From the AR experience to the digital signage, posters, and shopping bags, every element of the campaign was designed to create powerful impact in outdoor environments to attract visitors to PARCO stores.

PARCO, one of Japan's leading department stores, has been creating brand communications that are cutting-edge, yet reverent to Japanese culture for many years. A famous period drama actor, Ken Matsudaira, also known by the nickname "Matsuken," became internationally known as a singer with his smash hit "Matsuken Samba". His performances are a fusion of traditional Japanese plays and modern entertainment, and have become part of Japanese culture, loved by people of all ages and performed at festivals and events. PARCO's campaign featuring Matsuken was unexpected yet relevant, and the playful experience of Matsuken popping up in AR was refreshing and surprising to the Japanese public.

The New Year sale is one of the most important events of the year for Japanese retailers.

With online shopping becoming increasingly mainstream after the pandemic, PARCO, one of Japan's leading department stores with 17 stores nationwide, needed a campaign to drive in-store traffic of their main target audience, women in their 20s and early 30s, for the New Year's sale.

Since Parco's main target audience is social media natives, we designed AR experiences featuring Matsuken, a popular actor among young women, as the main character to generate buzz and drive in-store traffic.

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.

The campaign consists of two AR experiences featuring a 3D model of Matsuken digitized with volumetric capture and photogrammetric technology:

Matsuken AR Parade is an AR experience where visitors can enjoy a "parade" of Matsuken singing and dancing samba, which is activated by scanning a QR code in store with a dedicated app.

The QR code was valid only for the day and was posted at only one of the 17 PARCO stores across the country each day during the New Year sale to realize Matsuken's “AR national tour” where he pops up in a different city every day.

The AR coaster is an Instagram filter that allows users to scan a QR code printed on a coaster and have Matsuken appear at your table, dancing and posing for you. 4 different coasters were distributed at restaurants in PARCO during the sale.