2,000 cans sold out in 5 hours! Behind the scenes of the “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” project, winner of the ACC Award | Cross Talk

Craft beer company YO-HO Brewing Company, known for “Yona Yona Ale,” conducted a project called “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” on August 18, 2022, in celebration of the “Promise Day.”

In the “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” project, our message was to “make promises for the future.” It’s exciting to think about sharing a beer with your child when they turn 20 or making fun promises with family or partners for 10 or 20 years ahead. To turn these drinking promises into reality, we enabled reservations for “Yona Yona Ale” to be released in 10 or 20 years.

The reservation process involves placing a promise letter in a beer can-shaped time capsule and storing it for either 10 or 20 years. When the child grows up, this can serve as a reservation ticket, allowing them to toast together. This initiative transforms the rule of drinking alcohol only at the age of 20 into an opportunity to look forward to the future.

The name on the Ale will be delivered in nickname form, to preserve the atmosphere of the day the promise was made. Once released, this initiative quickly became a hot topic, resulting in the reservation of the “Yona Yona Time Capsule Can,” to end within a few hours.

Additionally, a temporary venue called the “Promise of Yona Yona Time Capsule Brewery” was opened at “Tokyo Solamachi Solamachi Square” and “Lalaport Toyosu” where visitors could create the “Yona Yona Time Capsule Can” on the spot.

The project, which achieved great success, received the “ACC Bronze Award” in the Branded Communication category at the” 63rd ACC Tokyo Creativity Awards,” Japan’s largest creative award🎉

For more details, please click here(in Japanese):https://www.ssu.co.jp/news/2023/12/13/5567/

SUNNY SIDE UP provided PR support for this project.

This time, to delve into the behind-the-scenes of the project leading up to the award, we conducted a cross-talk between Taisho (Daiji Tsukamoto), from YO-HO Brewing’s Yona Yona Future Division (Brand Strategy Unit), and Rinda (Ryutaro Hayashida) from SSU. (They call each other by their nicknames!)

We discussed the background of the “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” initiative and the behind-the-scenes of the PR.

■The keyword was “The Power of Promises.”

ーーThe background behind the implementation of “Promise of Yona Yona Ale,” could you tell us about it?

Taisho: Until now, Yona Yona Ale has been mainly targeted towards customers in their 30s and 40s. This age group often has young children and faces many challenges both in their personal and professional lives. When the project launched, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, with the gloomy news dominating headlines worldwide. So, we began to consider how we could provide people with a little hope.

The original concept of “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” was proposed by planner Neji Sato. Neji-san mentioned, “Just by making a promise to go see a movie on the weekend, you create excitement in life. If it’s a promise with someone special, it becomes even more exciting and energizing for daily life. I believe that making promises for 10 or 20 years ahead can make the future even more exciting.” I thought it was a fantastic idea, so when we were looking for partners to handle the PR for this project, we reached out to SSU.

Rinda：Thank you very much!

When creating a proposal for PR, based on the project concept, we discussed the keyword “promise” internally multiple times. Two days before presenting the proposal to YO-HO Brewing, we reset the planning we had been working on and reconsidered our approach. We continued to refine our ideas, and when we finally came up with “Promises have power,” it felt just right.

When receiving the formal request, I remember that you mentioned the keyword “promises have power” and the roadmap for information design with mass media exposure were the decisive factors. Also, you mentioned “it seems fun to work with everyone at SSU” lol

Taisho：Hahaha! We have a culture of actively expressing opinions, so I thought that by collaborating with SSU, we could enhance the plan and make it even better.

Rinda：From the kickoff, we were able to have open discussions. The enthusiasm of all the members was already quite high, and there were diverse opinions like, “There’s this perspective too, right?” or “How about this idea?” So, I quickly became convinced that there was no way this project wouldn’t succeed.

■Irregular measures involving children in beer PR

ーーWhat were the considerations in progressing the project?

Taisho：The most important consideration was the involvement of children under the age of 20 in the PR of beer.

Rinda：Involving children in alcohol-related products is strictly prohibited. Therefore, I remember being very particular about the expressions to accurately convey the feelings embedded in the core theme of this project, “promises between parents and children.”

“Is there a better way to say this?” “Maybe this expression will make more sense.” These thoughts led us to revise the press release manuscript eight times. Instead of eliminating the negatives, we focused on making the release more positive.

