【Continued】Local Gurgle [93]Birth! Baka Dorse
When did Japanese people start drinking milk?
I vaguely thought it was after the Meiji Restoration, but it seems the history is actually much, much longer. For example, cattle bones have been excavated from Yayoi period sites dating back to 400 BC. Naturally, they would have enjoyed milk too. Wooden tablets from the Nara period seem to contain the term "milk," so it's surprisingly a long-standing relationship.
The assignment we introduced last time— given as a final exam question at Meiji Gakuin University—"Develop an unprecedented ranch dessert"—provided an opportunity to reexamine this familiar "milk."
And the one posing this challenging question to us was Senbonmatsu Farm. This prestigious farm was established in Nasu-no-hara, Tochigi Prefecture, by Masayoshi Matsukata, who later served as Prime Minister during the Meiji period. We had to come up with a "completely new farm dessert" that could become a signature item here.
At that time, we had two major hints. One was Senbonmatsu Farm's corporate stance—its "vision."
They raise their cows freely on vast pastures and cornfields covering an area equivalent to 178 Tokyo Domes. They take pride in their milk, processed using the rare "low-temperature, long-time pasteurization" method (65°C for about 30 minutes) in Japan, yielding 8 tons of raw milk daily. Typically, milk is collected from local dairy farmers in tank trucks, blended together, and transported to various milk manufacturers' factories. As a result, milk from various sources gets mixed together, making it impossible to identify "which farm's milk it is." However, Senbonmatsu Farm uses only its own raw milk to produce its milk, making this identification possible. Throughout our conversation, I sensed their pride and determination: "We want to make the world happier with the power of Senbonmatsu Farm's milk."
The other challenge is competition—existing products. We lined up every "farm-sweet" we could find in the conference room, and honestly, they all projected images of "healthy," "natural," "kids," "morning," "sunshine." To put it bluntly, they seemed "goody-goody." While milk does have that "model student" image, if all farms nationwide were competing in this one direction, it seemed like an opportunity.
Thus, the concept of "Sexy Sweets" was established. It's an attempt to shine a spotlight on farm-style sweets, challenging conventional wisdom with an "adult" and "nighttime" perspective.
As a concrete strategy, we developed the name "Baka Dolce" and its logo. Under this brand, we decided to launch a series of "Dulce de Leche" (Spanish for "milk candy"), a traditional confection deeply loved by the people of passionate Argentina. Precisely because Senbonmatsu Farm takes pride in its own milk, we believed we had the right to challenge this quintessential "milk candy" recipe.
The first product launching on October 7th is this soft serve generously topped with an "almost guiltily rich" sauce. Fresh milk from Senbonmatsu Farm transforms into both a deeply creamy soft serve and an intensely rich dulce de leche, creating a devilishly delicious reunion. For now, it will be available exclusively at the Senbonmatsu Farm shop. It's just about 2 minutes from the Nishinasuno-Shiobara Interchange on the Tohoku Expressway, so please give it a try during the autumn travel season.
The road to launch was full of ups and downs. Thanks to the relentless efforts of the incredibly cheerful team led by Senbonmatsu Farm's General Manager Fujimoto, along with Dentsu Inc.'s AD Mai Shibaya, Planner Makiko Ido, and Yonnana Club's Maehata-san, we finally overcame them. That said, the real challenge begins now. We must listen to customer feedback to refine and develop the product. Fortunately, our team members are huge sweet tooths, so we'll keep eating our fill and working hard.
Please, help yourself!
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Author
Sōo Yamada
Dentsu Inc.
Meiji Gakuin University Part-time Lecturer (Business Administration) Using "concept quality management" as its core technique, this approach addresses everything from advertising campaigns and TV program production to new product/business development and revitalizing existing businesses and organizations—all through a unique "indwelling" style that immerses itself in the client's environment. Founder of the consulting service "Indwelling Creators." Served as a juror at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (Media category), among other roles. Recipient of numerous awards. His books, "The Textbook of Ideas: Dentsu Inc.'s Circular Thinking" and "How to Create Concepts: Dentsu Inc.'s Ideation Methods Useful for Product Development" (both published by Asahi Shimbun Publications), have been translated and published overseas (in English, Thai, and the former also in Korean).
