May 2008
beacon Communications K.K has announced that its pro bono work for Japan Wild Birds Association (JWBA) was awarded the “Distinctive Merit Award” in the Collateral Advertising category in the 87th New York Art Directors’ Club award. The campaign, planned and produced by Beacon, is titled “VOICE OF ENDANGERED BIRDS ~voices that must not be silenced~”.
The campaign targeted young people who have no interest in environmental issues and tried to raise their awareness on the issue of endangered wild birds. Beacon’s approach was very unique; they produced ambient music which had voices of endangered birds mixed in. The music was released on limited edition records, with only as many records as the estimated population of the birds.
Of the endangered birds in Japan, the albatross, red-crowned crane, oriental stork and yellow-breasted bunting were selected for this project and their voices were sampled to create four tunes, each of which told a story through the distinctive characteristic of the voices. The serial number on the records represents the estimated population of the birds. The records were released on December 28, 2007 at Beams Record in Tokyo, a haunt for young fashionable people who keep up with the trend.
The striking copy is the work of Haruo Yoshida, Beacon’s senior copywriter, who is also a member of the JWBA and has once served as a leader of the Kanagawa Bird-Watching Association.
Hidekazu Sato, the Creative Director in charge of planning and creative direction gives his thought on this award: “I think we received the award for the idea which transcended conventional media and details that we paid great attention to. Aim of the campaign was to get the target audience to listen to the sounds of the wild birds and create a desire to protect these birds. Nowadays, most people listen to CDs or computer downloads but we decided to use a record, an analogue medium, because we wanted people to pick up the record and take their time to enjoy the colors, design and copy on the jackets before making their selection. I believe our way of thinking as well as the music’s high quality and the new advertising method and media usage won us the award.”
Senior Art Director Katsuhiro Shimizu, who designed record sleeves, explains how he worked on the design. “In order to create retro look of the ‘60s and ‘70s, we used faded color and added stains and wrinkles. Photos of the birds used on the sleeves were provided by JWBA members and a Toho University professor who has been studying wild birds. Still, it took us about half a year to collect the exact materials that we were seeking.
Account Executive Yoshinori Okano has this to say about the overall effect campaign. “The issue that many environmental conservation organizations are facing is how to present the information in a way that would capture interests of the audience. Our campaign targeted young people, in whose hands our future lies, and this is exactly what the environmental organizations need. The record is slowly making its way into the circle of young people as clubs and lounges in Tokyo have been playing the tunes. I hope the music would be a catalyst for getting them to start thinking about environmental issues.”
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