Shake Udon creates a new takeout market — ACC 2024 Marketing Effectiveness Grand Prix

Marugame Udon, the handmade sanuki udon chain owned by Toridoll Holdings, entered 2023 still recovering from COVID. On the first workday of January, the president handed his team a prototype cup of udon, broth and vegetables asking what they thought; it was originally meant for an upcoming drive-through store, but tasting it convinced the team it deserved a national launch.

With the launch set for 16 May 2023, the day COVID's legal status relaxed in Japan, Hakuhodo had about four months to name, position and communicate the product. The name 'Marugame Shake Udon' came quickly; the hard part was connecting it to Marugame's brand line 'this udon is alive'. Reviewing old commercials, the team noticed the signature shot showed udon dancing — so shaking became dancing, and the line became 'When the udon dances, your heart dances.'

Shake Udon launched with TV commercials featuring a cover of Kome Kome Club's 'Shake Hip!' and actress Haruka Hara, plus a summer variant and a #shakeudondance challenge. Toridoll positioned it as 'emotional takeout' — a product for people who never visit Marugame and times when they would not normally eat udon, growing the market instead of substituting for dine-in.

Within about two and a half months, Shake Udon sold 2.5 million servings between 16 May and 31 July 2023; takeout-product sales in late July were 148% of the same period a year earlier, and the product was closing in on the udon bento's cumulative 37 million servings. The 64th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS (2024) awarded it the Marketing Effectiveness Grand Prix, praising it as an idea that truly created a market.