The growing popularity of smartphones and smartwatches in modern-day Japan has led to a serious decline in younger people who use analog watches.　Having experienced trouble attracting younger customers, Citizen has found the need to approach this issue and try to create a positive impression of our company among the younger generations.

In Japan, parents buy what’s needed for examinations. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, we aimed to create a new culture of giving analog watches as an expression of support for children’s examinations. During an exam, the watch is what sits closest while quietly keeping the time, reminiscent of one’s parents watching over them. In this way, We redefined Citizen's watches from being "a watch to check the time with during an exam" to "a good-luck watch to place next to you which hold's your parents' support.

The target audience is students and their parents. Citizen watches are a bit expensive for a student to buy themselves, so that’s where we suggest parents gift their children a watch as a form of encouragement and support. Through the act of parents gifting their children Citizen watches, we hope we can convey our desire to support students with their exams and increase people of younger generation's engagement with our brand.

We created the story of a parent and child’s different struggles as they face university entrance exams, and shared it on YouTube and SNS, which are resources commonly used for gathering information on how to pass entrance exams. By doing so, we were able to help parents realize that giving your child a watch as a gift is a method of showing your support.

①Brand recognition increasement period (Starting in November): Release a video around the time entrance exams start which shows how you can support students during their exams by giving them a watch as a gift. Encourage people to share the video on SNS.

②Understanding promotion period (Starting in December): Utilize SNS by sharing information about how watches can be useful for exams and studying.

③Purchase promotion period: Prepare a special package containing a good luck charm for those who purchase a watch. Create an incentive for parents to purchase and give watches as gifts.

④During entrance exams: We displayed large posters near examination venues during the period of entrance exams to show Citizen’s support for examinees.

A large number of parents reacted to our video.

It gained 5.38 million views and 13.22 million impressions, which is 60 times more than the response of our normal campaign.

The video was covered by several different media sources, achieving more than twice the amount of media exposure than usual.

We succeeded in helping parents realize that they can support their child by giving them a watch, and in helping younger generations view their Citizen watches as something that can give them courage.

Some of the comments were as follows:

"As a father with a daughter, I was able to relate with this."

"I can sense my parents' support, although they may be too shy to vocalize it, every time I look at my watch during my exam."

"I really do want to encourage my child, but can't bring myself to convey those feelings directly. But now I can support them by giving them a watch."

"Giving a watch to students is a new way to support them!"

"I can feel like I'm being watched over every time I look at my watch."

"I also have a son who is facing his exams, and I do feel like it's hard to communicate with him. I'll keep this commercial in mind!"

"My daughter will have to take her exams in another 2 years, so this was helpful."