The Campaign

Japanese are Asia’s largest consumers of chocolate, savoring over 230,000 metric tons annually. The market is huge yet fragmented. At the lower end, private brands including supermarket own brands dominate, largely because of their retailers’ vast distribution networks. Major chocolate manufacturers struggle to develop national-brand products across a range of price and quality offerings because large retailers can price their brands low and sell widely. The market’s upper end is populated by extremely successful premium-priced, high-quality chocolates made by popular chocolate craftsmen for boutique chocolatier brands. The emergence of two vastly different market segments challenged major Japanese confectionary manufacturer Morinaga & Co. Japan’s pioneer in mass-producing chocolate and with a corporate history dating from 1899, Morinaga had lost its market leadership. It had to redefine itself as an established yet modern company, and prove that a large manufacturer can produce exquisite chocolates with mass appeal. With Morinaga’s president Arai expressing a desire to revive a great band of his predecessors, the agencies helped devise a consumer campaign built around high-quality “Hi-Crown” chocolate launched by Morinaga in 1964. To create excitement about the rebranding, a temporary “pop-up” store was opened in a prime location guaranteed to generate media and public attention and communicate Morinaga’s status as an innovator among chocolate manufacturers. The agencies managed all campaign components, from the conceptual planning of the store and its design, through to product packaging and public relations. The result undoubtedly boosted the image and brand recognition of Morinaga in Japan’s fragmented chocolate market.

The Brief

By reviving the Hi-Crown brand – now languishing in an extremely niche existence – Morinaga hoped to effectively communicate its status as a chocolate pioneer and innovator and dispel the public’s misconception that major manufacturers could not make high-end chocolates. It aimed to capture the attention of the media and the imagination of the public by implementing a campaign that emphasized its rich history and chocolate-making experience. As well as appealing to older consumers already familiar with Hi-Crown, the campaign would aim to attract new fans to the brand.

Results

Despite its restricted size and limited 40-day operating period, the “pop-up” store attracted some 17,000 visitors and sales from the store were 55% above those initially forecast. Media coverage of the initiative was featured on two television networks, 22 newspapers and magazines, and 156 online media for a total of 180 media outlets. News of Morinaga’s success at Tokyo Station also led to requests from upscale department stores Isetan in Shinjuku and Ginza Matsuya to participate in their limited term chocolate promotional sales events. Sales at the “2015 Salon du Chocolat”, a festival of chocolates hosted by Isetan, were 25% above initial projections while 118% of targeted sales were achieved at the event hosted by Matsuya. Though the new “Hi-Crown” series was sold for a limited time only, the collection has proven so popular Morinaga is now exploring ideas for the next new initiative to further excite and surprise consumers.

Execution

The store operated for a limited period selling the newly-branded Hi-Crown products. To convey a sense of the company’s long history, its size and design was based on the original Morinaga outlet, while product manufacture was based on the original recipe. The link with Saga Prefecture was represented through unique chocolates packaged in original pieces of hand-crafted Arita porcelain for which the region is famous, and decorated with designs of lotus root and figs – also staple produce there. A shopping avenue in Tokyo Station was the chosen location since the building – in 2014, also celebrating its centenary -- was designed by renowned architect Kingo Tatsuno, also from Saga. The iconic station building was used as a design motif for an original Japanese jubako, or multi-tiered food box, baked as Arita porcelain and packed with Morinaga chocolates. The product range superbly expressed the company’s spirit of “innovation and tradition” for chocolates.

The Situation

Morinaga faced two main challenges in Japan’s $4 billion market for chocolate. First, the market was gradually becoming saturated and private cheaper brands were taking over. Products from private chocolateries had become popular, leading to a general belief that high-end chocolates could not be made by major confectioners. Secondly, Morinaga had lost its top position in the country’s chocolate market. The launch of Hi-Crown fifty years ago and the development of chocolates that suited Japanese tastes had ushered in a golden era for Morinaga but that had passed. Competitors had usurped its leadership.

The Strategy

The campaign was targeted at general consumers and at large-sized distributers such as department stores where boutique chocolate brands enjoy prominence. For older consumers, their sense of nostalgia for the brand would be kindled by packaging the new Hi-Crown in livery resembling the designs of the initial product. Younger consumers would be attracted to new Hi-Crown varieties such as ‘matcha’ tea and caramel chocolates, favorites among today’s young. To evoke Morinaga’s Kyushu Island roots, limited-edition chocolates and packaging would also be developed in collaboration with Saga Prefecture, the home region of company founder Taichiro Morinaga. To underscore the campaign’s message of exclusivity, a temporary “pop-up” store would be opened in a conspicuous location to sell these rebranded products. The agencies hoped that wide media coverage of the store would reignite interest in the brand and hopefully lead to further retail opportunities.