Concept / Creative Direction / Copywriting (Naming)

Year: 2014
Client: Ebara Foods
Product: Asaduke-no-moto (Vegetable Marinade)

Brief:
Ebara is Japan’s leading vegetable marinade manufacturer. Unfortunately, they are slipping in popularity and sales. Ebara feels young kids are now tend not to eat vegetable compare to old days. So, they wanted to engage a new generation of families, drawing attention to the fact that Ebara’s sauce can make vegetables more delicious as, it removes bitterness from the vegetables.
Our Strategy was to talk and interact with them directly and try to solve a universal problem that Children don’t like vegetables. Creating a magical way which are using digital and physical attractions where eating vegetables became natural and fun.

Solution:
Introducing “FUNFAIR IN YOUR MOUTH”. We made 2 key attractions, which are utilizing digital and physical combination.
Firstly, using face recognition software, we created a way to monitor the mouth’s movement to control and participate in an interactive PC game. As you travel through the various scenarios, like jet plane rides or roller coasters, you chomp through virtual vegetables. This was achieved through facial recognition software that recognizes mouth movements. To further promote vegetable consumption the kids are asked to show actual vegetables, which they had to eat in front of the PC to be able to play the next level. The software recognizes the color of the vegetable. And with each bite sends off a colorful firework blast on the screen in the child's virtual world.
Secondly, we built new attractions inside theme parks across Japan. Collaborating with a professor of technology, we invented a Virtual Reality device that turned regular vegetables into action packed excitement with a new way of utilizing bone conduction technology, which turns vibrations on the bone into sound. Through the connected vibration conductor, when kids bite the vegetables, they can hear firework blasts, or race cars zooming around.
When they eat real vegetables by those combinations, the camera inside the device takes a picture of the kid’s smiles and mom is given the opportunity to share this to their friends. This conversation made the full circle back through social media.

Results:
The unique technology and surprising experience captured the hearts of adults as well as kids and had an explosive PR effects, equivalent to 75 million yen in advertising costs.
Here is what happened in the 1st month of campaign period:
Archived 117,117 PV
Earned over 1,000 Facebook Like
32% increase in Ebara’s Facebook fans
Earned over 600 Comments in Facebook and Twitter
Over 90,000 total reach inside theme parks
2,600 children’s participations
Archived 12,700 vegetable marinade sampling
And, importantly, Ebara sales increased during the campaign period by 30%.
Connecting new behaviour with unique and memorable experiences, we believe our Funfair in Your Mouth changed kids’ mind about their veggies.
Kohei Kawasaki. 2004-2023