The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2021
JR Kyushu's 'Shooting Star Shinkansen' carries 777 wishes across Kyushu — ADFEST Gold
For the Kyushu Shinkansen's 10th anniversary, JR Kyushu ran a one-night train glowing like a shooting star, wrapped in 777 wishes — ADFEST Gold.
Kyushu Railway Company (JR九州)
What it had to solve
March 2021 marked 10 years since the Kyushu Shinkansen opened its full 250 km Kagoshima–Hakata route, but a decade of earthquakes, floods and COVID made festivities impossible, so JR Kyushu asked Dentsu Kyushu for something that would give residents hope.
How it works
In March 2021 the Kyushu Shinkansen turned 10 — a full 250 km route linking one end of Kyushu to the other in about 90 minutes. But the decade had brought major earthquakes and floods, and COVID was still spreading, so the railway couldn't hold anniversary festivities; the brief to Dentsu Kyushu and JR Kyushu Agency was to give people from all walks of life hope for the future.
Their answer was the 'Shooting Star Shinkansen': a special, one-night-only bullet train that would shine like a shooting star across the whole island. From January the project collected wishes on YouTube and the company website; 777 of them were printed onto the train's outer wrapping and interior posters, and concert light rigs were loaded aboard in place of passengers.
On the night of 14 March 2021 the 800-series train ran from Kagoshima-Chūō to Hakata, with observation points at three locations where residents and children were invited to watch; film crews captured people waving as it passed. The remaining 8,350 wishes were split into 47 posters displayed at 25 major stations in Kyushu through May.
The run generated more than 200,000 tweets, over 900 articles and an estimated US$5.5 million in advertising benefit — and, per the award entry, changed what people in Kyushu felt: seeing the train made them think of loved ones and have hope. The company even invited a six-year-old whose wish was 'I want to be a Shinkansen conductor' to give the departure signal.
Why it lands
- Turning the anniversary outward — the train carried the public's wishes, not the company's slogan — made the event participatory for an entire region rather than a corporate milestone.
- A glowing train crossing the whole island was visible proof of hope at a time when people couldn't travel, so the medium itself carried the message.
- The one-night scarcity turned the run into a moment people watched from afar, feeding 200k tweets and 900 articles.
- Small human touches — the wishing boy giving the departure signal — turned a stunt into a story people retold.
What it did
The entry logged more than 200,000 tweets, over 900 articles and about US$5.5 million in advertising benefit; residents gathered and waved as it passed, and a six-year-old whose wish was 'I want to be a Shinkansen conductor' was invited to give the departure signal.
What you can take
When the occasion can't be celebrated normally, make it a gift others can join: the public supplied the wishes, the train carried them, and the event became hope for the whole region.
Since then
A three-minute special movie of the run was published on the project's YouTube channel at the end of March 2021, keeping the event watchable beyond the one night; the wish posters stayed up at 25 Kyushu stations through May 2021. The project — run with Nishi-Nippon City Bank and LINE Fukuoka under the 'Brighten Everyone's Kyushu Project' banner — won a Gold Lotus in Branded Entertainment at ADFEST 2022.
Sources
- Shooting Star Bullet Train — ADFEST 2022 winner entry
- JR九州，「流れ星新幹線」スペシャルムービーを公開
- AdFest 2022 Lotus Awards winners announced — Dentsu Tokyo, Ogilvy Group Thailand, Cheil Worldwide Seoul and DDB Mudra Group Mumbai perform strongly
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