The "Kumamon Lost Cheek Campaign" won Promotional Activity of the Year at the PR Week Awards Asia 2014.
The "Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident Campaign," executed by Dentsu Kyushu Inc. and Dentsu Public Relations (hereafter Dentsu PR), won the "Promotional Activity of the Year" award at the "PRWEEK Awards Asia 2014," hosted by the marketing industry magazine Campaign.
The campaign also received Certificates of Excellence in the "Public Sector Campaign of the Year" category (for campaigns conducted for government agencies) and the "Japan/Korea Campaign of the Year" category (for regional campaigns). This campaign is the only Japanese campaign to win an award at this year's PRWEEK Awards Asia 2014.
This year's PRWEEK Awards Asia featured 39 categories, receiving 526 entries (a 42% increase from the previous year) from countries across the Asia-Pacific region. The campaigns were judged by 42 industry leaders selected from PR firms, corporations, and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Now in its 13th year, the PRWEEK Awards Asia employs a blind judging process to ensure impartiality, with the names of the entering companies concealed.
Takuhiko Chikami, President of Dentsu Inc., stated, "We believe this campaign was only possible because of the existence of 'Kumamon,' a character overflowing with originality and warmth. It was a new media plan and PR strategy that consciously designed content and information distribution structures. Contributing to revitalizing Kumamoto producers and raising awareness of Kumamoto brands through this campaign is a great joy for us as well."
Chief PR Planner Risa Iguchi, who planned this campaign, commented, "This campaign truly represents an ideal fusion of creativity and PR. The key point was incorporating a PR perspective into the content design right from the initial creative conception stage. Furthermore, by understanding the complex information distribution structure encompassing mass media, social media, SNS, and more, and implementing phased information dissemination, we achieved sustained information diffusion that strongly captured the interest of consumers."
■Overview of the Award-Winning Campaign
"Kumamon's Missing Cheeks Campaign"
(English Title: Where are my cheeks?! Mouth-watering, cheek-dropping delicious Kumamoto produce)
Client: Kumamoto Prefectural Government
Category: Promotional Activity of the Year
【Project Team】
Creative Director: Masahiro Wakuda, Dentsu Kyushu Inc.
Account Director: Dentsu Kyushu Inc., Junpei Kamei
Chief PR Planner: Ryo Iguchi, Dentsu Inc. PR
PR Planner: Yohei Nemoto, Dentsu Inc. PR
Digital PR Planner: Dentsu Inc. PR, Kenta Arai
[Overview] Kumamoto Prefecture is a rich agricultural region producing abundant vegetables, fruits, and other crops. It particularly excels in producing many red agricultural and livestock products such as tomatoes, strawberries, watermelons, and beef. It is also a region where red fish like sea bream are caught. Kumamoto Prefecture had attempted to brand itself as the "Red Prefecture," but few people associated Kumamoto with "red," resulting in limited PR success. Surveys revealed that the top image color for Kumamoto Prefecture was "green," and its status as one of Japan's leading agricultural producers was largely unknown. Kumamoto Prefecture planned to establish "red" as its brand color and promote its red agricultural and marine products. It also aimed to boost the morale and pride of its residents, especially agricultural workers, through media coverage.
In recent years, Kumamon, the mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, has gained popularity nationwide among both children and adults. Dentsu Kyushu Inc. and its sister agency, Dentsu PR, devised an idea featuring Kumamon. Using the uniquely Japanese expression "delicious food makes your cheeks fall off," they created a story where "Kumamon ate delicious red foods from Kumamoto Prefecture and lost his cheeks." The Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture himself participated in this campaign. At a press conference, he solemnly announced that Kumamon had lost his cheeks. He distributed flyers to passersby in Tokyo's Ginza and Shibuya districts, appealing to the general public to help find the missing cheeks.
The campaign engaged TV and newspaper news outlets while simultaneously leveraging social media and the official website. After launch, Kumamon's Twitter and Facebook profile pictures were replaced with images of his missing cheeks, with updates on the search process shared. Visuals designed for social media virality, like filing a police report for the missing cheeks, further captured public interest.
This campaign resulted in coverage by 23 TV programs, 30 newspaper articles, and over 400 websites. Information about Kumamoto Prefecture being a major producer of red agricultural products and other foods was widely disseminated. Although the campaign's main activities were conducted in the final quarter of 2013, sales of Kumamon-branded food products increased by 10% that year. Furthermore, the giveaway of 100 boxes of "Arigatou Tomato" tomatoes received over 10,000 applications. In 2012, "green" was Kumamoto Prefecture's top image color, but by 2013, it had become "red." The local Kumamoto newspaper, the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun, reported in its November 9, 2013 edition that "the unconventional PR strategy of losing cheeks appears to have achieved initial success," raising awareness of the PR campaign among the people of Kumamoto Prefecture.
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