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The Public Relations Society of Japan (PRSJ) has announced the winning entries in the PR Award Grand Prix 2018.

The overall Grand Prix award went to “Nameless Chores‘” (entrant companies: Dentsu Inc. and Dentsu Public Relations Inc.; client: Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.). Gold prizes were awarded to two entries: “From an illustrated encyclopedia for reading to an illustrated encyclopedia for experiencing – MOVE! into the wildlife” (entrant company: Dentsu Inc.; client: Kodansha Co., Ltd.) and “Even the company president was once a job-seeking student! – The president undergoes hiring procedures as a new recruit” (entrant company: Dentsu Inc.; client: Pasona Career Company, Pasona Inc.) A further six entries each were awarded Silver and Bronze prizes, bringing the total number of award-winning entries to 15.

The PRSJ holds the PR Award Grand Prix annually to help promote and develop public relations by selecting and honoring outstanding PR campaigns. This year’s event attracted 62 entries.

Click here for full entry summaries.

Overview of the Grand Prix-winning entry:

Nameless Chores

Client: Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd.

Entrant companies: Dentsu Inc. and Dentsu Public Relations Inc.

Award category: Social Communications

Campaign overview:

Although Japan ranks among the world’s leading economies, much progress remains to be made in the field of gender equality. One aspect of this is housework inequality, which has a profound, but often-overlooked impact on countless women and households, and even on the national economy. This campaign saw Daiwa House Industry, one of Japan’s leading home builders, address this situation through a combination of ingenious home design and a targeted campaign combining surveys, online content, and offline events. The initiative stimulated a nationwide conversation, drawing attention to what one Japanese NPO has termed na mo naki kaji, or “nameless chores.”

Overview of the Gold prize-winning entries:

From an illustrated encyclopedia for reading to an illustrated encyclopedia for experiencing – MOVE! into the wildlife

Client: Kodansha Co., Ltd.

Entrant company: Dentsu Inc.

Award category: Marketing Communications

Campaign overview:

Kodansha’s information assets were updated with the insights of PR to develop an “illustrated encyclopedia for experiencing,” which built new relationships between children and other living creatures and addressed the issue of children moving away from science.

To create the exhibit titled “MOVE! into the wildlife,” Kodansha reformulated the existing information asset represented by its illustrated encyclopedia on living creatures, MOVE. The exhibit provided an experiential edutainment setting where children were invited to pretend to be living creatures in the wild, enabling them to learn about ecosystems through actual experience. PR staff contributed their unique expertise in adapting information and creating new value to develop this new educational framework that gained widespread popularity, attracting over 200,000 visitors and even inspiring requests from overseas to turn it into a traveling exhibit.

Even the company president was once a job-seeking student! – The president undergoes hiring procedures as a new recruit

Client: Pasona Inc.

Entrant companies: Dentsu Inc.

Award category: Corporate Communications

Campaign overview:

It is always a challenge for recruiting companies to successfully convey the president’s message and the corporate philosophy to job-hunting students. At Pasona Career Company, the president offered to participate in the same interview procedures that new graduates undergo at the company! The idea was to make students feel more familiar with the company and its leader, delivering his message and other information to job-hunting students by putting him on the same playing field as the students.