Title | TOKYO MARATHON SPECIAL BANANA |
Brand | DOLE JAPAN |
Product / Service | LAKATAN BANANAS |
Category | A01. Event & Field Marketing |
Entrant | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
Entrant Company: | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
Sales Promotion/Advertising Agency: | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Yuki Fuse | Dentsu Young & Rubicam | Chief Producer/Planner/Interactive Director |
Jiro Hayashi | Dentsu Young & Rubicam | Planner |
Naoko Goto | Dentsu Young & Rubicam | Account Planner |
Shoichi Yamakawa | Dentsu Young & Rubicam | Account Director |
Toshiki Takahashi | Dentsu Young & Rubicam | Director |
Masumi Yamada | Puzzle | Producer |
Yuji Sato | Puzzle | Assistant Producer |
Eiji Tanigawa | TAIYO KIKAKU co. | Movie Director/Planner |
Junichi Kato | Camera | |
Ryuichi Hasegawa | Puzzle | Movie Production Manager |
Katsuhiro Niwa | Puzzle | Movie Production Assistant |
Shoichi Nagashima | Pyramid Film Inc. PTHREE | Editor |
Akihiro Morita | TAIYO KIKAKU co. | Mixer |
Yoko Hata | Aiim co. | Music |
Mineko Nakagawa | Puzzle | Web Planner/Copywriter |
Yuko Morimoto | Puzzle | Web Production Manager |
Kenji Takamatsu | Puzzle | Web Designer |
Masaru Hatano | Puzzle | Web Designer |
Kei Yamada | Puzzle | Flash |
Isao Sato | Dentsu Public Relations | Media Relations |
We discovered the growing popularity of attempting marathons by the Japanese public, and successfully linked this to awareness of the Lakatan Banana by promoting this banana as an ideal sports food for marathon runners. Our goal was to increase sales by making more people feel that buying Lakatan Bananas at a higher price than other bananas was an inspired and inspiring choice.
Dole introduced its new Lakatan Banana as “The Tokyo Marathon 2011 Banana,” grown under the strict supervision of a newly created “Chief Quality Officer”. While ripening, the bananas were made to listen to inspiring music selected through a poll of successful marathoners. This was produced as an on-line movie. A dedicated website created a social media hub for sharing secrets for completing the Marathon, while providing a ‘fortune-telling’ service for the big day. To create buzz among runners, 100,000 bananas were distributed at preliminary competitions, sports shops, Japan’s first banana vending machine and along the course of the Marathon.
Sales of Lakatan Bananas increased by over 150% year on year, which helped Dole to secure greater shelf space in stores, a key contributor to overall sales success. A higher number of Tokyo Marathon runners completed the whole course, with the completion rate increasing by from 94.5% in 2010 to 97.4% in 2011!
We focused on the growing passion for marathon running by: 1.Tapping the established affinity between runners and bananas, a recognized sports food for running. 2.Establishing that Lakatan Bananas have 1.5 times the amount of Citric Acid, a key ingredient in sports drinks, than other bananas sold in Japan. 3.Arranging for Dole to sponsor the Tokyo Marathon, an event where 35,000 runners compete, and many others are spectators (only 1 in 10 are able to successfully apply to run).