WORLD’S FIRST KAWAII MISO SOUP

TitleWORLD’S FIRST KAWAII MISO SOUP
BrandMARUKOME
Product / ServiceWORLD’S FIRST KAWAII MISO SOUP
CategoryB01. Guerrilla Marketing & Stunts
EntrantTOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Production TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Yusuke Sato DENTSU INC. CreativeDirector / Copywriter
Nao Hirano DENTSU INC. CreativeDirector / ArtDirector
Yohey Nemoto Dentsu Public Relations inc. PR Planner
Yusuke Matsuo Dentsu Public Relations inc. PR Planner
Masataka Kawajiri DENTSU INC. Account Director
Atsuyuki Shimizu DENTSU INC. Creative Producer
Toyoichiro Tada Dentsu Music and Entertainment Senior Producer
Daiji Yoshida/Shota Sawabe Tohokushinsha Film Corporation Producer
Akinori Kajima Tohokushinsha Film Corporation ProductionManager
Yuma Shingai DENTSU INC. Creative Technologist
Junichi Naito OMUNIBUS JAPAN Technical Producer
Yoshihiko Suwa OMUNIBUS JAPAN Engineer
Aki Kasai N/A Art Designer
Naoko Todaka Dentsu Public Relations inc. PR Planner

The Campaign

We started out from focusing on what Japanese young people most appreciate, "Kawaii". By fusing the fundamental element of Japanese food culture "miso" with the fundamental element of Japanese pop culture "Kawaii", we developed the "World's First Kawaii Miso Soup" and turned the old and boring miso into an approchable subject. Furthermore, by focusing on the polysemic nature of the word Kawaii, we succeeded in raising the question "what is Kawaii?" among the younger generation. * "Kawaii" is a value Japan has shared with the world. It is an ambiguous word with many meanings including pretty, cute, innocent, and fleeting.

Creative Execution

On September 4th 2015, in the 160 years of Marukome’s history, we changed the brand character to a girl for the first time. The development of "Kawaii Miso Soup" began. Instead of just redesigning the package, we also adopted a unique manufacturing process. Just like if you continue to tell a girl she is “Kawaii”, she will surely become that way, what would happen if we kept telling miso it was “Kawaii”? Focusing on this point, we held events around the world (Tokyo, London, Paris) in which people told miso it was “Kawaii”. Then we played the feedback to the miso in our plants. On February 22nd 2016, the product and commercial were launched, then the pop-up stores opened in Harajuku and Shibuya.

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

?The number of new graduate website users increased by 200% YOY, contributing to the prime objective to increase new recruits. ?Media exposure was TV – 15 cases, newspaper/magazines – 66 cases, online – 992 cases. The campaign was featured continuously. ?Ad conversion exceeded $5 million. ?Media impact was at 1.4billion ?“We were able to collaborate with young people leveraging miso soup itself as a media and generated a type of communication not possible in the supermarket.” (Client feedback)

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

Miso is a traditional ingredient that has been around for over 1300 years. But because of its heritage, miso was seen as outdated by the younger generation. So by adding a completely opposite value, Kawaii, to miso, we've turned it into a hot topic for the younger generation. We implemented a cross-media campaign including stores, videos, events, pop-up stores, model auditions and more. The event spanned across the world, and the "World's First Kawaii Miso Soup" was sold nationwide. The event contributed to the new branding of miso, and the visitors to the manufacturer's recruitment website doubled.

?We created a product called “World’s First Kawaii Miso Soup” and launched it nationwide in the three major supermarket chains which simultaneously contributed to branding by having the product displayed in stores. Many young consumers shared the product on social networks. ?For a period of over 3 months, we opened a Kawaii Miso Soup store in Harajuku, a popular area amongst youth in their teens to their 20s. We interacted with young people for a long period of time and were continuously picked up in the media as a flagship shop. ?We prompted proliferation through carefully sparking information in touchpoints for young people such as online videos, pop-up stores in Harajuku and Shibuya, model auditions, radio and stores. The product sold well, and the number of visitors to the recruitment website doubled.

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