Our creative solution was to use the pull-down shades on train windows as our advertising space. As shades are for blocking sunshine, it was the perfect metaphor for Hythiol-C. Moreover, this was the first time ever train shades were used for advertising in Japan, compounding the element of visual surprise. The creative worked this way: When a passenger pulled down the shades to block the sunlight, she would see a silhouette of a classic summer scene, such as a woman wearing a straw hat or sunflowers, and a message about Hythiol-C. Beyond the effective advertising message, the artistically designed silhouettes on the shades made the interior of the train more attractive. One big hurdle we had to overcome in this campaign was meeting the strict fireproof standards of the train.

We brought advertising to a space where advertising had never appeared before, establishing in the process a valuable new media. For a media fee of approximately $10,000, we were able to conduct a 2-month outdoor campaign, reaching an estimated 600,000 people. Because our ad broke new ground it received wide mass media and blog coverage. The client was so pleased with the campaign that they plan to continue it this summer.