Nominees Category: CAMPAIGN AWARDS

In many industrialized nations, poor dietary habits in children are a growing problem. Japan is no exception, and many kids resist the balanced meals served by their parents in favor of snacks and processed foods. Holistic healthcare firm Otsuka Pharmaceutical brought Google and Rakuten Recipe on board for a unique initiative leveraging children’s love of drawing to foster healthy engagement with nutrition. SketchCook is a mobile app that magically transforms kids’ food pictures into recipes they can enjoy making with their families. A machine learning system trained with 12,000 sketches from homes and schools utilizes an image translator to convert doodles into lifelike, appetizing images, which are matched to a database of 3 million recipes to find the closest, healthiest match. Kids loved this playful application of technology, and SketchCook received widespread media coverage, sparking a broader conversation around child nutrition, and securing uptake by several schools in major cities.

Like many communities across Japan, the provincial city of Kobayashi faces numerous issues relating to depopulation and brain drain, earning the unwanted label of a “city at risk of disappearing.” Game developer Electronic Arts teamed up with the local government to launch a groundbreaking educational initiative based around the popular gaming app SimCity BuildIt. To develop young people’s interest and engagement in community development, the app was incorporated into lessons for local high school students, who, along with city officials, were made members of a new government department, the Kobayashi City Department of SimCity BuildIt. Their task was to create an ideal future version of the city within the game, and present the end results at a special city meeting. As well as boosting cross-generational community spirit, the project gained widespread media attention, with towns around the country hoping to leverage SimCity BuildIt in local revitalization.

YOHO Brewing, Japan’s largest craft beer company, believes that drinking is about relaxed enjoyment free of stress. Yet in Japan where drinking sessions among company colleagues are important bonding rituals between seniors and juniors, they can be anything but – especially when senior co-workers who are bossy in the office behave the same way outside when alcohol is served. YOHO tackled this issue by cleverly adapting technology and installing it into a device which actualizes the Japanese idiom “Blow a Bossy-Wind”.
The ‘Bossy-Talk Detector’ YOHO created is a tree of small oscillating fans which are activated when a microphone recognizes a bossy-talk phrase or emotion.

YOHO released a concept video on social media on International Beer Day and placed a Bossy-Talk Detector in a beer bar. Major Japanese media reported this unique initiative, several private and government organizations inquired about hiring detectors for year-end parties, and YOHO’s brand recognition soared.