The Campaign

The Japanese PR has shifted its mainstream focus from “real experience” to “virtual simulated experience”. The reason for this is that young people are primarily developing a sense of distrust towards typical “advertising” disseminated unilaterally by companies through TV and newspapers, but instead responding to the changing times when they make purchase judgment for themselves based upon their own word-of-mouth information or reviews. Calbee then focuses attention on the Japanese "field trip". By taking the school’s practice of extra curriculum “field trip” activity along with their snacks and converting this into a branding PR on a dream-like unprecedented scale, and making it the campaign premium, we aim to convey the message of “familiarity” and “pleasure” in a wide, much-talked-about manner. The news about the Calbee’s field trip, during the 12 months from the launch of the campaign till the completion of the event, spread all across the nation, and therefore the brand image of Calbee, Inc. has improved greatly. What made Calbee happy more than the results was that they were able to create a once-in-a-lifetime memory for kids, as written in many letters received from them after the field trip.

The Brief

The objective through the in-store prize campaign is to acquaint consumers with their brand image of “pleasure”, “familiarity” and solidify the company’s position as the top snack manufacturer.

Results

The Dream Field Trip has made an impression of Calbee’s “familiarity” and “pleasure” all over Japan.The campaign premium i.e. field trip attracted 760,000 entries and turned out to be a big success. It created a big buzz in that all-you-can-eat-snack “Calbee Bus” and one day “Calbee Train” have been uploaded on blogs and video sites, and the news that these kids had accomplished the Guinness World Record for making the world’s biggest potato chips have made headlines all across the nation. we estimate the publicity effect to be about 44,000 dollars.

Execution

Four dream programmes are in place for kids to realise. "All-you-can-eat-snack bus, the Calbee Bus” "The special one-day train, the Calbee Train" "Experiencing Japan’s most beautiful nature in Hokkaido" "Wrapping up their dream with the accomplishment of a Guinness World Record for making the world’s biggest potato chips". Via these 4 dream field trip programmes, the media news, and the popularity among the public, the broad communication of "pleasure","familiarity", and the branding targets are expected to be achieved.

The Situation

Calbee is the Japan’s leading company in the snack manufacturing industry and one of their key products – potato chips have been considered synonymous with snacks among the Japanese public. However, due to the diversification of their product range and Japanese values, their familiar corporate image has been on the decline in recent years.

The Strategy

Calbee then focuses attention on the Japanese "field trip". By taking the school’s practice of extra curriculum “field trip” activity along with their snacks and converting this into a branding PR on a dream-like unprecedented scale, and making it the campaign premium, we aim to convey the message of “familiarity” and “pleasure” in a wide, much-talked-about manner.