Cultural / Context information for the jury

In Japan, there are many characters that belong to the cities, such as character billboards, Gundam, and Godzilla monuments. The traditional Jizo is also one of the examples, so there has been a culture that accepts such things as animism. So we decided to use a cat as a character, a universally loved animal. We created Japan's first virtual "character" you can meet in Shinjuku. We designed it not just as a commercial video, but as a landmark of Shinjuku, with the "presence" of a real giant cat living on top of the building.

Write a short summary of the ambient work.

Outdoor digital signage screens have cropped up all across Tokyo, but hardly anybody stops to watch. As we prepared to install Cross Shinjuku Vision, we decided to create content that would not just catch the eye but transform digital signage into a destination. In July 2021, passersby stopped to watch a huge computer-generated calico cat wake up on a 150-square-meter screen. As the day went by, the cat played around, meowed at the people, and went to sleep at night as if the cat lived there. The giant cat enjoyed media coverage from around the world and went viral on social media. People flocked to watch the cat from all over the country and felt joy and excitement from watching a digital signage screen. Foot traffic to the area increased by 67%. In six months, we received over 1,000 ad inquiries and implemented over 100 ads on our screen.