PR > Sectors & Services

THE SPACE HANGOUT POWERED BY GOOGLE

DENTSU, Tokyo / JAXA (JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY) / 2013

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

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Coming to a time where space-related news aren't rare anymore, JAXA, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency wanted to encourage people's interest in space development, and make it closer to people by making a movement through the media.

Our solution was to connect people's personal space with outer space.

We connected personal computers in people's homes with the International Space Station through Google+ Hangouts, and had people video chat in real time with astronauts directly from their room.

We thought that letting people chat with Astronauts from their everyday environment would make them feel space much closer than they imagined.

We asked our business partner Google to collaborate with us to bring this challenge to reality.

We set Google Plus as the stage for this challenge, and selected 5 people to participate in this Hangout. The event was also broadcast live on YouTube for all to see.

This event, the first of its kind in the world, really succeeded in bringing people closer to space than ever before. It was also a tremendous success in the media, making its way to the front page of Japan's largest daily newspaper (10,000,000 copies), followed by more than 100 medias including TV and the Web.

JAXA's objective to foster people's interest in space was achieved beyond expectations.

This event was also a step forward for all the people dreaming of space, especially for the many children dreaming of becoming astronauts.

ClientBriefOrObjective

The goal was to foster people’s interest and awareness in space and space development once again. As a public organization, one of JAXA’s missions is to inform and educate the Japanese citizen about its activities and achievements.

Effectiveness

This world’s first event really succeeded in bringing people closer to space, with tremendous success in the media:

-Made news in four major news TV-programs including the state channel, which means 30% of Japan’s household saw the news.

-Hit the front page of the Japanese newspaper with 10,000,000 copies, world’s largest circulation (proved in Guinness book).

-Made news in more than 100 web media, including Japan’s 7 major web media (more than 1,000,000UU each).

In addition to these direct PR results, it contributed in stimulating space related news and enhancing JAXA aspiration:

-Space related news appearance in newspapers and magazines jumped 43% compared to previous year.

-“Astronaut” ranked 14th place in a survey of children’s future dreams (which was unranked before)

-“JAXA” ranked 2nd place in a survey of “Men who girls want to date”

Also, NASA even followed JAXA. On February 2013, “NASA Long-Distance Google+ Hangout” was conducted.

Execution

Although astronauts have been able to connect with the internet, like using Twitter, casually connecting the internet and space in realtime has been a massive challenge due to the communication limitation of the ISS. This was the world's first attempt to connect internet users in their living room with astronauts aboard the ISS, using a 20' window that JAXA utilizes for direct live communication with the space station. Google+ Hangout was perfect stage for this event because Google+ Hangout allows multi users to participate in one video-chat and allows broadcasting the video-chat on YouTube. The recruitment of the participants was also conducted on Google+ JAXA official page.

Relevancy

While Japan has developed a very strong space industry over the years, Japanese people do not really feel concerned by space-related news. People’s excitement about space and space development was decreasing year by year. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) wanted to take an initiative that would foster people's interest and awareness in space development.

Strategy

Our solution is based on a simple assumption: If people were able to chat with astronauts from their home, they would feel much closer to space and become more aware of it. We thus proposed an event, the first of its kind in the world, where we would connect people’s computer at homes with the International Space Station (ISS). By connecting people to the ISS through a social network, it demonstrates JAXA’s most advanced achievements (Japanese contribution to the ISS), and does it through the favorite means of communication for younger generations (social networks).

Google+ Hangouts was the perfect platform to achieve that, so we asked our business partner Google to collaborate with us to bring this challenge to reality. Besides, it was clear that other media (TV etc.) would relay the event in the news, further contributing to JAXA’s mission to inform as many people as possible.

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