TOKYO, JAPAN – With global concern for “twin-demic,” a spread of COVID-19 coinciding with influenza, increasing the importance of preventive measures has become an essential part of all our daily lives. However, young Japanese children are having none of this, with research revealing 60% of respondents faced difficulty in getting their young children to wash their hands.
In response to this and, in an effort to encourage young children to understand the importance of washing hands, TBWA\HAKUHODO launched the “WE ARE VIRUSES” project, in cooperation with Dreams, Inc.
The campaign consists of six characters, each representing the six types of viruses (COVID-19, influenza, Norovirus, Ebola, SARS, and Adenovirus), which are delivered in a form that appeals to children, sparking interest and promoting an understanding of the virus and the preventive measures in an easy-to-understand way.
“We Are Viruses” (English Subtitles)
The launch will consist of an animation movie where the ambassador of the project Yoshio Kojima, a comedian and educational Youtuber who is popular among children, sings the song of “We are Viruses” will be released on an official website: weareviruses.com.
Kazoo Sato, chief creative officer at TBWA\HAKUHODO, Japan said: “There is no denying COVID-19 has heightened the importance of hand washing worldwide, but what’s surprising is the lack of understanding how to properly wash hands with soap. Through our own research we also found many parents struggle getting their children to wash their hands. They’re either rushing and washing hands too quickly to be effective, or not at all.
“To flip this and make hand washing fun, effective and an everyday behavior, for all children, we created an educational animated movie featuring six adorable characters each representing a virus who share the effects of their respective germs, with their only fear – handwashing as they’ll be banished by soap and water.”
Our survey of 300 men and women aged between 20 – 40 years, who have young children aged between 3 and 7 years, indicated 97% of the respondents were aware of the importance of washing their children’s hands, which is about 1.5 times higher than the pre-pandemic era.
However, around 60% of respondents said they had difficulty actually getting their children to complete the task of washing their hands. Simply encouraging children to wash their hands has not been enough to help them understand the importance of “Why we should wash hands?”
The ambition of the “WE ARE VIRUSES” project is to educate children on the importance of proper handwashing. The lighthearted fun approach to the campaign aims to encourage the audience to adopt this simple act as an everyday behaviour. Just like brushing hair and brushing teeth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOksPa1uELU
The Making of “We are Viruses”
In addition to the animated movie, a crowd crowdfunding campaign aims to raise further awareness around the six infectious disease and funds for “POCKET SOAP”, a small tablet soap designed to vanish away after 30 seconds of hand washing, which is the exact time it takes for a virus to die.
Said Toru Soeya, chief executive officer at Dreams Inc. “Our aim is to create a healthy society. We first developed a portable “SOAP TABLET,” in 2010, which allowed people to wash hands anywhere and anytime, and have since developed paper soap in the shape of a germs.
“While the novel coronavirus has been rampant throughout the world and the importance of hand washing has been reaffirmed, the challenge in educating our younger children still exists. As part of the ‘WE ARE VIRUSES’ project, we’re delighted to develop “POCKET SOAP”, a hand soap that can be washed in 30-seconds with the virus visually disappearing as the children continue to wash.”
We are Viruses Characters
Characterizations are made according to the symptoms of the virus. This characterization was supervised by Dr. Keiko Kono, Director of Kono Medical Clinic.
TBWA\HAKUHODO Project members
Executive Creative Director: Kazoo Sato
Creative Director: Yuhei Ito
Copywriter: Shohei Ooishi
Art Director: Aya Naito
Designer: Takao Mizumoto
D＆Photographer: Nagisa Toya
Head of Producer: Tsutomu Hirakue
Senior Producer: Wataru Ito
PR Planner: Kyosuke Hashimoto
Producer: Yutaka Sato
Director: Shinri Abe
Motion Designer: Kiyotaka Sumiyoshi
Director: Kosuke Kitada
