Category: Best Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale
Advertiser: DENTSU DESIGN NINJA
Product/Service: STICKER
Agency: DENTSU KANSAI
Art Director: Kana Nakao (Dentsu kansai)
Copywritter: Ryo Makishima (Dentsu kansai)
Copywriter: Aiko Ishimoto (Dentsu kansai)
Designer: Ryoichi Karasuno (Dentsu Creative X)
Designer: Saori Kawakami (Dentsu Creative X)
Account Manager: Yasuo Goto (Dentsu kansai)
Media placement: Distribution - Elementary School - 20 December 2011
Media placement: Giveaway Promotion - Web - 20 December 2011
Insights, Strategy & the Idea
The catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, forced down all of the country’s nuclear power stations. Saving electricity suddenly became a major issue in the country. However, despite the Japanese people’s intentions to save electricity, in truth, most actually didn’t. To solve this issue, we were commissioned by Kansai Electric Power Co. to get the Japanese people more involved in saving electricity. Our insight for the solution was that “people will become more involved through real-life communication rather than through mass media.”
Creative Execution
We created stickers that perfectly fit the light switches of every home. We distributed the stickers to the elementary school children through a public organisation.
We have also sent the stickers to families who have expressed their interest in saving electricity.
Using nearby light switches as the medium, they called upon everyone to save electricity. By glowing in the dark when switching off the light, they brought more fun to the once mundane and bothersome task of saving electricity.
Results and Effectiveness
The characters have exploded in popularity especially among children. Thus, many children are now proactively saving electricity. They have also been adopted as the official characters for the city of Osaka – Japan’s second largest city – and are used for its 1.2 million households. As a result, Osaka was able to cut power consumption by 8.4% from the previous year.