Cup Noodle

CUP NOODLES

( sources : Internet )

Brief presentation :

Cup Noodles is a instant ramen noodle brand. The manufacturer is Nissin, a Japanese food company. The packaging is a hard plastic cup. We can find it everywhere. Its low price made it famous. It is sold all around the word. The Japanese is Cup Noodle (without s). Inside, one can found pre-cooked ramen. Supplementary ingredients, as seaweed, are put aside in a little packets. One just has to put boiling water.
It exits many different Cup Noodle versions, but here I will focus on the original and first recipe.

Relevant detail about Place :

In Temple University itself, one can find Cup Noodle in vending machines in the common room of Mita Hall. It only costs 10 yens more than in 7-11 ( and 2 yens more than in other combinis).
( Remark : Won't a kettle be better for having hot water, than the one from the girls rooms, will it ? The company responsible of the vending machine should have thought about that : more people would choose Cup Noodle for lunch ...)

( personal sources )
( personal source)

Promotion (2)

First campaign

Last year, as I was visiting for the first time Japan, I went to watch a base-ball match in Hiroshima opposing the Hiroshima Carps and The Tokyo Giants, around August, 15th. The Municipal Baseball Stadium of Hiroshima could welcome nearly 32,000 spectators. This day, it was fulled.
As the stadium was shouting a lot during half time, I saw that ...

( personal sources)

A big utility car entered the ground carrying a huge Cup Noodle reproduction and made the whole tour of the stadium, several times.

( personal sources )

The Hiroshima Carps and the Tokyo Giants teams are both parts of the most important baseball league in Japan, the Central league. Baseball is a very important part of sports life in Japan. It is popular since the late 19th century. It can be called the most loved one.

Even if baseball is a American sport, Japanese players have adapted it to their culture. It seems normal to them to consume their own products.

Like in the Roman times, people were entertained with "Panem and circences" (bread and enternainment). Here, it would be more like Cup Noodle and baseball! During games, viewers like to eat Japanese food, and not american fast food. I saw them eating ramen, bento and drinking beer (Japanese ones of course).

Having the possibility to make such a entry in the ground is a great opportunity for Cup Noodle to touch 32,000 people more. Moreover, Cup Noodle catches all attention by being the only thing on the ground during half-time. It encourages spectators to consume its products, in the future but especially during the match itself.

Suntory Kakubin

Suntory Kakubin

Introduction

Suntory Kakubin (or Kaku) is the best known whisky of the brand. It is a classic label in Japan. Its name means “square bottle” and describes the shape of the bottle. It has a turtle shell shape. It was created in 1937. It is the most successful whiskey launch since then, the Japanese whiskey market being the second largest in the world.. The appearance of the date of creation (1937) of the bottle makes a link between ancient times and nowadays. One can find symbolism in Japanese medias and anime (Bartender, 2nd episode) that it recalls the “imperial and militarist Japan”.

Promotion

The last ad for Suntory Kakubin features Koyuki Kaku, 32. She is a very well known Japanese actress and model, and also in Western countries for her role in The Last Samouraï with Tom Cruise. It exits two versions of this ad.
The first one is a video, available on the Internet and on TV. One can heard “Watashi wa koori. Anata wa whiskey” (I am ice cube, you are whisky.). A man seducing her, is approaching towards her. The catch phrase highlights the complementariness between ice cubes and whiskey, and more generally, thewoman and the man in a couple, which is very symbolic in Japan. Hence Hofstede, “distribution of roles between genders” is very clear in Japan. Here, the man is alcohol, is strong and deep (“assertive pole”). In the contrary, the women is ice cubes, sweetening and cooling down the taste of spirits (“caring pole”). That symbolises balance. Kakubin is particularly enjoyed at home

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=oHJKOku25zM (for a better quality commercial.)

Thanks to Mrs Kawate Megumi, I understood that Koyuki said " As a matter of fact, I like younger guys than me". At the end, we heard and read “Suntory Kaku”. This is the cognitive part of the ad. It precisely shows the bottle.

The second ad is a photo, available in magazines for exemple. Suntory also chooses to put it out-door, and especially inside subways coaches and on platforms. We can find it in the streets too. There are 3 different versions. The catch phrase is "At night, we start the evening with a cocktail/a whisky cocktail" (more thanks to Mrs Kawate Megumi )

Suntory Kakubin ad on the Yamanote Line ( personal sources)

Idem ( personal source)

Another printed-ad for Suntory Kakubin ( sources : Internet)

Outdoor ad for Suntory Kakubin ( Tokyo Station) ( personal sources)

Personal reaction:

What strikes me the most in the video ad is that I could never find it in France. Why? In France, there is a law call “loi Evin” (Evin Law), dated from 1991, that prevents the right of broadcasting spirits and all alcoholic beverages advertising on TV. It was declared to protect “youth people from marketing operations”. Those ads are also forbidden on the radio on Wednesdays, and everyday from 5:00 Pm to midnight.

Moreover, it surprises me that a woman plays the main role for a whisky ad. In France, it would be a man. Spirits like whiskey are more a “male” beverage, whereas women prefer soft and sweet alcohol beverages like Eristoff Ice, Desperados (Heineken group), Malibu …

Eventually, in the French authorized ads, we don't usually find human figures on them. All focus on the bottle itself, or landscapes for exemple for the Scotch whiskey.

Marketing Project

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