home” as a metaphor of the safest place for people, LIFULL created a space where participants could have open and unscripted dialogues to share their true feelings. The only given rule to the panelists was to respect every comment and listen to all opinions without judgement. LIFULL made sure to secure the participants’ psychological safety by giving them the right to delete their remarks lat post-editting if not desired to go out in public, and by also having the film director and two employees of LIFULL attending the conversation. The safe environment empowered the participants to exchange their “rue and real feelings.

Describe the strategy

The phrase of “Diversity and Inclusion” has acquired an awareness rate of 70% in Japan. However, the level of understanding of what it means, remains at 30%. Behind these numbers, we can see historical and cultural implications of the ethnically homogeneous nature of Japan as an island nation. LIFULL hosted a platform where viewers could watch conversations among panelists discussing about gender which has been one the most challenging topics in Japan. The film offered an opportunity to think of ways of bringing more diversity into the individual values in Japan. LIFULL, a company that strongly embraces diversity, made sure of avoiding expressions in the film of specific point-of-views about male/female mindsets or stereotypical opinions of LGBTQ+. It is a demonstration of the company’s attitude of accepting every different value.

Describe the execution

Gender is a challenging topic in Japan. LIFULL created a film which was made with an intention to spark conversations about this topic. The film was published online in two versions, one in Japanese audio only and the other with English subtitles, which were viewed in total of more than 100,000 times. Sept 26: LIFULL invited journalists to a press conference and previewed the corporate documentary film which became covered by many media who had strong interest in gender issues. Sept 27: Famous celebrities of younger generations who were advocators of gender differences posted comments on social networks. Nov 21: Screened the film at Peace Day, an event to facilitate dialogues related to the topic of “peace”, providing an opportunity to the event participants to experience the stories introduced in the work. Dec 13: Tokyo University used the film as a material to think about this issue with young students.

Describe the results / impact

Lifted LIFULL’s brand awareness rate by 2.1 points, equivalent to 3 million of the Japanese population. Efficiency in awareness-building was 40% higher than other adversing formats including TVC and internet ads. This film marked an outstanding record of users’ film-viewing time of 17min 20sec in average, which is a remarkable result against the normal average of time-spent on long films limited to only 4min 50sec. Introduced as an educational material at Japan’s highest academic institution, Tokyo University.

Links

Website URL   |   Video URL