Understand the distribution structure across media to maximize your campaign!

Now, let's look at the recent "cheek loss incident" involving Kumamoto Prefecture's popular mascot, Kumamon, from a PR perspective. Actually, I was involved in this "cheek loss incident," so I'll give you a little peek behind the scenes of the PR!

Governor's press conference

 

The Full Story of the "Kumamon Cheek Disappearance Incident"

This whole cheek disappearance incident actually stems from Kumamoto Prefecture's "Red! Delicious! Kumamoto" campaign. This campaign was actually a nationwide promotion to sell Kumamoto's many "red-themed" specialty products. The strategy was to link Kumamon's red cheeks with the image of numerous famous red items, like tomatoes (which rank first in national production) and that impressively moist, red-hued horse meat, thereby embedding them in consumers' minds.

Yes, some of you may already have guessed it. The full story of the "Kumamon Cheek Disappearance Incident" is this: by gradually revealing the tale of "Kumamon eating too many of Kumamoto's delicious, red specialties, causing his cheeks to fall off," the campaign aims to continuously capture the public's interest. Let's briefly recap the flow of this surprise promotion.

One morning, Kumamon wakes up and panics, "!?" upon realizing his prized cheeks are gone. Upon learning this, the Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture declares a state of emergency, and the search for "Kumamon's Cheeks" begins immediately. After all, he's the captain of Kumamoto Prefecture's PR squad, "Kumamoto Surprise! Kumamon Squad," and the head of Kumamoto Prefecture's Sales Department. So, position-wise, he carries a pretty heavy responsibility. And then this happens. No wonder he's lost his confidence. He even tweeted, "Shocked!" Naturally, Kumamon himself searches desperately, but some people say things like, "A 'Kumamon' without cheeks is just a regular 'bear,'" which really gets him down.

Kumamon is in high demand all over Japan every day, so he figures, "It must have fallen somewhere in vast Tokyo," and starts searching, focusing on the city center. First, he hands out flyers saying "Please help me find my cheeks!" right in front of the Ginza Kumamoto Kan, right by the Ginza Sukiyabashi intersection in the heart of Tokyo. Along the way, he mistakes red traffic lights and tomatoes at a local products stall for his cheeks and charges at them. After that, he appeared on TV, put out a search request on Shibuya's street vision screens, surveyed the city from the Tokyo Dome Ferris wheel, and still couldn't find it. Finally, he ended up needing the police's help, continuing his desperate search. At the police station, he even got to team up (?) with Pipo-kun, another character. They just lectured him, saying, "Don't lose things!"...

Then, three days later, the cheek was finally found. The punchline? The red cheek had fallen in a field or pasture in Kumamoto Prefecture. Kumamon, who always causes a stir, reflected that this time he'd caused too much commotion. To express gratitude for the search and announce a campaign, he held a press conference with the Governor of Kumamoto Prefecture.

Surprise flyer distribution in front of Ginza Kumamoto Hall

 

The Key to Making a Campaign Trending: "Information Flow Structure"

Surprise promotions that stir up public attention like this can sometimes draw societal backlash. People get so shocked they get angry, you know? However, the fundamental personality of Kumamon (bear-patterned?) and, conversely, the predictable punchline that consumers could easily anticipate meant that a huge number of people "understood it but still enjoyed it." This was arguably the key factor in this campaign's success. Even on TV programs covering the Kumamon incident daily, while announcers reported the commotion with deadpan seriousness, the main anchor repeatedly chimed in with comments like "Why are you taking this so seriously? (laughs)", conveying the media's own attitude of embracing it as lighthearted fun.

Meanwhile, consumers independently searched for the cheek, posting homemade character bento boxes on blogs with comments like "Found it here!", while Iwate Prefecture's mascot "Sobatchi" appeared wearing a red cheek, jokingly asking "Is this it?". It seems many people played with the idea as a fun topic.

Now, here's the key to this campaign's viral success: the "information flow structure." Surprise promotions often feel like one-shot deals. You create the surprise, drop it into social media via a viral video, then wait for it to spread. While this approach suits social media diffusion, we also wanted to consider integration with mass media.

Therefore, while keeping an eye on the information flow structure of spreading from one media outlet to another, we designed the timing of our information release to encompass both mass media and social media. Normally, the standard approach might be to mobilize media coverage across all outlets at the exact moment of the "Cheek Loss" announcement, aiming to maximize interviews and media exposure. However, to properly convey this story, a single, isolated information release felt too simplistic. Therefore, we wanted to turn this valuable story into something that would engage and entertain the general public. Consequently, the key challenge became how to effectively extend this story throughout the period while Kumamon searched for his cheek.

Personally, I still believe television remains the most powerful medium for mass dissemination. So, the question became how to get coverage on news programs that reach people of all ages and genders. While approaching TV directly is an option, its success rate as a feature depends entirely on the topic and timing – it's about fifty-fifty. To increase the odds, we needed to generate buzz beforehand. This meant creating news primarily for online platforms, and then leveraging its spread to portal sites like Yahoo! News. The reason is simple: news picked up by portal sites like "Yahoo! Top News" naturally attracts attention from TV and other media outlets.

Furthermore, mid-tier media outlets like Rocket News 24 and Gadget Tsushin, which are highly viral news providers on social media—a recent focus—are also key. Exposure on these mid-tier media not only boosts social media buzz but also influences the scale of coverage on various portal sites. It also feeds into "summary sites" that chronologically explain a series of topics. As these peripheral media spread the information, it solidifies the background as "information consumers want to know," evolving it into material suitable for television programs to cover.

Submitting a lost property report to the police station

 

Creating a "Spiral Up" Situation

In this way, it becomes crucial to think about integrating mass media and social media going forward. The resulting mass media exposure can then be picked up online, creating a "spiral-up" situation where it spreads further. This is precisely the indispensable method for creating a movement.

Focusing solely on the recent Kumamon Cheek Loss Incident, tweets related to it reached approximately 32,800 within five days (as of 9:00 AM on November 4th). Factoring in their followers, this information reached roughly 29 million people. Considering Japan's population of just under 130 million, this could be equivalent to a TV viewership rating of 20%.

The campaign video, at 4 minutes and 30 seconds, is a bit long for a web video, but within the first week, 200,000 people accessed it and watched it all the way through. Initially, this project was planned primarily as a viral video campaign, but by effectively utilizing and integrating existing mass media, we achieved results exceeding expectations. For those currently focused solely on digital planning, why not consider strategies together that not only earn "likes" but also create tangible movement among real consumers?

(Kumamon's Cheek Is Gone!? THE MOVIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMJD6piRwUA )