Japan's economy is in a slump. Spirits are down, and so is consumption.

PARCO, one of Japan's leading department stores, needed an idea that would attract customers to its New Year's sale and brighten up the country.

Actor Ken Matsudaira, known as "Matsuken" and loved by men and women of all ages, is famous for his samba dancing in sparkling costumes.

The idea was to attract people to PARCO for the New Year’s sale and brighten up Japan by having Matsuken, who makes everyone smile, pops up in PARCOs across the country. So, we created a 3D model of Matsuken using volumetric capture and photogrammetric techniques to feature him in an integrated campaign consisting of a nationwide AR tour, a TV commercial, AR coasters that summon a 3D Matsuken, shopping bags, posters, and collectibles. The official accounts of each store created a buzz by updating Matsuken's whereabouts every day during the sale.

Since PARCO's main target audience is social media natives, we developed a strategy to create buzz with AR experiences to drive in-store traffic during the New Year sale. Based on the insight that Matsuken-related content tends to generate buzz, the campaign was designed around the Matsuken AR Parade, in which Matsuken travels around Japan in AR, popping up for a day at each PARCO store across Japan. Visitors shared the campaign on social media, creating a buzz, which in turn created a cycle that attracted even more traffic.

The campaign website was open to the public from December 12, 2023 to January 14, 2024, and the commercial was aired on TV networks nationwide and major social media during the same period. (In consideration of the earthquake that struck Japan on January 1, the commercial was not aired on January 2 and 3.)

The Matsuken AR Parade visited 17 PARCO stores across the country for one day each from January 2 to 14, 2024, during the New Year's sale.

During the same period, four types of AR coasters and collectibles were distributed, and posters and other OOH were displayed in stores.

Due to high sales of merchandise, the pop-up store is still running as of February 1.

100M impressions

500,000 likes

Earned media value 300M JPY (2M USD)

140% sales YoY (Shibuya PARCO), 120% visitors YoY

Positive comments praising the campaign flooded social media after the first run of the TV commercial, and the buzz continued throughout the New Year's sale as the campaign was picked up by various media outlets, including all major TV stations in the country.

The Matsuken AR Parade became a huge hit, especially among young women, and brought PARCO unprecedented success in terms of both buzz and sales.