- Brand returns to its roots with a real-world gifting activation and a national on-pack promotion celebrating the joy of feeling lucky.
- Campaign marks first fully integrated campaign from Not Normal Group.
Wasabi, the popular Japanese and East Asian-inspired food brand, has launched a bold new national on-pack campaign, Lucky Dinners, by All Things, RCP and Unfinished. The campaign celebrates the simple joy of feeling lucky at mealtimes, drawing inspiration from Lunar New Year traditions where the number eight symbolises good fortune across many East Asian cultures.
At the heart of the campaign is a new on-pack promotion across Wasabi’s Meal for One and Feast for One grocery range, giving shoppers the chance to win £8, £88 or £888. The promotion is live now across UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Morrisons, with full terms and conditions available at wasabiwin.co.uk.
To bring the spirit of Lucky Dinners to life beyond the supermarket aisle, All Things and RCP developed a one-off Lunar New Year gifting moment in Camden Market where the brand’s story first began. Fronted by creator Max Balegde, one of the UK’s most recognisable creators known for spontaneous gifting, the activation saw members of the public surprised with festive red envelopes as a celebratory gesture, capturing the joy of gifting and connection that sits at the heart of the campaign.
Set against the backdrop of a striking Wasabi “Wonder Wall” installation, the gifting moment tapped into the cultural symbolism of Lunar New Year and the universal thrill of an unexpected treat, creating content that feels warm, human and rooted in real life.
Bringing Balegde to Camden is a defining full-circle moment for Wasabi which started as a fresh food market stall in Camden more than 20 years ago, before opening its first official London shop in 2003. That early stall selling sushi and bento food in Camden was the seed for what grew into the UK-wide sushi and hot bento meal brand, whose food is enjoyed at home and at work today.
Wasabi is a nostalgic fixture for Max too, making frequent cameos in his earliest content, usually as a Katsu Curry, very much in hand and rarely out of shot.
This campaign also marks a milestone for Not Normal Group (NNG). For the first time, its content studio All Things, creative agency RCP, and media agency Unfinished have collaborated end-to-end on a single campaign, delivering the group’s first fully integrated approach since launching last summer. The digital-first campaign spans TikTok, YouTube and Meta, with 30”,10” and 6” formats being rolled out.
To scale the idea, RCP is activating a network of mid and micro creators, extending the spirit of Lucky Dinners into feeds nationwide. The campaign partners with culturally plugged-in talent, translating the joy of feeling lucky into authentic, native content designed to travel far beyond the initial moment.
Running for 12 weeks from 11th February, Lucky Dinners is Wasabi’s biggest grocery campaign to date. The work moves away from traditional prize-led mechanics and instead focuses on emotional reward, celebrating moments of luck, generosity and shared joy, whether that’s opening a Wasabi pack at dinner time or encountering an unexpected surprise in the street.
Annabel Stephens, Head of Grocery Marketing at Wasabi said: “The Lucky Dinners promotion and activity is designed to engage shoppers and add extra excitement and value during a key period for the category. We hope it will inspire more people to discover Wasabi and enjoy our range of chilled meals. It’s been a lot of fun working with All Things, RCP, Unfinished, and influencer Max Badedge on bringing this to life”
Chris Bunyan, Co-CEO of Unfinished, said: “The team at Wasabi is always looking at ways to deliver something unexpected and captivating in promoting their growing ready meal business. We’ve a great working relationship on media and it felt like a natural extension to join forces with the creative and production expertise from the rest of the Not Normal Group to bring the new Lucky Dinners campaign to life.”
Dom Sykes, Creative Director at All Things said: “This fun campaign really shows what can happen when creativity, media and production (and clients) all pull together. The team, with Aimee Cleaver leading the charge, built an activation that moves naturally from on-pack to the street and into social, made to travel at the speed of feeds. It’s generous in spirit and designed to reach people in a genuinely human way.”
Source: All Things
You must be logged in to post a comment Login