| Title | THE MOST WATCHED COMMERCIAL |
| Brand | JAPAN USED CAR DEALERS ASSOCIATION |
| Product / Service | A USED CAR SALES REPRESENTATIVE |
| Category | A06. Best Use of Special Events And Stunt/Live Advertising |
| Entrant | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
| Entrant Company | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
| Advertising Agency | DENTSU Y&R Tokyo, JAPAN |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Arimichi Kato | D.o.p | |
| Yasuhiko Ikeda | Editor | |
| Naoya Imaoka | Lighting | |
| Akiko Sakakibara | Music | |
| Koichi Nakajima | Sound Design/Arrangement | |
| Kana Okui | Platinum Inc. | Media Relations |
| Masumi Kuwata | Piano Performer | |
| Masaki Yamamoto | Film Director | |
| Ryoji Yano | Chef Co./Ltd. | Film Producer |
| Hiroki Sugahara | Chef Co./Ltd. | Film Producer |
| Masahiro Kitajima | Percentage Co./Ltd. | Creative Director |
| Naoki Bando | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Art Director |
| Keiko Fukagawa | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Web Media Planner |
| Saki Katsushika | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Pr Planner |
| Motoko Kaneda | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Pr Planner |
| Toshiki Takahashi | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Director |
| Shinji Kuchiba | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Account Manager |
| Shinobu Yoshida | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Account Planner |
| Yuki Fuse | Dentsu Young/Rubicam Inc. | Communications Director |
The commercial recorded the highest rating of 27.5% among 97 commercials aired in the TV program. And the rating dropped by 4.4% right after that. It means that about 2.38 million households changed the channel after watching it. As a result, we drove people, even those who were not interested in baseball, to temporarily tune in to the program. We successfully generated great public interest in the commercial and got millions of people to actually watch it. In addition, it raised awareness of certified used car sales representatives and gave them confidence in serving customers.
We used Mr. Masumi Kuwata, a former professional baseball player, who learned how to play the piano during rehabilitation of injury. We created a special version commercial with his piano music and decided to unveil it on the very day of the World Baseball Classic The news that the former professional baseball player would make his debut as a pianist was taken up by many media, raising people’s expectations for it. Not only announcing the exact time to air the commercial, but we also ran a promotion by sending a teaser movie of “Masumi Kuwata as a pianist” practicing the piano to TV stations and bloggers. By maximizing the timing when the public’s interest in baseball peaked, we made them want to watch the commercial.
“The certified used car sales representative” is a certificate for excellent used car sales representative. It was a 60-second film about it, but the information in the film was irrelevant to most consumers and we had only one chance to air the commercial due to a limited budget. So we challenged ourselves to “make the audience want to watch the commercial” aired only once, contrasting their usual commercial skipping behavior. We focused on the fact that many car owners in Japan are baseball fans. Capitalizing on a special event called the World Baseball Classic and their excitement for the event, we directed them to create a buzz for the commercial as “worth watching” by involving media and other consumers. In turn, public interest peaked on the day it was aired just like a Super Bowl commercial.