We developed a mobile Street View hack that allowed users to virtually plant Sakura anywhere in the world. We did this using emerging WebGL technologies and the Google Street View API, entirely in the phone’s browser.

This virtual planting of trees inspired us to bring the idea to life in the real world. Spring 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of the devastating Tsunami in Tohoku. In partnership with local government and the non-profit Sakura Line 311, we took 10 yen from every bottle of Lux Sakura sold and bought hundreds of Sakura trees. We then started planting them along an invisible line 170 kilometres long: the line that marks the furthest point inland the tsunami traveled. Tree after tree, every ten meters. It’s a memorial to the past and a marker for the future.

Sakura Dream is built mobile first, working entirely within the mobile browser using Street View API and 3D modeling in WebGL.

Users arrived at the site from geo-targeted mobile ads served in all of Japan’s 47 prefectures, from social media, or from a QR code on pack.

The user is dropped into one of 25 pre-curated scenes, artfully ‘hacked’ to show Cherry Blossom seamlessly on mobile, tablet and desktop.

We created a short awareness film introducing our efforts in Tohoku as a Call to Donate.

The project was first launched in Spring 2015. We planted hundreds of trees between November 2015 and March 2016, and will continue to plant dozens more trees twice a year at the different sites along the 170km line which will last for generations to come.

Finally, we turned the site into a donation platform where people could contribute money or volunteer time towards the project.

500 million Media Impressions generated. Over 1 million Sakura Dream Scenes created. Over 750.000 Visitors to the mobile site.

Average Time Spent more than 2 minutes, with the average user exploring 4-5 different locations.

Over 24% of people returned to the site later with a significantly higher average interaction time of 10.5 minutes.

83% of experiences came from mobile.

Over 500,000 people have viewed our film about the Sakura Dream Project and Tohoku.

Dynamic, bespoke mobile ads served in all 47 prefectures in Japan.

Nearly 1,000 trees have been planted. Contributions from the sales of Lux Sakura shampoo continue to grow. We’ll stop when we’ve helped plant the entire 170 kilometre line.

The product sold out within a week, exceeding sales targets by 960%.

With a custom web experience, The Sakura Dream Project spoke to users individually, allowing the virtual creation of Cherry Blossom scenes across the world - engaging contextually by geo-targeting their location, and allowing them to choose personally meaningful places.

The planting of actual trees drove a second kind of direct relationship: a call to action to learn and engage with the broader Sakura Dream project, and our effort to plant trees along a 170km line marking the inland tsunami reach.

A direct mobile link allowed financial donations to our project in order to keep the effort going over coming years.

The Lux brand represents beauty and aspiration, and the strategic platform for this project was to ‘spread the beauty of Sakura where there was none’.

The original mobile-based component of the project did exactly that - by showing people ‘Sakura Dream’ versions of places that were meaningful to them, such as their high school or family home. Mobile made sense as the lead platform for this because, aside from Japanese women being heavy mobile users, the idea lends itself to the use of GPS and geotargeting. Visually, the phone’s gyroscope provided a natural way to explore the experience.

What started as an indigenous digital idea then grew to a real world idea. Dimensionalizing the strategy to include actual tree planting gave meaning to the virtual planting, and created a longer term vision for the brand encompassing corporate responsibility, sustainability and social impact.

In April 2015, Lux introduced a limited-edition Sakura (cherry blossom) shampoo. It’s quite common for brands to release new products in the Spring. Most, however, have only a superficial connection to the season.

Sakura bloom but once a year. They’re at their peak for just a few days. Cherry blossoms have long held a special place in the heart of Japanese. Their flowering marks a time of both reflection and hope. We wanted to create an experience that extended this ephemeral beauty, to make it more lasting and meaningful.

To stand out in this crowded market, Unilever was looking to do something different, to recast the brand and make it more modern and relevant to younger Japanese. The use of mobile and web technologies was our obvious first choice.