Japanese marketing campaign puts idol group HKT48 in ‘selfie’ videos

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Japan’s AKB48 is the biggest pop idol group in terms of CD sales. So it’s only natural for companies and brands to try leverage that marketing power in their promotions. Google Plus did so once before, as did game developer Nijibox with the band’s Indonesian sister group JKT48.

And now sweets manufacturer Lotte, famous for its signature Ghana chocolate, is getting in on the action as well. The company has a new promotion called Lotte x HKT48 Jidori 48. ‘Jidori’ means ‘selfie’ in Japanese, and HKT48 stands for Hakata48, another branch of the huge idol group.

On a special site dedicated to this new campaign, you can find videos of the group’s 39 members, where each one poses as if they are feeding you chocolate. Users can cast their vote for their favorite video, and the most popular idol will win a TV commercial all by herself. In that commercial she will call out a name of one lucky user who will be chosen by lottery. The campaign has proven quite popular already, and in the first three days after launch there were around 2.7 million votes.

Whether we like it or not, ‘selfies’ are an important part of self-expression for many young people in Japan. These videos by HKT48 are all selfies, with idols using lots of different ideas to make their own video stand out from the rest.

To learn more about this unique campaign, check out the TV commercial below.