Since the Kumamoto Earthquakes of April 2016, the restoration of Kumamoto Castle has become a symbol for the recovery of the region as a whole. But, though the one-year anniversary of the disaster brought renewed media attention and widespread donations, there is always a risk that continual coverage of such contributions may lead the public to wrongly assume that the castle’s restoration is already complete. The idea behind this initiative was to leverage the expertise of packaging firm Sakura Paxx by selling cardboard models of Kumamoto Castle, with 100% of proceeds to be donated to the restoration of the castle itself. The underlying aim was to attract active participation from the general public, thereby helping to generate an ongoing source of funding, as well as to keep the restoration of this historic structure near the forefront of the public consciousness.

The act of purchasing and assembling the model and then using it as an ornament in the home or office was framed as a “Build-your-own donation” to the restoration of Kumamoto Castle. The challenge of assembling the model in the quickest time possible was used as the theme for a promotional video, while a charity event aimed at the general public was also held at Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills retail complex. The promo video and footage from the event were shared online, and all materials were presented to various media in a freely editable format in order to stimulate steady coverage that extended beyond the April 2017 launch and charity event. Aside from one local newspaper advertisement in Toyama Prefecture, where Sakura Paxx is based, the campaign chose to forgo conventional advertising in favor of earned, owned, and shared media.

The story was covered in several news media, getting a further boost when the models won a prestigious top 100 placement in the 2017 Good Design Awards. Various offshoot activities inspired by the initiative also helped to secure ongoing exposure. For instance, when local budget airline Solaseed Air partnered with Sakura Paxx to offer the model kits for sale onboard its flights, a press release issued by the airline in February 2018—nearly a year after the campaign’s launch—generated mentions in major news outlets including the Nikkei newspaper.

The models themselves met with overwhelming demand. The initial run of 3,000 units sold out so quickly that production had to be increased, and as of March 2018, 6,000 kits have been purchased by buyers in Japan and 10 other countries. The initiative has generated approximately 11 million yen so far, representing some 3,700 hours contributed to the rebuilding effort by members of the public. Social media engagement also continues to grow, with related videos published as distributed content surpassing one million views and garnering overwhelmingly positive comments. One tweet about the initiative from the mayor of Kumamoto inspired over 1,500 reactions.

The initiative has also boosted the profile of Sakura Paxx and brought benefits to the business. In 2017, the company received twice the usual number of graduate job applications. Unusually for a local BtoB company, Sakura Paxx has received offers of collaboration from 20 businesses and organizations, and five requests for public speaking appearances by the company president.