| Title | THE SECRET IDOL |
| Brand | EZAKI GLICO |
| Product / Service | ICE NO MI |
| Category | C01. Integrated Campaign Led by Promo & Activation |
| Entrant | ENGINE FILM Tokyo, JAPAN |
| Entrant Company: | ENGINE FILM Tokyo, JAPAN |
| Sales Promotion/Advertising Agency: | DENTSU KANSAI Osaka, JAPAN |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Yasushi Akimoto | Executiveproducer | |
| 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 And Co. | Art Director |
| Hidehiro Shimizu | Director | |
| Shinji Yuki | Cinematographer | |
| Keisuke Nishitani | Three And 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 |
Despite its long selling history of 25years, the fruit gelato ice cream, "Ice no Mi" was suffering in sales, due to the lack of name recognition among the young. To revive the sales of Ice no mi, it was essential to let young people know about the product. In our campaign "The Secret Idol", we created a CGI idol whose name, Aimi is taken from Ice no mi. Aimi becoming popular, young people would recognize the product more, and every time they speak of her name, the product gets free promotion.
To jump start Aimi's career, we arranged that she would make her debut as a new member of AKB48, the most popular idol group in Japan. Aimi should attract the young with her image of "Mysterious new member of AKB48". So, keeping her identity secret and mysterious was crucial in our campaign. We designed her career very carefully, from her debut as a cover girl of the popular magazine, to the announcement of her appearance on Ice No Mi TV commercial, to the broadcasting of it, and finally to revealing her true identity on posters all over town.
TV news reports, 94 programs News and magazines reports, 270 articles 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, our promotional campaign succeeded in gaining name recognition for Ice no mi, and also in branding the product with the exciting and challenging image with the positive energy.
The product needed name recognition, especially from young people. To reach out to those generation that actively searches a variety of media to satisfy their interest, we wanted to launch a mystery that leads to the product. The Secret Idol was truly original in the way to present the mystery as a from of Idol. Once our campaign started, the young people searched various media for clues about Aimi, and found many laid out by us. Their action eventually led to a media frenzy about the new star, Aimi, making Ice no mi the popular product along the way.