The Brief

The campaign aimed to promote southern Japan’s Kumamoto as a major agricultural food-producing region, especially of red-colored food such as tomatoes, and in the process encourage Japanese consumers to link the prefecture’s name with the color red. Raising the level of public awareness about Kumamoto’s prominence as a food-producing region would prompt a rise in sales of the prefecture’s produce, the organizers hoped. This would benefit the area financially, in particular its citizens involved in agriculture. In addition, the increased media attention on Kumamoto would lift the morale and pride of the local population, the prefecture believed.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Leveraging the Japanese saying “delicious foods make your cheeks drop,” the agency created a story that Kumamoto’s cute bear-like mascot Kumamon had lost his characteristic red cheeks. Without linking initially the saying to the mystery, posters and fliers invited the public to join the search, while Kumamon appeared at events and on TV without his cheeks, adding to the story’s momentum. Over the search phase’s three days, a cheek-less Kumamon replaced the character’s usual Twitter and Facebook profiles. Once the cheeks were “found” and the episode’s true aim revealed, the campaign message was actively promoted through news and entertainment media.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The incident of Kumamon’s lost cheeks, and their subsequent recovery, earned Kumamoto prefecture national exposure on 23 TV shows, 30 newspapers and over 400 websites. In addition, over the search’s three days and the subsequent four days, 36,164 tweets were posted. The campaign ran for just a few weeks in the year’s final quarter yet so successfully did it promote Kumamoto produce that full-year Kumamon-branded food sales surged 10% in 2013. And whereas previously the public had mostly associated the color green with Kumamoto, red is now firmly established as the prefecture’s No.1 brand image color.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

A key creative touch was the association of Kumamon’s red cheeks with Kumamoto’s various red-colored produce. This angle was reinforced in the promotional phase of the campaign using various methods including a dedicated website, online movie and smartphone game. The mystery element of the campaign was central to securing the public’s involvement, as thousands of people took to social media to discuss the disappearance of Kumamon’s cheeks and pledge their support for the search. Subsequently, there was a genuine sense of revelation when the incident was shown to be part of a promotion for Kumamoto produce.