YUKIMI DAIKUFU

TitleYUKIMI DAIKUFU
BrandLOTTE CO., LTD.
Product / ServiceYUKIMI DAIFUKU
CategoryE05. Sponsorship & Brand Partnership
EntrantDENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
Idea Creation DENTSU INC. Tokyo, JAPAN
PR PLATINUM Tokyo, JAPAN
Production TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Tokyo, JAPAN
Production 2 PUZZLE Tokyo, JAPAN

Credits

Name Company Position
Junta Yoshikawa DENTSU INC. Creative Director
Eriko Ishibashi DENTSU INC. Creative Director/Copywriter
Iyoda Chie LOTTE CO., LTD. Art Director
Satoshi Takahashi DENTSU INC. Communication Planner / PR Planner
Shinichiro Uewaki DENTSU INC. Communication Planner
Yoshihumi Sato DENTSU INC. Social Planner
Sara Tembata DENTSU INC. Communication Planner
Yaichi Kubo DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Ryo Ito DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Yuma Shibata DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Kanako Tozawa DENTSU INC. Account Executive
Yumeno Suzuki DENTSU INC. Creative Producer
Yuya Hamamura VECTOR INC. PR Director
Nozomi Watanabe Platinum, Inc. PR consultant
Takuma Sone Platinum, Inc. PR consultant
Ai Shibahara Platinum, Inc. PR consultant
Masao Ode TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Producer
Ryosuke Sato TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Producer
Takashi Kobayashi TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Producer
Naomi Izumida TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION Director
Atuko Okada puzzle inc. Producer
Ami Furukubo puzzle inc. Production manager
Tomo Yamazaki puzzle inc. Production manager
Toshinori Obuchi puzzle inc. Designer
Tomoka Morita puzzle inc. Designer
Shummu Ikeyama puzzle inc. Engineer
Hiroyuki Mikami puzzle inc. Engineer
Yusuke Kawakami puzzle inc. Engineer

Why is this work relevant for PR?

While looking for the next big idea for Lotte's Yukimi Daifuku ice cream, we discovered the idea right in the name--switching the "f" and "k" gets Daikufu, which means "big idea" in Japanese. This inspired us to launch a side brand called Yukimi Daikufu dedicated to big Yukimi Daifuku ideas that may be hiding in plain sight. When other food brands began to show interest in this scheme, we created an official alliance with over 20 brands and promoted food pairings that involved Yukimi Daifuku and their own products, offering consumers new ways to enjoy the classic product.

Background

For 40 years, Lotte had been trying to keep things fresh with their classic Yukimi Daifuku ice cream--two vanilla ice cream balls, each covered in a thin, chewy layer of mochi--by coming up with new flavors (over 50 at this point). But with interest in the product dropping and the company running out of ideas, there was an urgent need to come up with the next big idea--something that went beyond the company's existing communication framework and would really take the world by storm.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

It turned out, this big idea was sitting right under our noses. By switching the "f" and "k" in Daifuku, you get Daikufu, which means "big idea" in Japanese. That made us wonder what other big Yukimi Daifuku ideas were hiding in plain sight. Inspired by this discovery, we established a side brand called Yukimi Daikufu dedicated to big Yukimi Daifuku ideas that we may have overlooked--but which the public might already know about.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

We initially targeted general consumers. By offering simple examples--maybe a savory Yukimi Daifuku flavored with olive oil and salt? An even sweeter Yukimi Daifuku covered with whipped cream, bananas, and chocolate sauce?--we lowered the hurdle for potential ideas and made the new side brand feel approachable. When other food brands started submitting ideas as well, we developed a new strategy to target such brands and approached them for official tie-ups with their products.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

We announced the new side brand with a launch video featuring the popular Yukimi Daifuku rabbit and postings on social media. Ideas submitted by consumers were presented on a dedicated website, with submissions searchable by a variety of criteria. Submissions on social media were given the hashtag #YukimiDaikufu to make them easy to find. When over 20 food and other brands agreed to create tie-up ideas, we set up a press conference to commemorate this historic alliance. Finally, we opened a Yukimi Daikufu Cafe where we served the three most popular ideas submitted by the public, further deepening the public's affinity for this new side brand. In this way, we created a self-sustaining ecosystem for generating new big ideas for the product that fully involved consumers around the country.

List the results (30% of vote)

Over 1,400 individual consumers and over 20 food and other brands submitted ideas for this new side brand. As a result, mentions of Yukimi Daifuku on social media rose 105%. Yukimi Daikufu--the side brand--trended on Twitter twice. The side brand was covered by 443 media, providing us with over 300 million JPY in earned advertising. Finally, annual sales of Yukimi Daifuku broke through the 10 billion JPY barrier for the first time in the brand's 40-year history.

Links

Supporting Webpage