How To Revitalize Japantown’s Arts & Culture Community
Plinth Developed A Strategy To Create A New Arts & Culture Organization of 1000+ Community Members.
Background
There are only three remaining Japantowns left in the U.S., all located in the state of California - San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles.
San Francisco's Japantown holds a long history dating back to the time Japanese immigrants first set foot onto the mainland in 1860 through redevelopment in the 1960s, and up to the present day.
Japantown Task Force (JTF) is a new entity that was created in the year 2001 in order to continue the work of the previous 50-member Japantown Planning, Preservation, and Development Task Force organization.
JTF continues to work on revitalizing and preserving Japantown, a community of culture, tradition, and history.
Source: Japantown Task Force
JTF’s Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy (CHHESS) report calls for developing a regenerative economy that attracts regional Japanese / American communities to San Francisco Japantown.
In particular, the new generation of Japanese & Japanese American Artists and Bay Area’s Culture Seekers are an important aspect of the Japantown community they would like to attract.
While adjusting to the 2020 COVID Pandemic, JTF is looking to develop strategies to engage with artists and culture seekers in both digital and physical spaces.
Balay Kreative Studios, the inspiration for a new JTF program
With Plinth Agency’s experience in helping develop Kultivate Labs – an economic development and arts accelerator, Plinth will help JTF build their organizational capacity through Concept Development, Branding, Website & Event Marketing and create a cutting edge new program to breath creative life back into their cultural district.
OBJECTIVE
Attract dis-engaged Japanese and Japanese American creatives to Japantown
Breath authentic Japanese American culture into Japantown
Inspire hope and rejuvenation into Japantown
STRATEGY
Create a new arts centric program called KOHO
Conduct a Positioning exercise with JTF and develop User Personas.
Design a brand that resonates with the younger generation of Japanese Americans.
Develop a Verbal & Visual Identity
Lead Content Mapping exercise, develop sitemaps and wireframes for a fully functional mobile ready website.
Assist JTF with their launch party around new art & culture collective.
Develop and execute digital marketing/event outreach strategies.
Curate an experience that distinguishes itself from traditional Japantown Festivals.
Sparked by the communities' need to bring together the next generation of Japanese American creatives, activists, artists and movement builders
We developed a new Japantown creative collective called KOHO that needs to accomplish 2 goals:
Jumpstart economic stimulation for Japanese/Japanese American (J/JA) artists, creators, vendors
Create public awareness to bring together a displaced & intergenerational community.
In order to create a collective that could serve these goals, we took inspiration from Balay Kreative & UNDSCVRD Creative Night Market in SOMA PILIPINAS — Arts & Cultural that have proven to stimulate economic growth and provide a space for Filipino American artists, creators & small businesses.
UNDSCVRD Culture Crawl in SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District (2021)
To launch the new program, we planned an intimate community experience with partner agency Make It Mariko that centers around artists that are Nikkei, Japanese people who emigrated from Japan and their descendent throughout the Bay Area and also AAPI Allies is important to spark new community connections.
BRANDING: VISUAL IDENTITY
Desinging a brand identity for KOHO takes inspiration from the Japanese word “KOHO” meaning peak or summit.
The KOHO glyph symbolizes the elevation of the Japanese American community through the creativity of its arts community.
The circular glyph is representative of the mountain peak framed by the sun, paired with the line weight of the word mark is an homage for the Japanese family crest or MON.
Our design strategy was to use cues to Japanese culture and be seen as a friendly beacon signaling community.
The KOHO Logo is created with the following elements:
• PEAK & SUN glyph
• Logotype (KOHO)
"Color is a powerful means of identification. The KOHO brand colors are derived from the vibrant pop colors found in anime. Consistent use of the primary brand color combinations will help reinforce brand awareness and engagement."
- Andre Sibayan, Plinth Creative Director
BRANDING: VERBAL IDENTITY
COMMUNITY IS AN ARTFORM.
The Brand Tagline for KOHO and the theme of the launch party event is “Community is an Artform" because it was important to JTF to signal that KOHO’s origin revolves around the importance of calling upon multigenerational creatives of Japantown, the displaced J/JA, AAPI Allies throughout the Bay Area — being that art and creativity is central to Japantown’s community.
Two variations of the tagline is presented in English and translated in Japanese.
DIGITAL MARKETING: Create community not customers
To build community support and raise awareness, we developed a marketing strategy that emphasized “Community as an Artform” through social media and email campaign.
Social Media campaigns are powerful way to tell the story of your brand and establish a loyal community support. These targeted influencers, artists and community members help aid the virality of the marketing and go a long to building a community that would keep supporting the event.
KOHO SF: LAUNCH PARTY
KOHO strives to continue the long standing tradition of Japantown but design experiences for the next generation.
The community has become diverse, yet still holds on to the Japanese culture as seen through the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, the Nihonmachi Street Fair, Bon Odori and Oshogatsu (New Year's) activities.
These festivals focus heavily on traditional Japanese Culture and cater to an older generation of Japanese/Japanese Americans. In our research studies of JTF’s CHHESS Strategy, we found the programming and branding of these festivals failed to resonate with the displaced younger J/JA raised in the US.
Our strategy for KOHO’s Launch Party was to create an experience that could represent the culture of younger Japanese Americans while simultaneously re-invigorating the older generation.
Photography: Say Yah! Photography
In order to ensure we curated an authentic experience, we enlisted the help of Make It Mariko, local Japantown community members, as well as Japanese American tastemakers in art, music, food, fashion, and culture.
The event was a huge success and the planned goals were achieved.
The achieved goals of the event were:
Continue the long standing traditions of Japantown while designing authentic experiences to fuel economic recovery
Activate the return of Japanese-American displaced families/next generations to Japantown after WWII + Redevelopment.
Welcome visitors and newcomers, promote Japantown’s historic cultural assets, and provide insights and business resources on how to tap in to the Japantown culture and community.
Photography: Say Yah! Photography
An overwhelming total of 1,276 guests attended the event on what is the slowest night of the week, according to merchants.
One goal was to engage Japanese and Japanese American businesses and
performers, MBEs, WBEs, and LBEs. In total, 14 vendors and 8 performers participated during the event, with all but one identifying as being of Japanese or Japanese American descent.
The KOHO team also produced branded merchandise which was sold at the event. The program at 6 pm included the Deputy Consul General of Japan Hajime Kishimori, District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston, Rafael Moreno of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Invest in Neighborhoods Program, Japantown Task Force Executive Director Dr. Emily Murase, and Japantown Cultural District Program Manager Susie Kagami.
Strategic Branding and Event Marketing can be a powerful tool to get people to EXPERIENCE your brand.
If you're ready to start building a community of evangelists instead of customers...
