A new campaign from phone carrier au is currently promoting their Karada Manager sports and fitness mobile concierge services through the personality of a beautiful model.
“2011, Kirei no Kagi wa Iwazakisan” (Iwazaki-san — the key to beauty in 2011) allows you to register on Karada Manager to get daily health information from the eponymous “Iwazaki-san”, as well as analyze your nutritional intake and have a chance to win “luxury medical check-up tours” at a top hotel.
Au is no stranger to health-related mobile campaigns: it also runs au Smart Sports, showcasing ways to use its products in an exercise-filled lifestyle, and in late 2009 organized a mass pedometer community event through participants’ mobiles.
What’s interesting here is that they are teaming up two concepts: health with beauty. While the Karada Manager services in general target both men and women, with this campaign the focus is clearly on women, through the well-known model (AneCan’s Reiko Takagaki) fronting the commercials. There are even limited edition giveaways for some users themed around the celebrity, including ringtones from the TV ad song.
Japanese female consumers famously have a close affection models, regarding them as role-models, and purchasing their essay books and other merchandise in bulk. The implication is that if you follow Iwazaki-san’s counselling then you can look like Takagaki.