ーーCan you be more specific with the considerations you made when involving children in the PR?

Taisho：We were strict about not allowing children to handle beer cans with beer inside. Initially, we thought that a plan involving writing promise letters while drinking beer would be more memorable for users. However, we decided it would be better to refrain from offering beer in places where children were present.

Also, to avoid accidentally pressuring children to drink beer when they grow up, in the videos, we included scenes where children respond with a playful “No way!” to their fathers’ request of “Let’s have a beer together in 20 years!”

Rinda：At the pop-up event, we made a decision not to attract children.

Taisho：Yeah, if we had balloons, kids would probably be interested. But that’s not really what our project is about. We focused more on talking to parents. It’s important to remember that “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” is also a commitment that children won’t drink until they’re adults, so it’s not a campaign encouraging those under 20 to drink.

ーーWere there any challenges during the project?

Rinda：Finding a venue for the pop-up event was challenging.

Taisho：The project with SSU began in March 2022, and the pop-up event was scheduled for August. So, the preparation period was quite tight.

Rinda：We brainstormed a lot, focusing on activities suitable for families to create lasting memories during the last days of summer vacation. Discussions revolved around questions like, “Would a venue with a roof be better?” and “Where would people want to post on social media after attending?”

Taisho：In the end, it was great that we were able to hold the events at Tokyo Solamachi and Lalaport Toyosu, which were perfect locations.

■Achieving the sales goal in just 5 hours! It was such a big success that we had to hold an emergency meeting.

ーー“Promise of Yona Yona Ale” became a hot topic right after its release, didn’t it?

Taisho：It received an incredible response, didn’t it? The Yona Yona Time Capsules for 2,000 people were fully reserved within just 5 hours.

Rinda：Originally, we had planned for a first-come, first-served application process, aiming to reach our sales goal within two weeks. However, due to the unexpectedly high demand, we had to hold an emergency meeting. In the end, we decided to add 1,000 more cans and conduct a lottery for them.

Taisho：Before the release, we were concerned about whether we might end up with excess inventory. It turns out the PR was a great success. The results reflect our efforts to ensure that the media would also publish articles simultaneously with the release.

Rinda：I felt that our PR strategy worked really well. When we announced that the product sold out immediately, it created even more excitement. By changing the additional 1,000 cans to a lottery format, we received even more wonderful “promises” from many people. It felt like we received more than just the quantity of promises because it showed how much people cherish their commitments.

Taisho：We’ve implemented projects aimed at fans in the past, so there were hardly any negative opinions. However, this time, we heard various opinions regarding the project. Some were negative comments on the news sites, but others stepped in to clarify. Since we were able to reply responsibly to these opinions, we didn’t see the negative feedback as a bad thing. Rather, it made us feel that the project reached a different audience, thanks to publicity.

ーーThe pop-up events were also a great success. Were many of the attendees likely those who had seen the release?

Rinda：Some fans who saw the release or articles also attended the event. However, I think it’s challenging for people who haven’t tried Yona Yona Ale yet to visit the venue just based on the articles. Therefore, we focused on how to attract the attention of people passing by and planned the layout accordingly.

We set up videos and music at the booth to catch the attention of people, but the ones who seemed to enjoy themselves the most and stopped by were the ones who gave the most positive reactions. Tokyo Solamachi and Lalaport Toyosu, where we held the event, are places where families often go, so it was like the places themselves were promoting the event.

Taisho：While writing their “promise letters,” everyone had smiles on their faces, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Rinda：Looking at the results of the participant surveys, we found that over 30% of attendees had never tried Yona Yona Ale before. This shows that we were successful in expanding awareness of the product.

ーーThe release of “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” in 2032 and 2042 will be exciting!

Taisho：I think it was a huge success and a great idea to work with SSU. Thank you very much!

Rinda：Thank you so much too! I was thrilled when we received the message from everyone at YO-HO Brewing just before the release, saying “Let’s do our best together!” It really strengthened our determination to make this a success, and I was impressed by the team spirit at YO-HO.

Taisho：Thank you! Let’s do something fun together again with the same team!

The collaboration between YO-HO Brewing and SSU aiming to create enjoyable experiences, resulted in the highly successful “Promise of Yona Yona Ale” project. The memorable smiles of the two, promising “Let’s do something fun again!” truly left a lasting impression.

For articles on other projects handled by SSU, please check here.