The Brief

The purpose of the campaign was to increase the number of spectators for the relatively unknown public viewing event for FIFA World Cup Asian Final Qualifying Round (Charged) as the game was held nearby.

Creative Execution

Because Japanese family names are extremely varied and there are nearly 300,000 surnames in use today, Japanese people have a strong attachment towards people who share the same surnames and it encourages the greater dispersion of word-of-mouth especially if those are the horned national team players.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

The campaign, which gave free admission to people who shared the same last name as the Japanese national team members, was launched. We generated a buzz and raised the awareness of the event mainly via social networking.

Results

The national team selection itself drew a lot of attention. Even with its next-to-nothing advertising budget, the word of mouth explosively grew, mainly through social networking. As a result, the number of spectators reached record high.