SUB CATEGORY :

USE OF SOCIAL PLATFORMS

ENTRANT COMPANY :

DENTSU EAST JAPAN INC., TOKYO

TITLE :

APPARENTLY YUMMY

BRAND :

SETO SHIO

ADVERTISER :

KURIYAMA BEIKA

AGENCY :

DENTSU EAST JAPAN INC., TOKYO

CREATIVE DIRECTOR :

OSAMU MATSUDA/TAKAYUKI TOMITA

ART DIRECTOR :

KAREN KITSUNO/AKIHIRO NISHIMOTO

COPYWRITER :

OSAMU MATSUDA/TAKAYUKI TOMITA

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE :

YORITO OSHIMA

PLANNER :

OSAMU MATSUDA/TAKAYUKI TOMITA

PR DIRECTOR :

JUNKO SHINOHARA/TAKAYUKI TOMITA/RYOTARO IGI

MEDIA PLANNER :

MAIKO MIZUNO/MINAMI TESHIMA/KOKI KOBAYASHI/
YUKI SAWADA/FUMINA FUKUSHIMA

MEDIA AGENCY :

DENTSU EAST JAPAN INC., TOKYO

PR AGENCY :

INITIAL INC., TOKYO

PR PLANNER :

YUSUKE KAMEADA/TAKAHARU KOYAMA/SHUNPEI NEMOTO

FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY :

AT ARMZ INC., TOKYO

GAFFER :

TOMOKAZU TSUKIOKA

FILM PRODUCER :

KEIJIRO FUSE

PRODUCTION MANAGER :

SHIHO SATO/MARIKO HYNES

PRINT PRODUCTION COMPANY :

AMP CO., LTD, HIROSHIMA

PHOTOGRAPHER :

YASUNARI ARAI

DESIGNER :

AKIHIRO NISHIMOTO

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY :

This is a promotion of Japanese rice cracker "SETO SHIO". The product is sold throughout Japan and can be bought easily at a neighborhood convenience store. Nevertheless, to further increase sales among all kinds of competing products, it was necessary to create a stronger willingness to taste the product. Our idea for that was communication using X. Focusing on a search of negative comments, we discovered that when we search for "SETO SHIO tastes bad" on X, not a single search result was returned. This inspired the key visual that places the search result screen showing "No results found for 'SETO SHIO tastes bad'" on a product photo, accompanied by a copy "Apparently Yummy". With the visual, we aimed to make people want to see if there's really no search results, and if the product is truly good. We also hoped to expose more opinions supporting SETO SHIO to influence Japanese people who tend to agree with what others say. The ad was shown on out-of-home media mainly at stations where convenience stores are located nearby. We selected terminal stations in Tokyo and stations with a store selling SETO SHIO, to directly draw customers to a place of purchase. The image of the ad was also shown on Kuriyama Beika's X account to disseminate it, while a video ad and a gift campaign were also organized. In the end, X was flooded with users sympathizing with the search result and 300,000 Likes were received in total. Thanks to increase of sympathizing consumers, sales rose mostly at retail stores to reach 150% compared with the previous year.

CREATIVITY/IDEA/INSIGHT :

Utilization of user reviews was the most remarkable point. Instead of a common approach where positive comments are quoted to encourage purchase, we focused on the fact that not a single negative review was found, and shared the result to give a positive image to the product. By using an easily accessible platform like X to share the search result, we offered an opportunity for users to make the search, check the result for themselves and become an active part of the campaign. We believe that proposing users to search for a product name with a negative word, like "SETO SHIO tastes bad" for example, was a truly innovative approach that has not been seen before.

STRATEGY :

In terms of strategy we paid attention to Japanese people's modest temperament. In our opinion, among many social media platforms, X's highly anonymous nature has a special affinity with Japanese population. In fact, number of X users in Japan is second largest in the world following the US, and user percentage to population is highest at 55% (2023 data). Our idea was to reach an overwhelming number of consumers by amplifying positive opinions about SETO SHIO, and for that, we needed to present a credible fact instead of comments that may be biased. We decided to use "search result" as a trustworthy information. With regard to customer journey to purchase, we focused on convenience stores. They are used by a majority of Japanese people, and it is not exaggeration to say that some of them visit convenience stores every single day. By holding the campaign at stations where convenience stores are found nearby, we offered a customer journey that directly leads to purchase.

EXECUTION :

In terms of creative design, the artistic direction was to emphasize the search result. As for a method of expression, our focus was not to say "everyone loves it", but to say "no one says it is bad", as Japanese people prefer to say things indirectly. Copy writing also avoided assertive expression such as "It is good" and used a more reserved "Apparently Yummy" to gain sympathy. In execution, while we focused on stations, we also made efforts to increase supporters online. Specifically we implemented out-of-home ad campaign to create buzz, video ads to secure customer touchpoints and a gift campaign requiring applicants to quote post to disseminate supporting comments. For out-of-home media we chose Shinjuku, the station handling the biggest number of passengers in the world, and Shibuya, the town that attracts most young people in Japan, as well as selected stations in Tokyo where a store is located. The prize for the gift campaign was a coin case with SETO SHIO printed on it. All the campaigns began on the same day at the same time and implemented for about a month.

RESULT :

This campaign went viral on X with approx. 220,000 Likes given to a user post that showed the image of the out-of-home ad. As most Japanese users get excited when their comment is reposted by an official account, we reposted this particular user's post on Kuriyama Beika's official account. The user seemed pleased as expected and went on to post many more about SETO SHIO. In addition, the search for "SETO SHIO tastes bad" was copied by many users who posted a similar phrase such as "Account name, uninteresting", creating enjoyable CtoC exchanges. As a result, the accumulative reach on social media exceeded 1.61 billion, at 170% compared with the previous year, while search on X increased approx. 80 times owing to the graphic design that encouraged search. Product sales during the applicable period reached 150% compared with the previous year, while product consumption experience increased to 107%.

URL :

https://befco.jp/setoshio_pr2024/