With one simple idea, "Wrap a lettuce in a newspaper ad and it becomes a face," it became a hot topic on social networking sites. Many people tried it, and it succeeded in hacking the inside of ordinary household refrigerators and turning them into media. This is a highly expandable idea that can transform various places into media with a single piece of newspaper.

Ajinomoto Co., Ltd. wanted to expand sales of "CookDo ®︎" oyster sauce, and created a recipe for "instant disappearing lettuce (boiled lettuce)," which anyone can easily enjoy oyster sauce, and disseminated it through commercials and other media.

On the other hand, lettuce is also a vegetable with many problems from the viewpoint of food loss, as about half of the respondents to a survey said that they have discarded lettuce because they could not finish eating it, and that they have trouble preserving lettuce because it gets sore so quickly.

This is where we turned our attention.

This is a project that can solve the food loss problem of lettuce while at the same time expanding the usage (recipes) of the product. In other words, we decided to realize a measure that would both sell the product and be good for the world.

"The Lettuce Head Wrap"

This newspaper advertisement wraps lettuce to make it look like a human face. The idea was inspired by the fact that lettuce lasts longer when it is wrapped in newspaper and stored in the refrigerator (because the newspaper protects the lettuce from drying out and keeps the moisture content at a reasonable level). By creating a suspenseful and shocking visual of a face inside a refrigerator, we aimed to create an advertisement that would make people want to try it and post it on social networking sites (and spread the word).

In addition, By filling people’s fridges with the face of the actor in the TVCMs, the brand was constantly on people’s minds.

From the QR code on the paper, you can see a recipe for tasty lettuce using "CookDo ®︎" oyster sauce.

Maximize exposure with minimal media spend.

The ads were placed in local newspapers, particularly in regions famous for producing lettuce in Japan. While keeping media costs low, the visual impact of "a human face in a refrigerator" was intended to generate secondary spread via SNS and other media. The first visual was a commercial featuring a popular actor. The first visual was an unusual visual featuring the actors featured in the commercial: A popular actor's face inside a refrigerator. The second commercial was created in collaboration with an agricultural cooperative and featured a real lettuce farmer. By communicating with parties concerned with the food loss issue of lettuce, the media could easily pick up the story from a social good perspective.

During the airing of the commercial promoting "Instant Extinguished Lettuce", a lettuce recipe using oyster sauce, newspaper advertisements featuring the actors from the commercial were placed in one local newspaper in Nagano Prefecture, a well-known lettuce-producing region. As the second phase, newspaper ads featuring two real lettuce farmers were placed in two local newspapers in the respective production areas. In addition, the lettuce they actually produced was wrapped in newspapers with their own faces on it and sold at the market.

The visual of "a popular actor's face inside a refrigerator" became a major topic of conversation, especially on SNS. It was picked up by online news and TV programs, and generated a great deal of excitement. In addition, many people actually wanted to wrap lettuce, and the newspaper ads were sold at high prices on auction sites. It succeeded in hacking refrigerators all over Japan.

In the second project, in collaboration with lettuce farmers, lettuce sales floors were hacked. The teaming up with a party suffering from the food loss problem proved to be a success, and the news was widely exposed in newspapers and TV programs as socially relevant news.

As a result, exposure was gained in 189 web and 6 TV media. CookDo®︎ oyster sauce, which continued to make its presence felt through a series of measures, achieved the No. 1 share in the industry.

Newspaper advertising is the main focus of the measure. And the fact that newspaper ads are deployed in a variety of locations, such as refrigerators and vegetable counters, is also a good match for this category.