MIKE SUNDA

Awards:
ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS Finalist (2019)
Webby Award Nominee - Social Media Campaign: Food & Drink (2019)

Overview:
The world’s first emoji-enabled food truck, celebrating the values that make SPAM, a meal-time favourite in Japan: its versatility and convenience. In a data-driven social activation, we at MullenLowe Group Japan designed an unforgettable mobile kitchen, where Insta-foodies experienced the fun of creating their own personalised meal with nothing more than emojis.

The Insight:
With the advent of messaging apps, visual iconography has fully integrated itself into the way web users communicate online. Emojis are ubiquitous, and on Japanese messaging app LINE, one in every ten messages sent is a sticker. All of this has redefined how we communicate on a day-to-day basis, and – when it comes to how we talk about food online – things are no different!

The Creative Idea: 
While we had always communicated the dual tenets of ‘convenience’ and ‘versatility’ when it comes to the benefits of SPAM as a product, it’s never been easy to communicate both points simultaneously. A recipe photo typically needs to focus on one or the other, but what would happen if we opened up recipe ideation and creation to the masses in a way that has never been seen before – empowering people to express their imagination easily, and in mere seconds?



The Execution:

1. Ready the social dough
Culinary culture has its second home on Instagram, where the one language that unites all foodies, is the language of emojis. So we invited our fans to share their favourite SPAM recipes without using a single word; only emojis.

2. Sautee the insights till the patterns surface
Two weeks of gathering emoji recipes helped us carefully curate a menu of favourite ingredients that would become the center of our food truck run.

3. Add some wheels to the mix
Nothing says summer quite like a food truck. But we were not going to settle for just any chuck wagon. We designed SPAMOJI- the first-ever mobile kitchen in a colorful Citroen that accepted orders only with emojis. While doing the rounds across Tokyo, we parked at the season's coolest summer carnival at The Daikanyama T-site.

4. Garnish it with a winning consumer experience
Now for the finishing touch! We designed a one-of-a-kind CX that ensured SPAMOJI made it to the top trending food activations for the season.