We developed a mobile Street View hack that allowed users to choose any location and virtually plant cherry blossom trees anywhere in the world using emerging WebGL technologies and the Google Street View API, entirely in your phone’s browser.

The experience of virtually planting trees inspired us to take the digital idea and bring it to life. Spring 2016 coincides with the 5th anniversary of the devastating Tsunami in Tohoku. So in partnership with the local government, education boards and NPO Sakura Line 311, we took 10yen from every bottle of Lux sold, and started planting actual trees along an invisible line 170km long, marking how far the tsunami came inland. Tree after tree, one every ten metres. The line is both 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%.

The Sakura Dream Project began with a simple, small, digital idea, and grew into a large scale, real world, long term project that will last for decades and decades.

First, we created a mobile Streetview hack that lets you plant virtual cherry blossoms anywhere in the world. Then, we partnered with the government and NGO Sakura Line 311, and started planting actual sakura trees in the real world.

The campaign combined mobile and desktop experiences, real world activation, geo-targeted media, integrated YouTube content, on-pack QR code and URL integration, print, eCommerce, and a site-based donation platform closing the loop.

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 indigenously 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.