サントリー | 歌のリレー | 2011
There Were People Who Cried / Suntory "Song Relay"
I used to think there was no way a commercial could make someone cry. But I've had a few such moments in my life, and this was one of them.
The problem
On March 11 (3/11), 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. While AC (Advertising Council Japan) commercials played on repeat, Suntory began asking itself: "Isn't there some message we can send to help Japan move forward toward tomorrow?" Staff members whose commercial shoots had been canceled because of the disaster got in touch with each other, feeling they had to do something, and brought the project to life in just a few weeks. Originally, Seiko Matsuda was planned to be the main face of the campaign, but in the end, a total of 71 celebrities readily agreed to take part, and the commercials began airing one after another starting April 6 (4/6).
The insight
A message made of words can end up excluding some of the people who hear it. So instead, the people who had appeared in Suntory's commercials passed along two songs beloved across generations: Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue wo Muite Arukou" and "Miagete Goran Yoru no Hoshi wo," singing them in a relay, handing the song from one person to the next. There was no product advertising at all. The footage showed nothing but a microphone, headphones, and the person themselves. It was a simple, straightforward choice that let people feel hopeful. And above all, the fact that all 71 people took part without any pay speaks to just how strong this project was.
The idea
Eikichi Yazawa, Masahiro Motoki, Rie Miyazawa, Shido Nakamura, Yuko Takeuchi, Koyuki, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Maki Horikita, Tommy Lee Jones, Akiko Wada... the people who had appeared in Suntory's ads passed the baton to one another, one after another. A total of 30 versions were made, in 60-second and 30-second lengths, across multiple patterns labeled A through C. The art direction and production were measured and just right. There was no cutting corners on the graphic craft either. Given the stage of a TV commercial, and the goal of connecting the people who made it with the people watching it in the shortest possible way, nothing could have beaten this.
What happened
It won the Grand Prix at the 2011 Tokyo Art Directors Club (ADC) awards. Suntory, Dentsu, and the performers involved in making it were given an unusual special ADC award. It was praised for "the ability to act and the willingness to take on a challenge right after the disaster, and the determination of the performers." Looking back, judge Kaoru Kasai recalled, "I felt frustrated, wondering if advertising could do nothing. I think a lot of people felt the same way."
Afterthought
Anything I say about this will sound hollow, but: the fact that it started airing right after the disaster; the fact that, despite such an impossible schedule, every single talent who'd ever appeared in a Suntory ad showed up; the fact that the song was by Kyu Sakamoto, a piece that lives in Japan's heart, a choice that let people feel hopeful — everything about it was exactly right. By the way, this commercial is also memorable to me because it's what made me decide to just be an ordinary bear (though I already was one, to be fair).
