Dole Japan’s strategic PR program had two core objectives:1) Revitalize the increasingly commoditised banana market in Japan2) Establish a dominant No. 1 position for Dole in both brand image and market share.

We concentrated on three factors for the campaign, executed in consecutive stages: “Sports”, “Tastiness” and “Health”. We wanted consumers to rediscover the special values of bananas, or as we expressed it, we wanted to “de-familiarize” the familiar. We set out to increase awareness of the whole food category, while promoting brand leadership for Dole.

Our activities consisted of:1) Supporting the Tokyo marathon, where we made the point that a banana is the perfect fruit to consume while practicing a sport2) Aggressively launching new Dole Banana commercials to the press, featuring a popular celebrity who humorously communicated the tastiness of Dole Bananas3) Introducing the emerging “Morning Banana Diet” trend to a wide range of media, triggering a banana craze that saw bananas suddenly out of stock across Japan.

Sales of Dole Bananas grew 27 per cent compared to the previous year, hitting an all time high and confirming Dole Japan’s leadership in this category.

Stage 1. During the Tokyo Marathon, we distributed 60,000 free bananas to 30,000 runners to graphically show that bananas are an excellent source of nutrition for people practicing sports. Our goal was to have this energy boost captured in live media.Stage 2. A media PR event in April launched new commercials for Dole Bananas, focusing on their tastiness. The humorous commercials featured celebrity Shingo Katori, who reprised his role in the spots at the well-attended event. A trade road show followed, launching a similarly themed in-store promotion.

Stage 3. We planned to collaborate with TV talk shows to extol the healthiness of bananas. Searching for content, we stumbled upon an online chat on a social network about the “Morning Banana Diet”, which promised weight loss from a banana and water breakfast. One of our shows triggered a fad that spread across Japan at the speed of electricity.

Stage 1. Media coverage in 27 TV programs, 84 Press articles, 2 websites.Stage 2. 27 TV programs, 39 Press articles, 106 websites.Stage 3. 64 programs (totalling 5.4 hours), 42 Press articles, 1,710,000 Google hits, 7,309 blog messages. Foreign media also picked up on the “banana craze sweeping Japan”.The total value of free media to paid media was approximately 8:1.On the CM Databank website, which runs all commercial airings in Japan, a Dole spot was selected by consumers for two consecutive months as the most popular commercial in the food category. The campaign was subsequently voted one of the Top 20 campaigns in 2008.Store shelves were repeatedly emptied of bananas in the peak summer period.Dole increased its banana sales +27% from 2007.In just months, the clock had been turned back forty years to a time when bananas were both special and highly popular.