日清カップヌードル | SURVIVE! | 2013
Make a Commercial That Old Guys Won't Understand / Nissin Cup Noodle "SURVIVE!"
In 2013, Nissin went and did something wild. A young office worker in a suit of armor charges into a Western army, shouting "Nice to meet you!" before getting blown away by a cannon. A job-hunting student gets grilled by a polar bear interviewer in a blizzard, and at the beach, a monstrous shark attacks people, demanding "likes!" It's completely absurd, yet it captures the mood of 2013 exactly as it was.
The problem
This was a time when waves of globalization — like companies making English their official language — were sweeping in, and young people were facing both the job-hunting ice age and social media fatigue. It was almost too real to laugh at, but there was still room to turn it into caricature.
The insight
It all started with one line from the client: "Make a commercial that old guys won't understand." The idea overlapped the samurai era with modern Japan, turning it into something beyond just cheering on young people — a question posed to society itself. Cup Noodle feels pretty far removed from this theme, but the line "You can't fight on an empty stomach" just barely brings it back home.
The idea
In the "Globalization" chapter, learning English becomes a battle between samurai and a Western army. In the "Job-Hunting Ice Age" chapter, the intimidating interviewer becomes a polar bear. In the "Battle Against the Real-Life Beasts" chapter, people obsessed with getting likes on social media become sharks. The struggles young people face get turned into caricature through outlandish visuals and high-quality footage.
What happened
The campaign won the AdFest Grand Lotus award. Creative director Kota Tohata commented, "I was a little worried about whether people would get it, but the response turned out to be bigger than expected." The line looking ahead to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, "Japan needs to do its best," hits differently looking back on it now.
Afterthought
It's communication that's pretty far removed from the product, and I get the doubt of "is it okay if it just becomes a talking point?" But it turned the mood of 2013 into comedy this vividly, and even won the AdFest Grand Lotus. I feel like I just watched the moment an advertisement became a record of its era.
