Summer (and steak) lovin’ in Japan

With the warmer weather approaching in Japan, MLA is all set to launch its ‘Let’s Barbie’ promotion, with a pop up store being at the centrepiece of the campaign.

The promotion aims to capture the growing consumer interest in steak and barbecuing, and having Japanese consumers associate summer with Aussie beef at a time when US beef tends to be in shorter supply.

Previous ‘Let’s Barbie’ campaigns in 2015 and 2016 performed well, especially in terms of the strong branded impact of the campaign’s television commercial. The first year of the campaign focused mainly on engagement to raise awareness of Aussie beef for barbecuing. The second year focused more on education and how consumers can barbecue with Aussie beef.

This year the emphasis will be on experience and giving consumers the opportunity to interact with Aussie steak. MLA has developed new creative, and is strengthening the activities to educate consumers on how to cook the perfect steak and will launch a pop up store.

The pop up store will be located in Tokyo’s fashionable Omotesando district for two weeks, from 6 June. At the store, consumers can watch live demonstrations on how to cook Aussie steak. Shoppers will also be introduced to the versatility of Aussie beef steak and will have the option of purchasing three types of ‘fashionable and photogenic’ steak cuts:

• ‘Beauty steak’ with dry fruits
• ‘Genki steak’ with garlic and chili
• ‘Let’s Barbie steak’ with mint and lime.

The ‘Let’s Barbie’ campaign website will form another integral part of the campaign, going live from 1 June to 31 August. It will feature:

• 30 second videos on how to cook a perfect steak by either pan-frying, grilling or with charcoal
• six ways to present steak on a plate
• a sweepstake to win Aussie beef steak set by trying the game “Cut the steak for friends” and posting the steak shot on social media.

Advertising at Omotesando station – the station closest to the pop up store and which attracts around 380,000 passersby per day – will also be used to bring awareness to the ‘Lets Barbie’ campaign and the pop-up store.

The ‘Let’s Barbie’ campaign is expected to give Australian steak an opportunity to “own summer”, where consumers associate the warmer weather with eating Aussie barbecue steak, to boost long-term sales.

More information
Miho Hanami
E: mhanami@mla.com.au