First cut open a real DOLE banana, and remove the fruit. Then insert thin micro LED chips, a GPS tracker, batteries and a slightly smaller DOLE banana back inside the peel.

The marathoner’s race time, heart rate and real-time cheers from Twitter were displayed on the banana peel, supporting the marathoners to cross the finish line. Once finished, after congratulating the runner and displaying his finish time, a message “EAT ME!” appeared to encourage his appetite.

We created a concept film and a webpage that introduces the device and the nutrition information of DOLE bananas.

Runners attached the WEARABLE_BANANA on their wrist and actually ran the whole marathon.

And of course the marathoners ate the WEARABLE_BANANA after they crossed the finish line, providing not just race data but also potassium and energy!

The web went bananas!

“Forget the Apple Watch!” “The World's First Smartfruit!” Spread not only within Japan but to 178 countries!

Media impression was worth over 4,400,000 USD, reaching more than 45,000,000 people in Japan alone. Sales of the DOLE Banana shot up to 193% more than before the race, all owing to the WEARABLE_BANANA.

DOLE was a sponsor for TOKYO MARATHON 2015, and wanted to stand out as a banana brand, aiming specifically towards the marathoners. But the banana market in Japan is competitive and the market is crowded.

Recently the running world has dramatically changed with “wearable” tracking devices, starting from the Fuelband, Jawbone, Fitbit and others, with the upcoming news of the Apple Watch soon to be released in early 2015. To finish a marathon, recording running data is essential to all marathoners nowadays.

So we combined this insight with the banana.

WEARABLE_BANANA

Create the worlds’ first edible wearable! A fitness running tracker that can be digested after the race. Made from a real DOLE banana, using the whole peel and fruit.

And even customizing the device specifically for TOKYO MARATHON 2015, which no other wearable can do.

This was a wearable no runner could ignore.