Branded content is very widely evolved in Japan. From manga, to TV shows to music recording all forms of media are used. There has also been fast growth of branded Facebook and other social media platforms. Therefore, the problem is not branding content, but doing so in a way that stands out in a crowded market. Increasingly branded platforms are cross media and have ongoing ‘consumer involvement’ with interactive consumer programmes. The use of branded gaming content is becoming very normal.

As people started participating in the campaign and cooperated with each other on the Facebook fan page to decode the hints, dozens of pages were created on one of the biggest BBS sites in the world called ‘2 channel’. Thousands of comments regarding the campaign were exchanged, including the ones that try to cheat others. Some other people disclosed there ideas on their blogs to show their power of deduction. Even after announcing the winner, many participants thanked the brand character on Facebook for providing the game, and most of them requested the second round.

From the client’s side, we succeeded in increasing the number of fans on Facebook page of the brand by 200% up to 120,000. It was ranked as the top growth rate fan page among all Japanese brand fan pages. The campaign became a huge topic among the target. From the consumers’ point of view, many users not just participated in the campaign but also actively involved in the event and talked about the campaign apart from the brand’s platform. About 20% of the fans posted their comments, links and ‘likes’ on Facebook regarding the topics of the treasure hunting campaign and a lot of discussion pages were created on one of the biggest BBS sites in the world called ‘2 channel’.