- Grand Prix Goes to "MINI COUPE: THE HUNTING MISSION", Adult Tag Ad Campaign Fusing Real and Virtual Elements -

D2C Inc. has announced award-winning creations for the "11th Mobile Ad Awards", the advertising awards designed to further develop and promulgate advertising and marketing using mobile technology.

The "Mobile Ad Awards", held for the 11th time under the theme of "+ Mobile (plus Mobile)", targets mobile ads, ad campaigns, and marketing communications implemented using the various types of mobile terminals for the period from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, with entries in the two sectors of "Marketing Category" and "Creative Category". The winning creations underwent a strict screening process by the "Mobile Ad Awards Selection Committee", a group of nine luminaries from the advertising, marketing, and creative fields, and a total of 12 creations were selected for the Grand Prix and category awards.

As a result of the judges' screening, the "11th Mobile Ad Awards" Grand Prix was awarded to the "MINI COUPE: THE HUNTING MISSION" (MINI Japan (BMW Group Japan)). This creation targeted the 23 wards of Tokyo, with an actual "MINI COUPE" offered as a prize over a nine-day period in a customer participation marketing campaign plan. It used smart phones and other social media to fuse real and virtual elements designed to appeal to adults, registering about 430,000 PVs on a special site, as well as about 23,000 app downloads, more than 3,000 Likes on Facebook, and more than 8,000 related Tweets. This skillful use of mobile device characteristics had a major impact on planning, contributed to brand building, and won plaudits for its game feel and impressive scale. The result was selection for the Grand Prix, beating out all other entries. This creation also won awards in the Marketing Category for "Best Campaign" and "Best Branding".

In addition, in the Marketing Category, the "Japan Taxi Service App" (Nikko Data Service Co., Ltd.) won for "Best Effectiveness" and "Best Use of Technology", "Stop Leaning Apps" (Lion Corporation) for "Best Use of Application", "Supporting Gyaru Mama! Mama Recipes' " (Ajinomoto Co., Inc.) for "Best Use of Website", and "Carlsberg Social & Coupon Platform" (Suntory Holdings Limited) for "Best Innovation". Furthermore, in the Creative Category, "The World Face Games" (Panasonic Corporation) won for "Best Application" and "Good Job, Me!" (STAFF SERVICE HOLDINGS) for "Best Web Site".

In this year's "11th Mobile Ad Awards", the vast majority of entries utilized the smart phone, with many showing multiple methodologies spreading to GPS or social media. Increased game feel, two-way interaction, convenience, etc., showed further advances, with a general rise in quality of the creations entered. On the other hand, the Selection Committee noted that, with the strengthening demand for technology and novelty, there is also a need for a return to the basics of marketing, to link more effectively to suitable target setting and integration.

D2C will hold the awards ceremony for the "11th Mobile Ad Awards" on July 12 (Thursday) at the "Palace Hotel Tokyo". As part of its activities to further vitalize the mobile ad market, D2C intends to continue holding these annual "Mobile Ad Awards" in the future to promote the spread and development of advertising and marketing that utilize mobile devices.

For an overview of the prizewinning creations for the "11th Mobile Ad Awards", please visit the following URLs.

English: http://www.d2c.co.jp/en/news/2012/20120604-1373.html

Simplified Chinese: http://www.d2c.co.jp/cn/news/2012/20120604-1374.html

About D2C

Established on June 1, 2000 as a joint venture among NTT DOCOMO INC., Dentsu Inc., and NTT Advertising Inc., D2C is the world's first mobile advertising/marketing company. Under the slogan of "No Wireless, No Marketing" around the wireless domain, D2C promotes itself in three main business areas, including an "advertising and marketing business" providing one-stop service for handling of advertising in DOCOMO media and all other types of media, and for proposal and implementation of integrated digital marketing, a "consumer business" for development and provision of consumer-oriented apps and media content", and an "overseas business" for advertising and marketing operations mainly in Asian countries. D2C is headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its CEO is Takayuki Hoshuyama.

About the "Mobile Ad Awards"

The "Mobile Ad Awards" have been held annually since 2002 for the purpose of the healthy development and dissemination of ads and marketing using mobile devices. These awards have the longest history of any focusing on mobile devices, and present the "now" and "future possibilities" for the world of mobile ads and marketing.

URL: http://www.mobileadawards.com/english.html