Global Ad 1

1000 Cranes for Japan

Created by:

BBDO/Proximity in Tokyo, Canada and Singapore

Launched:

March 2011

Media used:

Online

Appeal:
Emotional & Rationale

Analysis:

The 1000 Cranes for Japan ad is targeted to everyone all over the world with the objective of enabling others to show their support for Japan who went through a huge amount of loss due to a devastating earthquake and subsequent Pacific tsunami on March 11th, 2011.

BBDO/Proximity based this ad on the ancient Japanese legend that promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish. Because of this, the ad clearly demonstrates a relationship with the Japanese culture and belief which strongly communicates the ad's intended message.

Besides that, the use of various colours in the ad is to increase its attention-grabbing ability, attractiveness and sets a cheerful and supportive mood for people to get involved and support/donate for a good cause.

The ad was promoted through the Internet as media channel provides a broad reach with its availability and accessibility in most areas of the world. In fact, the growth of the Internet as a form of advertising media is so intense that the total expenditure invested by advertising companies on the Internet has shown a significant increase across all continents (Grande & James, 2008).

"By 2005, the Internet was available to 1 billion people worldwide, and approximately 845 million people used it regularly." (Emarketer, 2006, as cited in Rosenkrans, 2009)

Additionally, BBDO/Proximity used social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and so forth to further promote the ad, creating an electronic Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) effect. A basic definition of WOM is the sharing of information between everyday people on brands, companies, products in both digital and non-digital world (Carl, 2009). This is not only an effective method in today's advertisement-heavy world (Hogan, Lemon & Libai, 2004), but also proved to provide various cost-benefit advantages such overcoming barriers, reaching new customers, create loyalty and sustain and/or increase total sales (Palmer, 2009; Carl, 2009).

References:

1. 1000Cranes4Japan. Retrieved from http://www.1000cranes4japan.org/
2. Ads of the World (2011). Help Japan: 1000cranes4japan. Retrieved from http://adsoftheworld.com/media/online/help_japan_1000cranes4japanorg
3. Campaign Brief (2011). BBDO aims for 1000 Cranes for Japan. Retrieved from http://www.campaignbrief.com/2011/03/1000-cranes-for-japan.html
4. Digital Lab (2011). Send a Message of Support to Japan. Retrieved from http://www.digitallabblogasia.com/
5. Rosenkrans, G. (2009). The Creativeness and Effectiveness of Online Interactive Rich Media Advertising. The Journal of Interactive Advertising, 9(2), 1-18. Retrieved from WARC.
6. Grande, C. & James, L. (2008). Global Advertising at a Turning Point? Warc Exclusive. Retrieved from WARC.
7. Hogan, J.E., Lemon, K.N., Libai, B. (2004). Quantifying the Ripple: Word-Of-Mouth and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research, 271-282. Retrieved from BusEco database. doi: 10.1017/S0021849904040243
8. Carl, W. (2009). Is talking getting you anywhere? Measuring WOM Marketing. Admap, 504, 1-8. Retrieved from WARC.
9. Palmer, I. (2009). WOM is about empowering consumers in shaping your brand. Admap, 504, 1-7. Retrieved from WARC.