By Kosuke Jimbo
2020 probably will arguably be one of the most memorable years in our lifetime. Sure, there have been some important moments in recent years like the financial crisis of 2008, or 2011 for Japan when the earthquake hit the archipelago and caused the Fukushima crisis, but never has there been an incident we could all refer to as “The Pandemic”.
However, not everything was in the fall. 2020 could also be seen as the year the internet became the true core of all of our lives. There is no denying that this was going to happen sooner or later, but with many countries going into quarantine, it is said that the number of social network users had risen 8.1% from 2019, 3.23 billion people, that is. (*1) In the near future, we might remember 2020 as, not just the year when the whole world suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic, but also as the year the internet became king, and probably will remain so for decades to come.
*1: https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-social-network-users-2020
With COVID-19 still casting a dark shadow in our lives, we should learn from the most successful PR and social media campaigns in Japan of 2020 to see what the PR landscape would look like in 2021 and years to come.
- PayPay
https://about.paypay.ne.jp/pr/20201106/02/
Japanese mobile payment service, PayPay was founded in 2018, giving Japanese consumers a new option for payment. After the corona outbreak, they decided to start the “Support Your Town Project” where they’d give out credit points to payments made through the service. It has supported 112 regions nationwide, and announced that they will expand the list to 146 starting January 2021. The campaign was not just successful in popularizing the new payment method, but also revitalized the local economy. It also helped businesses to cut down on expenses by distributing gift certificates through PayPay, omitting the cost of printing the ticket.
- Netflix
If there were any winners under this chaos, it would be the online entertainment services (and Amazon, of course). Netflix had already gained some success in Japan before the pandemic, however, when the virus started to concern the whole world, they hit their first ever global campaign, “We’re only one story away.” It taught us how important stories are in this current world we live in, and how we could overcome this crisis with it.
The campaign was an instant hit in Japan, thanks to the numerous commercials they started running, and Netflix quickly became the top competing streaming service in Japan. Another factor that contributed to this was the major immigration of TV stars to the internet. Television has long reigned as the king of media in Japan, however, as the government declared a state of emergency, TV production had to be stopped and many celebrities founded their own YouTube channel. This led the viewers to the internet, where they found more entertainment options in streaming services.
- Pocari Sweat
Japanese energy drink, Pocari Sweat has delivered quality commercials for youngsters for decades. The commercial series has focused on active teenagers, however, under the pandemic, they decided to make a theme song and ran a social media campaign where anyone could post their own rendition online. Not only was the social media campaign a hit, but they also made a whole TV commercial using those footages, empowering all youngsters who had been under the stress of not being able to go to school or enjoy their extra curricular activities.
- ZONe Energy
ZONe Energy is an energy drink that debuted in May 2020. Targeting the young generation, they decided to run a campaign starring Fuwa-chan, Japan’s up and coming YouTube star and a simple game where the users competed to swipe their smartphone as fast as possible. The simple, yet addictive game caught the attention of many teenagers who were forced to stay in their houses, and the drink gained recognition from their main target.
- Domino’s Pizza
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDdHYTQj-I6/
Under quarantine, food delivery had become a daily necessity rather than a luxury item for special occasions. Domino’s was the first one to catch up on this, and they ran an instagram campaign where they’d ask customers to post their most photogenic images of Domino’s Pizza for a chance to win a maximum of 100,000 yen worth of coupon. Yes, there have been dozens of companies that have run a giveaway campaign on social media, but what makes this campaign better than others is the fact that it made the customers think which pizza would look best on photo. It also sparked creativity of some users who posted photos of “Domino shoes” made out of empty pizza boxes, or illustrations of pizzas.
- NIKE Japan
With people stuck in their houses, Nike Japan came up with an innovative way to… well, keep people on their feet. They took onto YouTube and ran a live stream of professional trainers instructing viewers ways to keep them in shape in house. The series got recognized by many exercise enthusiasts nationwide, keeping them healthy while staying true to their all so famous slogan: Just Do It.
- Go Pro
https://www.instagram.com/goprojp/?utm_source=ig_embed
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged many to start sharing their own experience online. With this fad, GoPro started their #HomePro campaign where they asked users to shoot their home life using GoPro and sharing it with the world. As popular as it was, they collected many creative footages from professionals to amateurs, and the campaign gained global recognition. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise as the company gave away their world famous cameras and five-year membership as a prize.
As you probably realized after seeing these examples, the key to a successful PR campaign under this pandemic is to get your customers to take action. Sure, that has always been a common practice in the social media world, but it is more important than ever to understand what the customers are going through, and presenting a solution to relieve their stress by taking part in your campaign. Hope this inspired you to come up with the next big PR hit.
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