Tokyo, July 9, 2009 – Dentsu Public Relations Inc. has won Golden World Awards for Excellence in PR from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) in the “Consumer PR – existing product” and “Business-to-business” categories. Dentsu PR’s winning projects were, “Turn the page: Redefining paper dictionaries,” carried out for Iwanami Shoten Publishers and “Japan’s milk price problem: The 30-year challenge,” conducted on behalf of the Japan Dairy Council. Dentsu PR was the sole winner from Japan, and one of only three winners hailing from Asia.

The IPRA judges chose 30 category winners out of 342 entries from 42 countries. “Japan’s milk price problem: The 30-year challenge,” was also nominated as a candidate for the United Nations Award, which will be granted to a campaign that most closely represents the aims and ideals of the United Nations. The UN Award and IPRA Grand Prix winner will be announced at the Golden World Awards ceremony being held in London on Friday, October 30, 2009.

“The prestige associated with winning a Golden World Awards category is clearly demonstrated by the number of entries received this year despite the economic downturn. It is especially gratifying to see entries from countries where public relations is still a relatively new profession. Some particularly good entries were received from Japan, Romania and Ukraine,” said Michael Regester, Jury Chair.

“I am very happy to see that two of our projects were recognized and selected as Golden World Award category winners. I feel that this achievement was made possible by gaining both trust and cooperation from our clients,” said Shigeki Ishimatsu, president of Dentsu PR. Tadashi Inokuchi, the Dentsu PR consultant who managed both of the winning projects said that he is “very happy to have been a part of both campaigns.” Adding that, “it’s great to see our approaches to two very different issues be recognized by a leading authority on public relations.” Denstu PR has won six IPRA Golden World Awards in the past, and is honored to be recognized again for its efforts.

Massive display at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station showing the 230,000 words contained in the 5th edition of Kojien.

Turn the page: Redefining paper dictionaries
Client: Iwanami Shoten, Publishers
Category: Consumer PR – existing product

In December 2006, Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, one of Japan’s largest publishers, asked Dentsu Public Relations to support the launch of the sixth edition of their flagship ‘Comprehensive Dictionary of the Japanese Language’ (Kojien). In January 2008, the publishing giant would release a newly revised edition of Kojien for the first time in ten years. However, with the rise of online and electronic dictionaries, sales of paper dictionaries had been halved over the previous decade. This called for a strategic campaign that would redefine the value of paper dictionaries. The campaign emphasized the value of Kojien by linking a demonstrable deterioration in children’s language competence in Japan to falling sales of paper-based dictionaries. The campaign message was simple: Prevent the degeneration of the language using paper-based dictionaries. The campaign helped Iwanami exceed its first year Kojien sales target in just two months and reinforced the idea of it as approachable, trendy and innovative. The campaign was also awarded the 2008 Grand Prix award by the Public Relations Society of Japan, garnering further publicity in PR and marketing trade media as well as nationwide newspapers.  

150 dairy farmers gathering in front of Japan’s largest train station to appeal to the public and promote awareness of the crisis their industry is facing.

Japan’s milk price problem: The 30-year challenge Client: Japan Dairy Council Category: Business-to-businessIn late 2006, Japan’s dairy industry entered into a crisis with farmers struggling to maintain operations. Low profitability was leading numerous farmers to abandon dairying. Partly to blame were soaring feed costs. Corn, which is the main feed for cows, was becoming more and more expensive due to the growing demand for its use in bioethanol. High oil prices had also lead to an increase in the cost of other imported grains. With farmers abandoning their businesses, concern was growing over the potential for a major decrease in Japan’s milk supply.

Over a two-year period, a campaign to seek understanding from consumers and retailers was launched, with the ultimate goal of convincing dairy manufactures that an increase in the price of wholesale milk was a necessity. Seminars targeting the press, and later retailers, were conducted to highlight the struggle of farmers. To appeal to consumers directly, a series of street side events were also conducted.

 

The campaign was highly successful in gaining the understanding of consumers, retailers and manufacturers of dairy products. The plight of the dairy farmers and sense of crisis within the industry gained a great deal of attention. In March 2008, Japan’s wholesale milk price was raised for the first time in 30 years by 3 yen per kg. As feed prices continued to surge, efforts to provide information to the media continued, and in April 2009, the wholesale milk price was raised by a further 10 yen per kg. This project was also nominated as a candidate for the United Nations Award.

 

For more information on Dentsu Public Relations Inc., please visit https://www.dentsuprc.com/