THE SECRET IDOL

Silver Spike
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TitleTHE SECRET IDOL
BrandEZAKI GLICO
Product / ServiceICE NO MI
CategoryC01. Best Integrated Campaign Led by PR
EntrantENGINE FILM Tokyo, JAPAN
Entrant Company:ENGINE FILM Tokyo, JAPAN
PR/Advertising Agency:DENTSU KANSAI Osaka, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Yasushi Akimoto Executive Producer
Tomoaki Tsuji DENTSU INC. KANSAI Creative Director
Takatoshi Nakao DENTSU INC. KANSAI Copywriter/Planner/Director
Kosuke Matsushita DENTSU INC. KANSAI Copywriter/Planner
Taichi Sayama DENTSU INC. KANSAI Art Director
Masaki Fukumori Three & Co. Art Director
Hidehiro Shimizu Director
Shinji Yuki Cinematographer
Keisuke Nishitani Three & Co. Photographer
Michiru Kobayashi ENGINE FILM Inc. Film Producer
Susumu Kawasumi ENGINE FILM Inc. Film Producer
Yuki Mori DENTSU TEC INC. KANSAI Web Producer
Makoto Sometani ENGINE FILM Inc. Film Production Manager

The Campaign

The fruit gelato ice cream product, Ice no Mi was suffering in sales after its long history of 25 years. To revitalise its sales in a dramatic way, we decided to create a CGI idol, 'Aimi' (named after the product), and prepare for her dramatic debut in TV commercial. CGI idol out of nowhere, however, is not enough to win popularity from the young target audience. So, we let Aimi join the already existent idol group, AKB48, and let her debut as a new member of AKB48. As per our carefully planned campaign schedule, Aimi made her debut as a regular idle on the cover of popular magazine, and also as a character of Ice no mi on the product's posters. With Aimi's popularity growing, Ice no Mi's TV commercial was broadcast. She became an immediate star and the favourite of entertainment news, who reported Aimi's debut as a social phenomenon. A week after TV commercial, we broke the news on her true identity, revealing that she was a virtual idol and her face was the composite of facial parts from 6 different members of AKB48. At the same time, we launched 'Oshimen Maker', the website that allowed users to create their own idols by mixing facial parts of AKB48 members. As a result, the sales of Ice no Mi doubled from last year. We're sure that the success would never have been achieved if it were not for Aimi, who became the key PR element in our campaign.

The Brief

The ultimate goal of our campaign was of course, to revive the sales of Ice no Mi. To achieve the goal, however, we needed to clear two more targets. These are, to regain name recognition for Ice no mi, and renew the image of the product. We were certain that, when Aimi who is named after Ice no mi becomes the top idol, our goal would be naturally achieved.

Results

TV news reports, 94 programs News and magazines reports, 270articles News websites reports, 1158 sites 58000 tweets, attracting 1million followers The Ice no mi website received close to 74million views or 60% of the population of Japan. The promotional value of this campaign has come to roughly 3 billion yen. Because of the campaign, sales doubled from the previous year. In the end, we've succeeded in rewriting Ice no mi's old image that was "outdated ice cream product" to the new, exciting and challenging product with the positive energy.

Execution

First week of the campaign: 1. Aimi made a cover on the popular comic magazine. (as an idol) 2. Aimi's posters were posted around major stations. (as Ice no mi's ad) 3. Aimi's introduction movie were shown in entertainment news, and on the exterior monitor (as an idol) 4. Pictures of "Making of Aimi's introduction movie" are shown in entertainment news (as an idol) 5. Aimi's audition sheet is disclosed on website of Glico, the brand of Ice no mi. (as an idol) Second week of campaign: 1. Aimi's secret is disclosed on posters around major stations. (In our original schedule, we had planned to air only TV commercial without revealing her identity. The response for Aimi was so dynamic, however, that we ended up airing TV commercial disclosing her secret at the same time. ) 2. "How Aimi was made in TV commercial" was shown in Ice no mi's website.

The Situation

Despite its long history of 25 years, the fruit gelato ice cream product, Ice no Mi, was suffering in sales, labelled as a product from the past. In Japan, the ice cream industry is known to have a faster cycle, created in the competitive market. In such a market, a revolutionary campaign was needed to revive the popularity of Ice no Mi. Our idea to create CGI idol worked in both ways to let the young people who didn't know Ice no Mi to get familiar with the product's name, and also to give them a new, positive image of the product.

The Strategy

We kept her true identity secret and made her debut as a new member of already popular idol group, AKB48. AKB48's announcement of a strikingly beautiful new member surprised not only young fans but everyone in Japan. Her debut was carefully designed to stimulate the viral effect of the campaign. Aimi started her career by appearing on Ice no Mi posters posted around town. We also made her the cover girl of a popular comic magazine, with an interview article. As people looked for more information about Aimi, they found clues spread by us to stimulate the viral effect. Driven by our strategy, people gossiped and media made her a star even before airing on the TV commercial. In other words, our campaign was an advertisement completed by the participation of the consumer. Later, the TV commercial was aired only to complete Aimi's legend.