In Japan, ""Coming of Age Day"" is a traditional national holiday celebrating adulthood and legal majority. Historically, this day was marked by an official ""Coming of Age Ceremony"" held by each municipality across the country every year.

However, in 2022, the legal age of majority dropped from 20 to 18 years old, coinciding with a busy period for high school seniors focused on exams or job hunting. Consequently, the traditional ceremony vanished, leaving over 80% of young adults without this rite of passage.

Recognizing this societal shift, NTT docomo, a telecommunications industry leader known for its numerous innovations, acknowledged the need to address this change. With a legacy that includes pioneering the invention of emojis, emoticons, and pagers through mobile phones, as well as popularizing smartphones in Japan, NTT docomo has played a significant role in shaping communication culture and the future for high school students across different generations.

The idea was to create a new opportunity to celebrate adulthood with high school students of this new era, utilizing the device they are most accustomed to—the smartphone.

This initiative aimed to replace the conventional Coming of Age Ceremony, promoting a deeper understanding of adulthood and serving as the initial step towards embracing responsibility and happiness in life as an young adult.

On ""Coming of Age Day"", following the tradition of Japan's ""Coming of Age Ceremony'"", we created a smartphone-based ceremony to celebrate 18-year-old high school students and their promising future as new adults.

Ten Japanese illustrators, influential to 18-year-olds, created artworks depicting significant moments from their childhood, and including illustration of prevalent mobile phone models from that time. Each illustration seamlessly connects to the next with an infinite loop effect, allowing users to immerse themselves in the experience by navigating endlessly through the art with their fingertips.

This conveyed a powerful message of boundless potential and endless opportunities for these new adults.

This innovative ""Coming of Age Ceremony"", hosted on smartphones, reached a wide audience of 18-year-old high school students through popular social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok and X, effectively engaging them. Additionally, it gained recognition on the social media channels of popular illustrators and personalities.

On ""Coming of Age Day"", we launched a dedicated website, unveiling an infinite art collection that depicted the 18-year journey of new adults through illustrations and messages. Our goal was to create an immersive experience, allowing users to interact with the art by swiping through it and triggering memories of their own experiences. Additionally, we included congratulatory messages from NTT docomo, popular rock bands, and renowned illustrators, fostering a sense of collaboration and support.

We also produced videos featuring Japanese celebrities with added narration, distributed through NTT docomo's official social media channels for advertising, effectively reaching many 18-year-old new adults.

In terms of our PR approach, we capitalized on the established media coverage of ""Coming of Age Day"" to highlight the creation of this innovative ""Coming of Age Ceremony"", thereby broadening the news. Furthermore, we utilized the concept of infinite art to facilitate information dissemination within the art-tech sphere.

The innovative ""Coming of Age Ceremony"" for 18-year-old high school students unfolded nationwide in Japan, entirely accessible through smartphones. This digital gathering sparked considerable interest on social media, captivating a broad audience and significantly enhancing brand engagement.

・The website and video experience attracted 467,000 users

・Total impressions increased by 180%

・The experience was embraced as a means for parents to celebrate their children's adulthood

・The event generated advertising value equivalent to 32.6 million impressions per week

・Public figures, influential to 18-year-olds, voluntarily contributed comments, further amplifying the event's impact