CALL HER NAME

TitleCALL HER NAME
BrandPOLA
Product / ServiceRED B.A
CategoryA01. Corporate Reputation & Communication
EntrantHAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Entrant Company HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
Advertising Agency HAKUHODO Tokyo, JAPAN
PR Agency CYBERCASTING & PR (CCPR) Tokyo, JAPAN
Production Company TOKYO Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Shota Hatanaka Hakuhodo Creative Director
Taiga Matsuguma Hakuhodo Art Director
Aika Tamiya Hakuhodo Copywriter
Toshiyuki Takei Tokyo/Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Producer
Kazuma Kitada Tokyo/Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Director
Makoto Takahashi Tokyo/Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Production Manager
Yuri Ebina Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Production Manager
Rintaro Kozasa Tokyo/Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Production Manager
Tomoya Tajima Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Production Manager
Shingo Ikeura DP
Horoki Nishigaya Lighting
Naoki Yamada Stylist
Mayu ACE Hairmake
Thomas Suess Audioforce Music
Robert Songwriting
Michinari Maeda Taiyokikaku Co./Ltd. Editor
Tomohiko Kaminogo McRay Editor
Kanako Kawase McRay Mixer
Kohei Suetani CCPR PR
Yositaka Matsuura Strategic planner

The Campaign

In Japan, when women get married and have children, about 70% of those people are no longer called by their first name by their partners, but rather as “Mommy” or “Mom” as their children call them. (Based on marital research) This is a unique tradition found here in Japan amongst married couples with children. With the belief of “Every woman has the instinct to be beautiful”, cosmetics brand RED B.A felt that a target’s “instinct to be beautiful” is kept dormant due to the unique custom of Japanese marriage. Therefore to prove that women had this “instinct to be beautiful” we conducted a scientific experiment on mothers whose partners no longer call them by their first name to once again be called by their name. The experiment was conducted on 19 mothers to see the changes in the level of hormones within their body before and after being called by their first names. (Based on saliva test results) The results led us to understand that there was a 15.9% increase in the level of oxytocin, “the beauty hormone”. It showed scientific proof that women could become beautiful by being called by their first names. Additionally, the laboratory officially announced the results of the experiment in an academic conference. The small discovery found by the cosmetics company now became a scientific fact. This PR campaign led to the debate of a rethinking the concept of marriage itself and became a social activity involving the whole national.

The Brief

Through creating a PR campaign that focused on this unique Japanese marital custom of Japanese women no longer being called by their first names, we were able to trigger debates about “women’s beauty” in society while also improving the degree of confidence and favor of the cosmetic brand.

Results

Focusing on the custom of married Japanese women not being called by their first names, this PR campaign actually scientifically proved that women could become beautiful through such a small trigger. This discovery led to the debate of rethinking the concept of marriage itself and became a social activity involving the whole nation. Detailed results are as follows. ・ It had generated 10 million dollars worth of media publicity including the research presentation. ・5,440% increase across 10 days in the daily rate of tweets about the brand. ・ An increase of 27% in the brand’s reputational rating. ・ A 144% boost in sales. ・ The results of the experiment was officially announced in an academic conference and the discovery became a scientific fact.

Execution

Together with a research institute, RED B.A performed an experiment on 19 mothers who hadn’t been called by their names to research if there were any changes within the body when calling them by their first names. The experiment was performed as follows. 1. It was aimed at women who have not been called by their first names for at least the past three years and in their daily lives asked their husbands to call them by their first names instead of “mommy” or “mom”. 2. Extract saliva from the mothers before and one month after the experiment. 3. Analyze the level of hormones in the saliva, especially the change in the level of oxytocin hormones known as the “beauty hormone”. As a result, there was a 15.9% increase in the level of oxytocin, the beauty hormone, and proved that women could become beautiful by being called by their names.

The Situation

In Japan, when women get married and have children, about 70% are no longer called by their first name by their partners, but rather as “Mommy” or “Mom” as their children call them. (Based on marital research) This is a unique Japanese tradition amongst married couples with children. With the belief that “Every woman has the instinct to be beautiful”, cosmetics brand RED B.A felt that women’s “instinct to be beautiful” is kept dormant due to the unique custom of Japanese marriage. We questioned this unique custom with a PR campaign targeted towards housewives, which also provoked debates in society.

The Strategy

We came up with a hypothetical question regarding women who are not called by their first names that their “instinct to become beautiful” has been kept dormant. In order to awaken their beauty, a scientific experiment was conducted focusing on the unique custom of Japanese marriage. We conducted a scientific experiment on mothers whose partners no longer call them by their first name to once again be called by their name. The experiment was conducted on 19 mothers to see the changes in the level of hormones within their body before and after being called by their first names. (Based on saliva test results) We introduced the unprecedented element of science into the PR campaign.