E-book: How to Spread Social Design (1)

<The Making of UNICEF's "Prayer Tree Project">

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Namikawa: After March 11, 2011, I believe it was in April when Mr. Fukushima contacted me, and that's how the "Prayer Tree Project" began. Mr. Fukushima had contacted me before that, but this was my first encounter with Mr. Nagai. It was an unlikely collaboration between Dentsu Inc. and Hakuhodo, companies that rarely work together, and it led to various projects.

Mr. Fukushima, who conceived this project, please share your original vision with us once more.

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Fukushima: Our core work involves communicating messages to people through advertising. When the disaster struck, I thought if we couldn't use that power to do something significant, the advertising industry would look incredibly lame. However, I wanted it to be a project that required everyone joining forces, not something we could do alone.

But I had absolutely no experience, so the first proposal I wrote was incredibly rough: "We can give away ¥500 million and ¥10,000 worth of toy vouchers." Then Mr. Nagai said, "Hold on, isn't that wrong?" And that's where the project planning truly began.

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Namikawa: That's right. It started with Mr. Fukushima's vision, saying "Let designers become Santa Claus." Then Mr. Nagai proposed using the "Prayer Tree Project" as an ornament (commemorative item).

At that moment, I realized how deeply Mr. Nagai was considering the designers' motivation. While he was certainly thinking about the ornaments reaching distant places, the design also involved displaying the same items in Ginza to further elevate everyone's spirits. I was really impressed.

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Nagai: I think Mr. Fukushima was primarily focused on how to collect donations for the gifts. Raising money is important, of course, but given the premise of making this a project centered around designers, I thought the best approach would be to have many people participate and for designers to consider how they could connect their own abilities to supporting recovery. I felt that "conveying their feelings through ornament designs and delivering them to the disaster area" should be at the very core. I wanted to erect a huge tree covered in countless ornaments in the disaster area. That was the initial image I had.

We also held charity auctions, so money naturally came in, but money wasn't the core. What we truly believe in is the power of creativity.

After conceiving that idea, I realized that while passion tends to take precedence in times like these, this project involves many people. I had to consider how designers would feel participating, what mindset collaborators could bring, and how to structure the project so it actually functions effectively. Otherwise, it would just be passion without reach. That's what I thought.

(To be continued)

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