With a debt of $353 million, Yubari City in Hokkaido, Japan, went bankrupt in 2007. Our challenge was to promote Yubari, re-energize its citizens, and help erase the debt burden.

Our PR strategy focused on the fact that Yubari boasted the lowest divorce rate in the whole of Japan and as such we created the idea, "Yubari, no money but love". In expanding this idea we created a couple of loveable, yet slightly ironic characters called "Yubari Fusai".

“Fusai” means both “debt” and “married couple” in Japanese. Then we collaborated with the City Government to create a series of schemes positioning the city as a destination for happy couples – a newly formed Department of Happily Married Couples issued official Happily Married Certificates, to name but one effort.Important to our strategy was the need to be upbeat and positive, protecting the sensitivities of the local residents, ensuring that our efforts didn’t demean them in any way. The idea of “no money but love” was an honest, yet endearing articulation of the situation they faced. Added to which, and in a country obsessed by cute characters such as Hello Kitty, the Yubari Fusai icon, proved to be a potent vehicle in generating WOM, print and broadcast PR.

A press conference announced the launch of the "Yubari Fusai" characters. The slightly ironic characters provoked a nationwide debate on the dire state of Yubari. Citizens groups and companies collaborated with the City to launch the Yubari Fusai Project. On "Happy Couples Day" the mayor declared Yubari a city of Happy Couples and the first "Happy Couple Certificate" was issued to a newlywed couple; the story was covered nationwide through television and newspapers. Limited pressings of the characters song CD went on sale and the song was distributed to Karaoke lounges nationwide. Branded local beer, dumplings and confectionary went on sale. A famous husband-and-wife comedic duo sang "The Yubari Fusai Song" at a press conference.

A Yubari Local Products Fair was held in Tokyo and Yubari Fusai stuffed toys boosted coverage and quickly became the toy company’s best selling line. The characters were reproduced as photo booth stickers, and licensed to appear in children’s comics.

The PR activities generated $1.5 million in unpaid media value including 100 newspaper mentions, 100 online media mentions, 30 TV segments, and 53,100 blog entries (source Google search). In addition, the annual number of visitors to Yubari increased by 10% year-on-year since the start of the project. Better still $30 million has been generated toward alleviating the city's debt. But perhaps more importantly, the people of Yubari can once again take pride in their city – an intangible benefit that defies measurement.