When “Get Back, Tohoku” launched in 2011, it was one of the first campaigns to break a self-imposed moratorium on advertising following the disaster. It shifted people’s mindsets toward recovery, and has continued to energize people throughout Japan with bold creative work. Over the course of the campaign's first seven years, it successfully engaged the public and made “Get Back, Tohoku” a byword for the region's recovery efforts. With the Tohoku area finally regaining a sense of normalcy in 2018, our campaign emphasis shifted to celebrate the beauty and joy of life as usual in the Tohoku region, and to share that beauty and joy with people around Japan. By leveraging the equity of past campaigns and our relationship with the audience, we were able to generate increased user participation, and further strengthen the East Japan Railway Company’s relationship with society.

The core creative idea behind “Get Back, Tohoku,” is to present trains as heroic figures that unite people and communities, generating interest in the region through visual storytelling that creates an emotional connection to both the Tohoku region and to the East Japan Railway company. In 2018, based on the insight that everyday scenes can have strong visual impact when viewed from different perspectives, we took the approach of capturing real everyday scenes of trains and railways with an authentic documentary approach, using neither staged photo shoots nor photo retouching. This was an evolution of our communication through the previous seven years that showcased the beauty of everyday life in the Tohoku region, and successfully inspired our audience to capture their own version of Tohoku and share it online, increasing reach and audience involvement.

Our key PR strategy for 2018 was to have users capture and share their own images of Tohoku to help spread the joy of being able to appreciate once-again normal life in the now-recovered Tohoku region. This would not only further the sense of recovery and create interest in traveling to Tohoku, but also indirectly enhance the railway's corporate reputation by reconfirming the important role it plays in society. We presented stunning visual images that were actually real everyday scenes in Tohoku seen from a unique perspective. Our goal in creating the images was to generate public interest that would inspire individuals to create and share their own version of beautiful everyday scenes in the Tohoku region. We promoted sharing on Instagram via #GetBackTohoku (original hashtag in Japanese), and also aimed to leverage this through PR events and content that involved the Tohoku region and our audience.

We began by scouting locations throughout the region to study how the scenery changed with the seasons. Natural lighting was a key factor in determining our shooting schedule, which also had to be synchronized with local train schedules to get the shots we wanted. We deliberately eschewed compositing, and relied solely on our eyes and creative vision to compose each image. With this analog approach, we captured the emotional experience of travel with natural realism and a documentary touch.

East Japan Railway Company's infrastructure is a vital part of daily life in the Tohoku region. It operates the Shinkansen high-speed trains that bring visitors from Tokyo, as well as local lines that area residents rely on to commute to school and work. Our nine-year campaign successfully increased visitor traffic to stations and towns that were previously bypassed by most tourists, and helped boost the morale of residents throughout the region.