Appeal beyond mascots: A Tokyo creative’s perspective on marketing Japan's rural destinations

One of the most original campaigns of the year, as far as we were concerned, was not for a product, but for a place: Saga City in Japan. Featuring an ‘alien fish’ as its star, it was far from your typical tourist promotion. We asked the man behind this and other destination branding initiatives, Masato Mitsudera, for his views on how to re-energise a sector that often fails to fulfill its creative potential.