Background

“Stick with it” was Band-Aid’s brand purpose. However, their sales mechanism was counter-intuitive to their purpose: Band-Aid stands by those who strives for the best. But simultaneously the brand also profited from injuries sustained by them. So, Band-Aid stood up to fill that gap, focusing on fresh-grads, especially on the job-hunt suffering from blisters.

Describe the cultural/social/political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

In Japan, the compulsive custom of wearing heels has become a political issue, of which the damage inflicted mostly on job-seeking students. Due to unspoken social norms, companies were forcing college students to wear high heels and dress shoes that they’re not used to wearing. BAND-AID for Blisters was a big seller because of this, but the situation in which BAND-AIDS were being sold with agonizing students was far-off from the brand mission, “Stick with it”.

Describe the creative idea

In order to support those who strive for the best, the BAND-AID team believed that they should minimize the suffering caused by blisters, even with the risk of decreasing sales. Utilizing platforms such as digital media, they proposed “Job-sneakers for Job-seekers”, an idea of wearing sneakers for job-hunting instead of heels and dress shoes that causes blisters. Johnson & Johnson, the distributor of BAND-AID, even recommended wearing sneakers for job-hunting to their own candidates. They have also suggested “Job-sneakers for Job-seekers fashion” cooperating with one of the prominent retailers of Japan who supported this idea.

Describe the strategy

Due to unspoken social norms, college students have been pressured to wear high heels and dress shoes that they’re not used to wearing. BAND-AID for Blisters was a big seller due to this, but the fact that suffering students were increasing BAND-AID sales was far-off from “Stick with it”, the brand mission. Therefore, we launched this campaign to align the brands purpose in the minds of the consumers resulting in a increased brand experience amongst our target.

Describe the execution

Element: OOH, Digital Location/Platform: Stations, Department Store, and Social media Date: 26/03/2019 to 30/04/2019

Describe the results/impact

Estimated Earned Media: 1.2 MM Dollars (Return on Media Investment: 1：11) Twitter Post Impressions: 14.2 MM Impressions Sales increased to 200% amongst our target audience