Halls: REFRESHING JAPAN PROJECT

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Social Media Marketing

Advertiser: CADBURY JAPAN

Product/Service: HALLS CANDY

Agency: ASATSU-DK

Date of First Appearance: Nov 4 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: ASATSU-DK, Tokyo, JAPAN

Entry URL: http://award.kayac.com/cannes/2010/kenkobato/

Creative Director: Fumiaki Takano (Asatsu-DK)

Planner/Copywriter: Yuya Tanaka (Asatsu-DK)

Copywriter: Atsushi Matsumoto (Asatsu-DK)

Copywriter: Hideo Kobayashi (Otemoyan Kikaku)

Art Director/Illustrator: Norihiko Miyamoto (Knack)

Producer: Hiroo Suzuki (Kayac)

Director: Shingo Iwata (Kayac)

Programmer: Yosihiro Sugi (Kayac)

Programmer: Kazuhito Hokamura (Kayac)

Designer: Keisuke Sakakibara (Kayac)

Senior Account Executive: Nobuo Otsuka (Asatsu-DK)

Account Executive: Akifumi Imai (Asatsu-DK)

Account Executive: Yukari Abe (Asatsu-DK)

Communications Planner: Takashi Sakai (Asatsu-DK)

Communications Planner: Hitomi Baba (Asatsu-DK)

Casting Director: Yuuji Mori (Asatsu-DK)

Producer: Yoshinori Hagiwara (Armz)

Production Manager: Sachiko Motokawa (Armz)

Production Manager: Masakazu Shibuya (Armz)

Movie Director: Hideyuki Tanaka (Flame Graphics)

Media placement: TV Campaign- 1spot - CX, NTV, TBS - 04 Nov 2009

Media placement: Transit Poster - JR East - 04 Nov 2009

Media placement: Web Site - HALLS Brand Site - 04 Nov 2009

Media placement: Social Media - Twitter - 25 Jan 2010



Results and Effectiveness

Using the innovative interaction of Twitter as an entertainment media and going beyond simple customer service, this campaign drew in 10,000 followers in less than three weeks after the launch. (The number is still growing at the pace of 100 followers per day, and it became the largest campaign account on Twitter in Japan!) It also increased HALLS’ brand preference by 27% over the previous year, leading to a 17% increase in product sales versus the prior campaign.



Creative Execution

What made this campaign unique was the “triple-media structure” which made the best use of “Twitter” (social media) combined with TV, OOH (paid media) and the brand’s official site (owned media). The birdman character, who is the main character in the TV spot, opens a personal account on Twitter. By creating his original, almost robotic, Twitter response programme, it enabled interactive communication between users and his comments about daily stress or complaints and giving some useful advice with links to Wikipedia.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

This campaign “truly connects” with users of the refreshing candy, HALLS.
In Japan, HALLS is a candy brand supported the last 30 years by many loyal users; however, it was facing a challenge from the ongoing aging of its target. To stop the downward sales trend and rejuvenate the brand as a whole, this campaign was launched targeting young business people in their 20s and 30s. This generation has suffered a lot of stress due to the serious economic and social environment, sometimes called the “employment ice age.” Besides, they are called “digital natives” who are enthusiastic about subcultures such as anime and robot. Based on these overall target insights, our campaign was designed to make the best use of the Web and to provide an experience of “refreshment = freedom from stress and depression” which directly links with the brand value.