Yahoo!: Election In The Dark [image]

Credits & Description:

Client: Yahoo Japan Corporation
Agency: Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Japan
Entrant: Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Japan
Idea Creation: Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Japan
Media Placement: Yahoo Japan Corporation Tokyo, Japan
Pr: Dentsu Public Relations Tokyo, Japan
Production: Birdman Tokyo, Japan
Additional Company: Dialog In The Dark Japan Tokyo, Japan
Music Artist/Title: Https://kikoeru.yahoo.co.jp
Executive Creative Director: Yoshimitsu Sawamoto (Dentsu Inc.)
Creative Director / Planner: Akira Suzuki (Dentsu Inc.)
Creative Director: Kazuyoshi Ochi (Dentsu Inc.)
Creative Director: Togo Kida (Dentsu Inc.)
Copywriter: Kenta Isobe (Dentsu Inc.)
Art Director: Masanari Kakamu (Dentsu Inc.)
Designer: Ryota Mishima (Birdman Inc.)
Account Executive: Michihito Nishizaki (Dentsu Inc.)
Pr Planner: Yohei Takahashi (Dentsu Public Relations Inc.)
Pr Planner: Kazuya Watanabe (Dentsu Public Relations Inc.)
Producer: Eiko Shimada (Freelance)
Director: Takuro Ito (Birdman Inc.)
Director: Saki Togashi (Birdman Inc.)
Technical Director: Takayuki Komatsu (Birdman Inc.)
Frontend Engineer: Kazuki Nakata (Yama)
Backend Engineer: Masanori Nagamura (Birdman Inc.)
Researcher: Mayumi Morioka (Birdman Inc.)
Producer: Koichi Suzuki (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Creative Director: Shinya Uchida (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Creative Director: Jun Watanabe (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Engineer: Masami Goto (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Art Director: Kazuto Kitakado (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Planner: Kazuaki Matsumura (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Planner: Akihiko Maeda (Yahoo Japan Corporation)
Facilitator: Chikasa Komazawa (Dialog In The Dark)
Facilitator: Akira Hiyama (Dialog In The Dark)
Facilitator: Yohei Seto (Dialog In The Dark)
Producer: Hojin Ishii (Niban-kobo Productions Corp.)
Producer: Yoshimune Takamatsu (Niban-kobo Productions Corp.)
Director: Satomi Inagaki (Connection Inc.)
Production Manager: Ryo Takashima (Niban-kobo Productions Corp.)
Production Manager: Nana Arai (Niban-kobo Productions Corp.)
Website URL: https://kikoeru.yahoo.co.jp
Describe the campaign/entry:
To present this issue, instead of a PDF, we launched a text-based microsite with every candidate’s information. However, at first glance, this website is in complete darkness with no comprehensible information/hierarchy available. All election information is written in black text on a black background. This site expresses the state for visually challenged, who cannot obtain information despite the information being there. First, the sighted visits the website hoping to obtain necessary election information, but experience inconvenience instead by not obtaining anything. Soon after, the sighted understands this situation “replicates” the current state of the visually challenged, which eventually makes them realize the deepness of this unknown human rights problem. Nonetheless, through special software that vocalizes the non-visually information on the HTML, the visually challenged access the content without difficulty. By switching the positions of sighted and visually challenged, we provided a solution, and raised awareness about this overlooked information gap.
Creative Execution:
Prior to the Election, the microsite was launched containing comprehensive candidate information. This website has two objectives. 1): Let the sighted people realize this unknown human rights problem. 2): Enable the visually challenged to smoothly access necessary candidate information. To achieve them, we collaborated with various visually challenged people, and their supporting organization, experts in public welfare to ensure usability for the visually challenged. The UX/UI and the “audible experience” of the website improved through numerous discussions and mockups. Moreover, not just the candidate information, but further enriched the microsite experience by adding detailed personal information of the candidates, comparable policy check sheet among various parties, questionnaires obtained from the parties, and specially written columns about the election to ensure pleasant audible experience.

June 22(THU), 2017: Microsite launch
June 28(WED), 2017: Comprehensive candidate information published
July 2(SUN), 2017 Election & vote count
July 3(MON), 2017: Preliminary election results posted
This campaign achieved phenomenal results.
• Achieved +250 media coverage including a special feature program in “Good Morning Japan”(NHK) which is the most major news program in Japan. Overall media impression totaled +257,300,000JPY(Approx.
330,000USD).
• Pressured by the trending controversy among citizens and media, every major political party (The Liberal Democratic Party, The Democratic Party, Komeito, Japanese Communist Party, Tokyoites First Party, Seikatsusha Network of Tokyo, Ishin Tokyo) promised to resolve this issue. It became the first mark to resolve this disparity.
• The voting rate in Tokyo increased by 17.9% than the previous election, and achieved the highest voting rate in the past 5 years. Early voting rate increased by 51.0% than the previous election. The votes casted became the highest ever, which exemplifies the success in stimulating voters’ interest in politics.
• +1,200,000 pageviews in 10 days since the launch.
• +6349% higher traffic than past similar website.
We targeted this campaign to all internet users, voters, visually challenged, and journalists. By launching the microsite when everybody’s attention is towards the Tokyo Metropolitan Election, we gained interests from everyone including the media and resulting in a huge nationwide discussion. Together with the release, we hosted a media event which demonstrates how visually challenged use this microsite. By showing how the visually challenged use the internet live, we clarified the media what the problem is in reality. Additionally, before launch, by leaking this initiative to one of the most viewed nationwide news programs which has a viewing rate over 12%, the project was specially featured. Eventually, we extensively raised awareness of this invisible online election information gap. Moreover, by designing the overall online experience to let viewers speak up on social media, the project further proliferated regarding the gap which exists between the visually challenged and the upcoming election.