..Best marketing campaign in Japan: ロッテ Fit's ダンスコンテスト..

How far can marketing go in Japan? 

I blogged about this back in April 2009 but since the article is not online anymore, I'll update it here

Do you know Lotte?

It is a Japanese-South korean group in the food industry , world-known for its Koala biscuits (コアラのマーチ) and many other candies

At that time, the company created a new chewing gum brand called Fit's and launched with popular idols such as 佐々木希 (Sasaki Nozomi) and partners such as Youtube a series of TV commercials to encourage people to participate in their dance contest, ロッテ Fit's ダンスコンテスト  (Lotte Fit's Dance Contest).

The dance contest as little to do with Fit's chewing gum since participants are not requested to talk about it and don't even need to buy it!
But here lies the power of Japanese marketing: creating viral marketing buzz with the dance and choregraphy

Here is the first video

What I liked back then is the diversity of the entries: all the clichés of Japan in one contest!
Gyarus, maids, robots, but also traditional women in kimono, etc...

Here is my selection

In order:
Gyaru - Maids - Futsu style - Office lady & Salaray man - Salary man
School girls - Sport uniform - Pompom girls - Little Koda Kumi - Wedding & Kimono
Kendoka - Karateka - Hip hop - Mori style - Nurses
Alluring - Belly dancers - Gaijin - 3D - Robot

The contest had a huge success, and when I checked its website last week, I discovered that they have been doing 4 seasons of it, the last one just ended this summer

What changed today?
Well it is still the same tune and still based on a dance context, but in addition to new idols, I have to say the winning process is more elaborated now:

【共演者賞】
厳正なる審査のうえ、2組にそれぞれ100万円
【再生回数ベスト5】
再生回数の1～5位までに、それぞれ 100万円、50万円、30万円、20万円、10万円
【イイネ！賞】
「イイネ！」を最も集めた人に100万円

Translation:
Group performers
After strict evaluation, the 2 best groups get 1 000 000 yens each (13 000 USD)
Hit counters
1st place gets 1 000 000 yens (13 000 USD)
2nd place gets 500 000 yens (6 500 USD)
3rd place gets 300 000 yens (4 000 USD)
4th place gets 200 000 yens (2 500 USD)
5th place gets 100 000 yens (1 300 USD)
Like counter
The video that has the most "Likes" get 1 000 000 yens (13 000 USD)


You too can learn how to dance it

Follow this link: How to Fit's dance

And if you want some more Fit's, here is the link for
entries for Season 4...

And the link for winners of Season 4

I personnaly don't like this year's winners, but well I guess that's the law of popularity on Internet