森永製菓 ダース | 祝25周年篇 | 2018
Inserting a Little Weirdness / Morinaga "DARS" 25th Anniversary Edition
This is what 15 seconds can do. The only thing they really want to say is "DARS turns 25." If it also happens to get across that "December 12 is DARS Day," that's a lucky bonus. But they don't explain how tasty it is, or how many pieces are in a box, or anything like that. And I think that's exactly right.
The problem
DARS launched in 1993 and turned 25 in 2018. With the catchphrase "It's DARS because there are 12 pieces," it's a product that's been loved by many people for a long time. Masaki Suda, who serves as the brand's image character, was also born in 1993, the same year as DARS — and there's a fun connection in that if you read "DARS" backwards, it becomes "SUDA."
The insight
It's this one shot. There might be about one person in a hundred million who dangles a bag of DARS to soothe a baby, or a student who brings DARS to their school entrance ceremony. But surely no kid has ever run a relay race carrying DARS instead of a baton. The sheer wrongness of that scene — composited just a little too perfectly — is incredible. That one shot is what tells you, "Oh, I'm allowed to laugh at this as a joke," and lets you relax and enjoy it. Making it crystal clear to the viewer what mode they should be in really matters.
The idea
A short, snappy structure that makes it look like DARS has been present at every scene of someone's life. The moment of birth, the entrance ceremony, the school sports day — DARS gets inserted into all of them. Within 15 seconds, the scenes switch at a brisk pace, and it ends cleanly with the message "Happy 25th Anniversary."
What happened
To mark the product's 25th anniversary, the campaign ran commercials starting in October 2018, aiming to build awareness and get people talking in the lead-up to "DARS Day" on December 12.
Afterthought
Wait, Masaki Suda was only 25 at the time...?
