Our challenge was the diminishing brand value of i-MiEV electric vehicle, after the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan.

In the midst of a national effort to conserve electricity after the nuclear power plant incident, our goal was to rebrand i-MiEV.After the earthquake, consumers’ attentions shifted from the ‘individuals’ to the ‘society’, and more community actions were seen in our country to strengthen human ties. Witnessing such change, we decided to redefine the value of electric vehicles from individual means of transportation to a device that brings people together to create happiness.The concept was: 'More than just an electric vehicle'.We noticed that an electric vehicle is one gigantic battery, and hosted the world’s first Nebuta Festival (Japan’s most famous and largest annual lantern festival in the Tohoku region) using i-MiEV as the sole power source.As a result, the project created serious media attention. A total of 105 media outlets, including the most widely circulated newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, reported about the festival. The project successfully contributed to the re-branding of i-MiEV.

We hosted the 'i-MiEV nebuta project', the world’s first nebuta festival powered by electric vehicles. 'Nebuta' incorporated various interactive technologies such as kinnect sensors and sound sensors, which created a dialogue-like experience between the electric vehicles and the crowd.The footage of the festival was made into a documentary film. And was broadcast at various touchpoints.

i-MiEV Nebuta Project generated serious media attention. And the buzz continued to spread on social media.In addition, on March 9, which was just a few days prior to the one year memorial of March 11, a power supply device that can extract electricity from i-MiEV was announced. Through the announcement of this power supply device, the project that started from the Tohoku Earthquake on March 11 continues to communicate the value of i-MiEV. i-MiEV Nebuta Project generated serious media attention and the buzz continued to spread on social media.

In addition to Yomiuri Shimbun which has a daily circulation of 10m, this project was picked up by more than 150 news media in Japan.