Smiles for All

Maruchan knew they had already won the hearts – and appetites – of ramen lovers. They now sought to grow the category beyond college students and reach new consumers while maintaining their heritage and kawaii traits.

To grow market share for the food brand, we had to find consumers with a similar profile to our core audience. Cue the working mom. While she enjoys cooking at home and would prefer healthy meals to convenient ones, her busy lifestyle and commitment to family time often forces her to cut down on the time she spends preparing meals.

To appeal to our new target audience, we wanted messaging that would frame Maruchan’s easy-to-prepare products as the key to spending less time in the kitchen and more time with family. From this, Maruchan “Brings Smiles to the Table” was born and then deployed across broadcast, social and web in places working moms would see it.

We created a more playful, modern experience highlighting family time. While always staying true to kawaii, the site features a range of products from traditional favorites to new innovations. Leveraging the Maruchan story reinforced the brand’s focus on consistency and quality, while its new look and feel made introducing new flavors and innovations feel organic.

We crafted a social tone and voice that spoke to working moms in a way that felt not only authentic and natural, but fun and engaging. To accomplish the overarching goal of bringing family together, we talked up how our easy-to-make products allowed her to spend less time cooking and more time with loved ones.

Our creative platform of “Bringing Smiles to the Table” coupled emotional elements like family time with passion points like great taste and convenience.

“Dinner Conversations” (seen below) showcased both the appetizing nature of the product and its ability to bring you and your family closer. In Japan, slurping is a compliment — an indicator that the meal is delicious. A second spot, “So Quick,” demonstrated that not only is Maruchan easy to make, but the addition of just a few simple ingredients allow Mom to show off her culinary skills while providing a complete, healthy meal.