Aeon Group, the largest retailer in Japan that includes the nationwide and major regional supermarkets Aeon Retail, Mycal, Max Valu, Daiei and Inageya, partnered with the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) for three weeks in late March and early April on a spring pork promotion at Aeon’s 1,600 retail outlets. The promotion was developed with support from the Pork Checkoff and USDA Market Access Programme (MAP) funds.

More than 8 million riders per day have the chance to see this US pork ad

US pork baby back ribs are a big hit in Japan

To support this multifaceted “Aeon Loves US Pork“ programme, USMEF-Japan organised a promotional partnership with Nihon Shokken, one of the country’s largest sauce and seasoning manufacturers, to develop a new barbecue sauce to package with US pork back ribs – the newest pork cut to be introduced to Japan.

Understanding that many Japanese consumers are still unfamiliar with the back rib, USMEF prepared for the promotion by conducting a seminar to teach Aeon’s tasting demonstrators how to prepare the ribs and communicate proper cooking methods to consumers. The seminar, funded by the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, also provided the demonstrators with information on the nutrition and safety of US pork.

Since most of Tokyo’s nearly 13 million residents rely on the world’s busiest public transportation (nearly 3.2 billion riders per year), Aeon and USMEF developed train advertisements with the “Aeon Loves US Pork“ theme to promote the campaign.

For the point of purchase, USMEF developed special “Tasty Rib“ tool sets composed of recipe leaflets, a display board and stickers to support both US pork back ribs and spare ribs. Aeon provided its customers with a choice of both uncooked and cooked (ready-to-eat) back ribs.

“Aeon Loves US Pork“ is more than a campaign, it’s a relationship,“ said Takemichi Yamashoji, USMEF-Japan’s senior marketing director. “We want consumers to experience the quality of US pork and make it part of their regular family menu, and Aeon sees a great business opportunity with US pork.“

For their part, Aeon representatives are thrilled with the promotion. Going into it, they expected to increase US pork sales 5 per cent over the previous year. To their delight, sales jumped 48 per cent, and Aeon and USMEF already are planning their next joint US pork promotion for July.

“The sales results were much better than we expected,“ said Michihisa Murakami, group buyer for Aeon Global. “We appreciate USMEF’s great support. The US pork sales totals during the promotion period were the largest ever. The sale of the new item, the back rib, was successful too.“

The Aeon stores promoted a variety of US pork cuts during the campaign, including pork loin, tender loin, CT butt, belly, jowl meat, spare ribs and back ribs. Pork loins were a major hit for Aeon. Promoted as pork steaks (tonteki), the loins alone accounted for 1.2 million pounds of sales, up 34 per cent from last year.

The surprise hit of 2010 continues to be pork back ribs. Aeon sold more than 143,000 pounds of the American barbecue favorite over the three-week span. The ribs were introduced to Japan for the first time toward the end of 2009, and are quickly gaining a loyal following of consumers.