In order to create additional consumer interest and to prevent viewer fatigue, Japanese manufacturers often simultaneously run multiple TV ads that are linked through a common story and characters. Kanebo, which is one of Japan's largest cosmetics and bodycare companies, is presently running such a campaign for its body soap brand Naive. It centers on the various members of a single family.
In the ads, Kanebo indirectly links its proposition of "pure and wholesome soap" to this clean-cut family, whose members energetically pursue dreams we can all identify with: the little boy wants to be a superhero, the sister wants to be dancer, the father wants to strike it rich, and the mother dreams of success as an inventor.
Naive is an everyday brand and the target is the typical housewife. Every mom is familiar with kinds of dreams kids and husbands have (to say nothing of her own) so the pursuit of dreams is a great way to emotionally connect with these gatekeepers. Kanebo's basic message is that it's good to pursue your dreams with vigor. Work hard, play hard, and work up a sweat in the process. Then clean yourself up with Kanebo's pure and wholesome soap, Naive.
Each execution is a slice of life highlighting one family member. All feature a clip where that member is sweating up a storm in pursuit of his or her dream. And each cuts directly from the sweat scene to one in the tub where the grime is being soaped off in a vigorous and satisfying way. The main copy reads "play well, wash well," and all of the commercials end with a shot of the entire range of Naive products overlaying one of the family shouting out the product name.
You can watch all of them here. (Wait for the clouds to come up and click the one containing the letters "CM.")
These commercials are clever in that every viewer realizes that not every dream is realistic and that the vigor in which people involve themselves in their dreams can sometimes be comical. But people chase dreams nonetheless, and this pursuit itself can be endearing. (For instance, the mother is working on a prototypically Goldbergian invention—a bicycle-powered device to beat the dust out of futons. It's totally quixotic, but who among us hasn't dreamed of developing a ground-breaking, yet totally unrealistic product?).
So we watch this family and smile. They're wholesome and endearing (might I say naive?) and in a way, they're just like every family we know. Consequently, on the emotional level, Kanebo succeeds in connecting directly with every Japanese housewife. In the commoditized world of soap products, this is a good first step.
* In Japanese, the word "naive" carries the nuance of "pure" or "wholesome," more so than "credulous."
* Copyrights to the above TV commercial, and all others shown on this site, are the property of the organizations and creators which produced them.
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