Client: Yutaka

Growing brand share of voice through a multi-channel PR campaign

86

earned media coverage

20

broadcast slots

27m

total reach

Yutaka are the pioneers of Japanese cuisine in the UK, bringing ingredients like sushi rice, soba noodles and katsu curry sauce to our kitchens for almost 40 years. Whilst they have national distribution in all major grocery stores, brand recognition and recall has historically been less strong. 

 

With familiar restaurant brands like Itsu and Wagamama joining the aisles, Yutaka wanted a creative fame PR campaign to elevate their brand awareness in the UK, targeting everyday-foodies-with-families. 

 

With a full-spread activation across earned media, broadcast, social and influencer, this wasn’t just a KPI-busting campaign (on all channels), but also achieved a 4% uplift on Share of Voice (SoV). 

The brief

It started with a competitive pitch. Yutaka wanted to push past their always on approach and find an agency partner who could create a big impactful and meaningful moment that would deliver on elevating brand presence, increase brand awareness and create a positive brand image. 

 

It was open-ended, so we did go big, and we went bold; a multi-channel creative campaign, centred around an idea that broke the rules of sushi formality, designed to encourage the nation’s foodies to become more playful with the ingredients at home. 

Creativity & execution

The idea at the heart of the campaign - which had all of the *ahem* ingredients - was to make celebrity sculpture-portraits (each with a sushi-pun name) using the brand’s sushi range. We named the campaign #SushiMe. 

 

Our word-play long-list shortened to a mix of the funniest-names and the most distinctive ‘looks’:  

  • from Film and Music: Benedict Cucumber-batch, Ed-amame Sheeran, and Eel-ton John 

  • England footballers Herring Kane and Bukayo Saké (it was the start of the 2024 Euros after all) 

  • and (unashamedly selected to give TV coverage a good shot): Dermot Roe’Leary, Alison Salmon-d and Lorraine Kelp-y 

 

We chose to anchor the campaign launch around International Sushi Day. And to help maximise media sell-in further, we enlisted the support of some known partners; food artist Michelle Wibowo, celebrity ambassador and Paralympian Kadeena Cox, and a collection of foodie, and family, TikTok and Instagram micro influencers.  

 

Results & impact

We exceeded all client fame KPIs, delivering a high level of brand prominence across the channel mix – even on BBC News where brand mentions are often a struggle. Collectively, this campaign helped to drive a 4% uplift in online Share of Voice for Yutaka. 

Broadcast: 

5 TV segments including Sky News and Lorraine, plus 15 radio slots including Greatest Hits, Heart and BBC Regional News – delivering a total audience reach of 5.37m. 

 

Earned media:

86 pieces of earned media coverage across national news, regional news and lifestyle media titles – delivering a total estimated coverage views of 16.06m.

 

Influencer partnerships:

Between Kadeena and our collective of foodie and family micro influencers, the campaign was amplified further by 1.35m.

 

Social media:

A campaign takeover across Yutaka’s Facebook, Instagram and TikTok channels saw organic and paid impressions reach 4.28m.

 

Looking for a touch of fame to raise your brand profile?

Let’s talk

hello@wearebottle.com