| Title | MARATHON BETWEEN MARATHON |
| Brand | NITTO DENKO CORPORATION |
| Product / Service | CORPORATE IMAGE |
| Category | A01. Best Use of Television/Cinema |
| Entrant | DENTSU KANSAI Osaka, JAPAN |
| Entrant Company: | DENTSU KANSAI Osaka, JAPAN |
| Advertising Agency: | DENTSU KANSAI Osaka, JAPAN |
Credits | |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| HIDEKI OKUDA | DENTSU INC. KANSAI | CREATIVE DIRECTOR |
| KOSUKE MATSUSHITA | DENTSU INC. KANSAI | COPYWRITER |
| MASARU ESHIMA | DENTSU INC. KANSAI | COPYWRITER |
| TAKAYUKI KURIYAMA | DENTSU TEC INC. KANSAI | PRODUCER |
| TSUNEAKI MURASE | DIRECTOR | |
| KUNIHIKO OKADA | DENTSU TEC INC. KANSAI | PHOTOGRAPHER |
| SHIGEAKI KOBAYASHI | DENTSU TEC INC. KANSAI | PRODUCTION MANAGER |
During the live broadcast, viewers established a thread for the Nitto Denko Staff Marathon on leading message board 2-channel, and scenes from the TV commercials were uploaded to YouTube. It created a buzz through Twitter and weblogs, and Nitto’s Web site servers crashed because of too many visitors, making the Company a sensation on Google Trends. As a result, 17.8% of survey respondents (Dentsu survey) were aware that Nitto Denko sponsors the marathon, while the average viewing rate for the marathon was 8.8% of households, meaning that twice as many people were aware of the sponsorship as viewed the advertisements.
A total of eight scenes were produced in locations along the actual course of the Osaka International Ladies Marathon, such as Nagai Stadium, Osaka Castle Park, and public roadways elsewhere in Osaka Prefecture, showing Nitto Denko staff competing in a staff marathon. By studying footage of live broadcasts of the Osaka International Ladies Marathon from previous years, material from these eight scenes depicting the progress of an actual marathon (start, turning point, spurt, drinking, finish line, etc.) was selected as material for simulating a TV station’s live broadcast. This meant that viewers watched the Osaka International Ladies Marathon under the illusion that the Nitto Denko Staff Marathon was underway at the same time. As a result, it created a major stir and became the subject of discussion on the Internet in real time.
The aim of the campaign was to convey the fact that Nitto Denko Corporation is a sponsor of the 2010 Osaka International Ladies Marathon to people watching the live broadcast of the marathon, and enable them to understand that Nitto Denko wants to support people who rise to challenges. The target audience was everyone who watched the marathon on television, that is, marathon fans. Therefore, we devised a format for such marathon fans to enjoy the TV commercials together with the live marathon broadcast.