Asia | WARC

Apple: The Rock X Siri — Dominate The Day

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Apple, a technology brand, created a short film on YouTube that showed Siri organisation Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's busy schedule to encourage users across China, Japan, Germany, the UK and the US to re-engage with Siri.

Seem: The Family Way

Case Study • Cannes Creative Lions, Entrant, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2019

Recruit Lifestyle, a human resources company, launched the Seem device to raise awareness of men’s fertility issues in Japan.

Demography and e-commerce hit Japan's retailers

News • 14 June 2019

It has been recognised for some time that high street retailers are struggling to adapt to the rise of e-commerce in the UK and the US, but now new analysis has shown that Japan’s bricks-and-mortar sector is in trouble too.

Lux: Shrugging off gender inequality – Decoding ambivalence towards gender inequality in Japan

Research Paper • Deanna Elstrom and Emi Nishiyama, ESOMAR, Asia Pacific, 2019

Lux, a Unilever-owned haircare brand, conducted a quantitative study to ascertain where personal "pain points" are from the perspective of today’s Japanese women.

Hiroshima Tourism: Oyster Kanji Dictation Workbook

Case Study • Yosuke Yamauchi, Shuntaro Taniguchi, Miki Sudo, WARC Awards, Gold and Smart Spender Award, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture created a school workbook to educate citizens about the region's local oysters, increase consumption and make them a local tourism asset.

Sheba: #HypnoCats

Case Study • Kaori Yatsu, Aisha Takashima, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Content Strategy, 2019

Cat food brand Sheba launched its first digital campaign in Japan to reverse a declining sales trend and outperform the competition.

HP Spectre: Reinvent Stereotypes

Case Study • Kaori Yatsu, Aisha Takashima, WARC Awards, Entrant, Effective Use of Brand Purpose, 2019

Tech brand HP used a multichannel approach to appeal to working women, spark conversations and boost PC sales in Japan.

Save Soap Project: Washable Book

Case Study • AME Awards, AME Awards, Gold, 2019

Save Soap Project, an initiative by Japanese health and hygiene company ANGFA, used an interactive book product to educate consumers and increase soap sales in Cambodia.

Digital drives up Japanese adspend growth

News • 04 March 2019

Total advertising expenditure in Japan increased 2.2% year-on-year to 6.53 trillion yen (circa $58.9bn) in 2018, the seventh consecutive year of growth, according to the latest figures from Dentsu.

Clear: Making Shampoos an Office Supply

Rankings • WARC Effective 100, 2019

Clear, a shampoo brand, increased sales to men in Japan by promoting its hair-health benefits through businesses.

How eWord of Mouth valences affect price perceptions

Research Paper • Wai Ki Liang and David Corkindale, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 61, No. 1, 2019, pp. 50-63

The influence of electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) on consumers' perceptions of price, allowing for consumers having different price acceptability levels, was examined through nine online experiments.

Pure Boost: Green Light Run

Rankings • WARC Creative 100, 2019

Adidas, the sportswear brand, revitalised its connection with urban running by hosting a live marathon event in Japan.

Kobe Shimbun Disaster Prevention: Emergency Collectibles

Rankings • WARC Creative 100, 2019

Kobe Shimbun, a newspaper based in Japan, created a two-page newspaper spread to help the public prepare for the occurrence of an earthquake.

Sagawa Shoyu: The Soy Sauce Posters

Rankings • WARC Creative 100, 2019

Sagawa Shoyu, a soy sauce producer, proved the quality and beauty of its soy sauce products through a print campaign in Japan.

Double A: Obsession for Smoothness

Rankings • WARC Creative 100, 2019

Double A, a premium paper brand, proved the smoothness of its product by making a music video with printer paper in Japan.

Japan develops completely unstaffed convenience stores

News • 15 February 2019

Entirely unstaffed convenience stores have become a realistic possibility in Japan after the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced the success of a pilot project that involved many of Japan’s leading ...

Toyota gears up for new car-subscription service, with a difference

News • 06 February 2019

Japanese car giant Toyota has announced a new car-leasing programme that allows motorists to select from a range of models as the mood takes them, reflecting the trend away from car ownership towards car usage.

Hulu Japan and Vice Media sign programming deal

News • 28 January 2019

Vice Media, the youth-oriented broadcaster, and online streaming service Hulu Japan have signed a content licensing and co-production deal that will deliver 250 hours of original content to Japanese viewers.

IKEA: Using the power of "chat" to uncover consumer needs around the world

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Finalist, MRS Award for International Research, 2018

IKEA, a furniture retailer, combined all the different survey data streams from test countries Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UK to discover the impact that in-the-moment experience has on future share of wallet.

Snickers: #HUNGEREPLY

Case Study • Kaori Yatsu, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2018

Chocolate bar Snickers used its packaging as a social media tool in partnership with a messaging app, to turn around a decline in sales of its single-bar product in Japan.

Hiroshima Tourism: Oyster Kanji Dictation

Case Study • Susumu Yamamoto, WARC Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2018

Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan took a multimedia approach to educate citizens about its local oysters, increase consumption and make them a local tourism asset.

Transforming an Iconic Brand to Help Customers Navigate Change in Japan: MetLife uncovers and addresses latent needs of a growing demographic in one of the most mature insurance markets in the world

Case Study • Nisha Yadav and Takeshi Oshima, ESOMAR, Congress, 2018

MetLife Japan, an insurance company, created a holistic research program and used a universal insight as the foundation of its brand strategy to deliver compelling offers in Japan.

Dentsu sees opportunities in sports technology

News • 22 October 2018

Dentsu, the international advertising and PR group, is taking an active interest in Japan’s sports sector as it aims to benefit from useful data and open up new revenue streams.

Perk packages for staff that help build real brand value

News • 18 October 2018

Japan’s worsening labour shortages are leading retailers to market themselves to potential recruits, in a tactic that might need to take root in other sectors.

Locomo Challenge Council: Locomo Challenge

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, APAC, Institutional Image, 2018

The NPO LOCOMO Challenge Council, a healthcare-promoting council, raised awareness for orthopaedic pain and illnesses in elderly people in Japan by launching a risk test alongside press releases and events.