Sagami's LOVE DISTANCE: real lovers run 1,000 km to a 0.02 mm reveal — ADFEST Cyber GP

Sagami Original 0.02 is an ultra-thin condom, but selling it through ordinary advertising was nearly impossible in Japan, where TV rarely aired condom commercials and the category defaulted to jokes. The manufacturer wanted recognition and a message it could be proud of, so it turned the product's defining number — 0.02 mm — into a story about the distance between two people in love.

GT Inc. ran a 'blind branded entertainment' campaign called LOVE DISTANCE. Newspaper and magazine ads invited couples in real long-distance relationships to audition, and from more than 200 applicants a Tokyo woman and a Fukuoka man were chosen. For about a month they ran toward each other, and their progress, blogs and nightly video calls were broadcast live on the campaign website, with viewers able to send support.

The client's name stayed hidden until Christmas Eve, when the couple embraced at Osaka Castle. At that instant the site revealed Sagami Original 0.02: their 1,000 km journey had closed their distance to 0.02 mm. The story, already covered by TV wide shows as a national mystery, then ran as a commercial in Japanese golden time — reportedly the first condom CM ever broadcast there.

LOVE DISTANCE won a Cannes Film Gold, the first for a Japanese entry in 13 years, along with a Cannes PR Gold, the ADFEST 2009 Cyber Grand Prix and a D&AD Yellow Pencil. adobo Magazine, reporting GT Inc.'s Grand CUP at the 2009 Intercontinental Advertising Awards, said the campaign had been a huge hit in Japan and that sales soared once Sagami's name was revealed.