The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
Akagi Sof' gives soft-serve's top a body: a shogun's face on legs — ACC 2025 Grand Prix
To teach Japan that Sof' is an ice cream made of only the top of soft-serve, Akagi's CM literalizes it: a stern samurai lord whose face alone walks on legs.
Akagi Nyugyo (赤城乳業)
What it had to solve
Sof' (launched 2017) is a cup ice cream made of the creamy top of a soft-serve cone — a genuinely odd proposition. For the 2025 spring flavors, the brief was to make 'only the top' instantly memorable inside a 15-second TV commercial.
How it works
Sof' is an ice cream built on a strange idea: it contains only the top of a soft-serve cone, the part many people think tastes best. After eight years of advertising, Akagi Nyugyo still needed a way to make that 'only the top' proposition land in a 15-second TV spot.
For the 2025 spring launch, Dentsu's Kansai team introduced Uesama (my lord): a stern samurai face with legs, walking upright along a riverbed and through town. The character is a literal materialization of the product — nothing but the top — and the deadpan dignity of the gag made it instantly shareable.
The result was the first Grand Prix for the character: at the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS, the film shared the top prize in the TV-CM category with Otsuka's 'THE DAY #C105' in a rare double-Grand Prix decision, with the jury calling the final vote between the two spots a historic dead heat.
Why it lands
- It turns a product attribute into a physical character, so the proposition needs no explanation.
- The surreal humor — a lord's face on legs — is memorable enough to carry a 15-second format.
- It builds a mascot the company can reuse across packaging, events and merchandise.
- The gag works on two levels: absurd on the surface, logically faithful to the product underneath.
What it did
The character became a talking point on social media, and the 15-second film was named one of two Grand Prix winners (Minister of Internal Affairs Award / ACC Grand Prix) in the TV-CM category of the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS — the strongest possible result in Japan's largest advertising award.
What you can take
To explain an unusual product proposition, don't describe it — build a character that physically embodies it; the absurdity makes the product's logic unforgettable.
Since then
Uesama became a recurring brand asset: Akagi staged a sampling event in Yokohama with Uesama and Garigari-kun, offered photo spots and social media giveaways, and in February 2026 aired a second series ('Why, my lord? Bamboo Grove Chapter' (なぜか上さま 竹林篇)) adding a new character, the town girl, for the first pudding flavor. The 2025 spot was honored at the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS in October 2025.
Sources
- 2025 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS「総務大臣賞／ACCグランプリ」ほか各賞決定！
- ACC賞「No No Girls」プロジェクトが2部門制覇、ソフとボディメンテがWフィルムグランプリに
- インパクト抜群のキャラクター「上様」も登場！「Sof'」が夏限定リニューアル
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