Case Studies

2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival: Promo Grand Prix and a Gold PR Lion for the Yubari Japan (MSL Japan and beacon communications k.k.)

Servicing Brand: MSL Japan in partnership with Beacon Communications KK

Service Period: January 2007-March 2010

The Challenge

With a debt of $330 million, Yubari City sadly went bankrupt in 2007. Our mission was to transform Yubari through publicity, energise its citizens, and see it become economically independent by boosting tourism.

The Solution

Our PR campaign strategy involved developing and leveraging the character couple "Yubari Fusai". "Fusai" means both "debt" and "married couple" in Japanese. With a key message of "Yubari: a city with no money but love", we portrayed Yubari as a destination that warmly welcomes visitors. This idea inspired people nationwide to want to visit Yubari, and also taught Yubari citizens that they can do simple things, even with no money behind it.

Results

The campaign generated 150 million yen in advertising value with exposure including 100 newspaper mentions, 100 online media mentions, 30 TV mentions, and 53,100 blog entries according to a Google search. In addition, the annual number of visitors to Yubari in 2008 exceeded that of the previous year by 10%, while $31 million has been generated toward alleviating the city's debt.