Every year 30% more foreign travelers visit Japan. Looking for local flavors, more and more foreigners are visiting Japanese-style Izakaya bars. For Suntory, it was a great opportunity to introduce draft beer, which is only available from tap. However, it’s difficult to place an order at Izakaya bars without speaking Japanese. Our mission was to get them to order by name and memorize it during their stay and for them to take home the experience of drinking Suntory’s draft beer.

As the first touch point of Beer-lingual among foreign travelers, we decided to collaborate with a free mobile wi-fi app service used by more than 1.4 million visitors. When the traveler used the wi-fi service in an area where there are many bars and restaurants, the app automatically identified the home language of the traveler and showed the Beer-lingual phrase in that language. Next, the app used Google Maps to guide the traveler to the nearest establishment serving Suntory’s draft beer. There would be Beer-lingual posters and beer mats inside these establishments, so that the visitor could order Suntory’s draft beer by name even if they didn’t speak a word of Japanese.