Dole’s most supreme ranked banana in Japan is the “GOKUSEN”, meaning the ultimate banana in Japanese. It is extra sweet, delicious and most importantly the best nutritious energy supply for all marathoners. Dole was going to donate 91,000 bananas for the TOKYO MARATHON 2014 runners, but Dole wanted to do more.

To brand the “GOKUSEN” banana, the ultimate of all bananas.

ultimate banana × ultimate reward = BANANA TROPHY

The trophy that all runners can wish for, but only few can grasp. This trophy had the marathoners’ name, finish time and cheers from SNS friends printed directly onto the curved “GOKUSEN” banana, using a special printer and edible ink. The world’s one and only golden trophy that the runner would be sure to love and share onto their SNS. Every “BANANA TROPHY” was ripe, bright and unique.

Buzz like, “The golden trophy you can peel!”, “Eat it right after you share it!”, “The banana too precious to eat!” swept the web with over 720,000 shares. The “BANANA TROPHY” was broadcast even on the national news. Media cost was zero, but the total coverage was worth well over 1,100,000 USD, reaching more than 10,000,000 people.

Through this idea a market survey showed that:

-95.3% changed their impression of Dole to extremely good

-83.5% considered buying “GOKUSEN”, the ultimate banana.

-Dole’s “GOKUSEN” became the ultimate banana in both name and reality, not only to the runners but to the rest of Japan as well.

36,000 Tokyo marathoners challenge a special Facebook lottery before the race, only of which limited 200 runners could win and own a “BANANA TROPHY”. Once they win, the lottery winners only have to run the race.

When the runner crosses the finish line, the TOKYO MARATHON official RFID on the marathoners shoe will be detected by a special “BANANA TROPHY” web system. Which then automatically sends a “JUST FINISHED TOKYO MARATHON 2014 !” post onto the runners Facebook.

The runners’ friends can congratulate their finish and comment back through Facebook, and press the like button.

All the feedback is collected through the web system, which transforms into the golden “BANANA TROPHY”.

The trophy had the marathoners’ name, finish time and cheers from SNS friends printed directly onto the ripe “GOKUSEN” banana, right at the finish line. By linking a specially constructed printer using edible ink, to the web.

Buzz like, “The banana is too precious to eat!” swept the web media and SNS with over 720,000 shares. The “BANANA TROPHY” was shown even on the largest national TV news and newspaper in Japan. Media cost was zero, but the total coverage was worth well over 1,100,000 USD, reaching more than 28,000,000 people in total.

A national market survey showed that,

95.3% changed their impression of Dole to extremely good

83.5% strongly considered buying “GOKUSEN”, the ultimate banana.

Not only to the runners but to the whole nation, Dole’s “GOKUSEN” became the ultimate banana in both name and reality.