The Campaign

Proving the retort curry brand, “Bon Curry,” is a savior of working mothers was our core creative idea. To do so, we bridged two facts by carrying out “Dinner Table Rules” experiments and conducting “Smile Table Day” campaign: “Bon Curry” has no preservatives/artificial colorings and is easy to cook within 1.5 min; According to our survey conducted based on 1,000 Japanese working mothers, we found that more than 60% of mothers want to spare more time to communicate with their children.

Execution

Tier 1: Implementation/Timeline As a teaser, we distributed a press release regarding the survey result. As a core part, we released a movie on YouTube and showed some brief results we had got from the tests in “Smile Table Day” campaign. We also conducted four PR events including screening events at kindergartens. We conducted five branded editorial contents on media. Tier 2: Placement We communicated with our targets via YouTube, branded editorial contents at the media which have working mother audiences, PR, events, owned media and SNS. Tier 3: Scale We attained the number of publication worth AVE JPY 285 million. We successfully proved that cutting a few corners by retort foods and focusing on communicationcan bring more smiles to the dinner tables. “Bon Curry” is recognized as it simplifies should-be-perfect meals and creates time to stay at a table as well as to enjoy chatting with their children.

Tier 1: Outcomes/awareness As a result of tests, number of smiles at the dinner table is up to 130%, conversation volume is up to 120% and time length mothers stay at the table with their children is up to 170%. Also, rate of feeling comfortable to use retort foods is up to 117% after watching the movie. We received many responses showing behavior changes such as, “I also want to cut a few corners now and then and make more time for communicating with my kids”, “To make meals simpler is good. I’d like to buy Bon Curry”, and “I’ll make Bon Curry tonight for my daughter.” Tier 2: Knowledge/consideration The project reached over 4,000,000 people, AVE JPY 285 million, view of the movie over 470,000 times. Tier 3: Outputs/business results The sales of “Bon Curry” grew up to 120% meaning it gained more brand share.

The Situation

We successfully rebrand “Bon Curry”, the world’s first retort food which has been commoditized and plunged into a price war, by precisely capturing Japanese social climate and creating a new PR message, “Bon Curry is there for you, mother.” Based on this message, we distributed a survey release to raise awareness of insights the Japanese mothers has been holding, visualized the bold branded contents, organized both on-line/off- line events, and provided branded editorial contents as dissemination activities. As a result, the sales of “Bon Curry” increased by 120% from the prior year.

The Strategy

Targeting Japanese working mothers and aiming for media exposure worth AVE JPY 200M with quality referring to “Bon Curry” with certain words (safety/easy-to-cook/good), we launched “Smile Table Day” campaign and set three “Dinner Table Rules” conducting a test by household to compare how much the number of smiles, conversations, and length of time mother was actually at the table can be varied with/without “Dinner Table Rules.” We distributed a press release regarding the survey result, released a movie on YouTube, showed some brief test results, and approached viral media. We also conducted four PR events inviting bloggers, influencers, and working mothers,; a panel discussion by a celebrity, a specialist of child-parents communication and mothers,; two screening events at kindergartens. We created five branded editorial contents including Huffington Post.