Aquarius is a sports drink in Japan that boasts the number one share in its market category. However, the current market is stagnant due to a declining and aging population. The mission of this campaign was to create and expand the user base to people who do not usually do sports in order to increase drinking occasions for the sports drink category.

In order to solve this, our goal was to inspire people to exercise by showing them how great it is to undertake a challenge. This challenge does not necessarily need to be a sport.

Using a non athletic celebrity, we followed the obstacles he faced (previous trauma, failures, etc.) and showed the journey he took as he undertook his challenge, featuring his hard work, transformation, sense of growth, and joy.

Episodes of this journey were uploaded weekly on social and owned media.

Three celebrities were recruited to participate in the “Journey to a Positive Change” branded content. They were asked to identify a challenge they want to undertake or confront. After identifying the challenge, we provided trainers to help the celebrity overcome it, and followed them on their journeys. For example, Dante, a famous celebrity in Japan, wanted to face the challenge of the triathlon. We have followed him 198 days and upload the movie every week and his challenge were inspired and drive consumer to do the same.

This Aquarius campaign was featured in newspapers and also became a trending topic on social media.

This inspired people to undertake a new challenge in the dampened atmosphere in the wake of the Tohoku tsunami.

As a result, 14 million views were grossed over the course of 6 months for the real time documentary, Aquarius Challenge Diary.

170,000 users were inspired by the “Challenge Spirit” of the Aquarius Challenge Diary and registered for the Aquarius training menu.

40,000 people entered for the Aquarius Marathon Event and we secured a growth of users in Aquarius’s key demographic of “people who exercise.”

Product sales increased by 3.5% compared to the previous year.