Targeting PARCO's main target demographic of socially native women in their 20s and early 30s, the campaign centered on an AR parade that invites people to try it in store and share it on social media during the New Year’s sale.

Featuring Matsuken, an icon of good fortune with a strong social media presence especially among young women, the campaign created a buzz with a festive tone and brought PARCO unprecedented success in its history.

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.

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 and drove in-store traffic 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.

To promote the New Year's sale, a traditional Japanese event also known as the "first purchase of the year,” we tapped Matsuken, a social media sensation known as a bringer of good luck. We created a campaign that is relevant to the Japanese market by crossing traditional Japanese culture with online culture, insight, and digital technology.