The Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident Selected for "World's 50 Best PR Programs"

A PR project for Kumamoto Prefecture, undertaken by Dentsu Kyushu Inc. and Dentsu Public Relations (hereafter Dentsu PR), has been selected as one of the "World's 50 Best PR Programs" at the Global SABRE Awards, a prestigious global PR industry award.

The Global SABRE Awards, hosted by PR industry information provider the Holmes Group, recognize outstanding projects from over 5,000 entries worldwide. SABRE stands for "Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation, and Engagement."

The campaign selected for the Best 50 is the "Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident Campaign," which branded Kumamoto Prefecture's image color as red and promoted the prefecture's red agricultural and marine products. The Top 50 PR Programs are selected by choosing one winner per category across 50 distinct categories. Kumamoto Prefecture's project was chosen as a global top PR project in the "NON-CORPORATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT" category.

Paul Holmes, organizer of the SABRE Awards, commented on the "Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident Campaign": "It's remarkable that such a creative big idea was proposed not to a corporation, but to a local government, and that approval was obtained to implement it."

Mr. Iguchi of Dentsu Inc. PR delivering remarks at the Global SABRE Awards ceremony held in Miami on October 29.

Prior to being selected for the "World's Top 50 PR Programs," the "Kumamon Lost Cheek Incident Campaign" had already won a Gold SABRE Award in the Country Category at the "2014 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards," considered a precursor to the global awards. It also received a Certificate of Excellence in the category recognizing outstanding live event campaigns.

This year's "2014 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards" featured 74 categories. Entries from 1,400 participants across Asia-Pacific nations were judged by industry leaders selected fromPR firms and corporate PR departmentswithin the region.

Campaigns winning at the 2014 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards were subsequently re-evaluated alongside campaigns winning at the SABRE Awards held in the Americas and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA )to select the "World's Top 50 PR Programs . "

Mr. Osamu Iguchi, Chief PR Planner at Dentsu Inc., who planned the information distribution design for this campaign, stated: "I also served as a judge for the 2014 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards. Even within the limited Asia-Pacific region, I felt many exceptionally strong campaigns with a global perspective were entered. Among them, receiving the Gold SABRE and being selected for the World's Top 50 PR Projects is truly an honor. We received feedback that our campaign was a courageous initiative, undertaken in close cooperation with the local government. This included bold decisions like altering the character's appearance – something we normally cherish for its identity – to achieve a greater purpose. We feel this significant achievement stems from the seamless integration, from the initial stages, between the creative work of the Dentsu Kyushu Inc. team, built on a foundation of trust with the client, and our PR team's efforts to maximize information dissemination.

Masahiro Wakuda, Creative Director at Dentsu Kyushu Inc. and the mastermind behind the eccentric idea of Kumamon dropping his cheeks, stated: "Receiving such an immense honor this time truly makes me happy and also quite surprised. I will strive to ensure not only Kumamon, but also my beloved hometown of Kumamoto, is seen as an even more wonderful place and that many people will visit. Oh, and by the way, this year's new project has already begun. Our entire team will give it our all to make it another talking point."

<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

【Project Team】
Creative Director: Masahiro Wakuda, Dentsu Kyushu Inc.
Account Director: Dentsu Kyushu Inc., Junpei Kamei
Chief PR Planner: Dentsu Inc. PR, Osamu Iguchi
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, Kumamoto's mascot Kumamon has gained nationwide popularity among both children and adults. Dentsu Kyushu Inc. and its sister agency, Dentsu PR, devised an idea featuring Kumamon. Using the uniquely Japanese expression "your cheeks will fall off when you eat something delicious," they created a story: "Kumamon ate delicious red foods from Kumamoto Prefecture and lost his cheeks." They distributed flyers to passersby in Tokyo's Ginza and Shibuya districts, appealing to ordinary citizens to help find his cheeks.

The campaign engaged TV and newspaper news media 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, and updates on the search process were shared—creating shareable visuals that captured public interest.

This campaign resulted in coverage by 23 TV programs, 30 newspaper articles, and over 400 websites. Information about Kumamoto Prefecture as a producer of red agricultural products and other foods was widely disseminated. Although the main campaign activities took place in the final quarter of 2013, sales of Kumamon-branded food products increased by 10% in 2013. 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 "this unconventional PR strategy of losing a cheek appears to have achieved initial success," raising awareness of the PR campaign among the people of Kumamoto Prefecture.

Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident Campaign Video
http://youtu.be/iY8XtCXZrqI