Shoryo-uma Parade
An electricity company turned a $40 summer discount into a viral parade of robotic spirit-horses built from cucumbers and eggplants.
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AI Translation Summary
To seize Japan's summer attention, ENEOS Power reimagined Shoryo-uma — the cucumber-horse and eggplant-cow offerings families make for Obon — as electric-powered robots. Each was built from exactly $40 of vegetables, dramatizing a $40 summer discount. Made with batteries and human teamwork rather than AI or CG, the parade film became the most viral campaign in the brand's history.
Cultural Context
Obon is a Japanese summer holiday when families welcome their ancestors' spirits home. For it, people traditionally craft Shoryo-uma: a cucumber shaped into a swift horse (so ancestors arrive quickly) and an eggplant shaped into a slow cow (so they depart gently). The campaign's speed settings — fast horses, slow cows — directly echo this custom.
Entry Information
Summary
Following the brand's purpose, “Challenge Comfort with electricity,” ENEOS Power set the goal to gather the most attention as an electricity company in the summer. We picked up Obon, a summer habit to welcome ancestors, to promote the $40 summer discount. We make a comfort electric “Shoryo-uma,” an offering for Obon that is made with price-rising summer vegetables. This film of the electric Shoryo-uma parade went viral on social. Just a single X post gained more than 28M impressions. The total impressions reached 80M. Moreover, people posted UGCs of their own Shoryo-umas. As a result, the positive brand sentiment increased by 3568%. This most successful campaign in ENEOS Power's history brought the most attention as a Japanese electricity company in 2025 summer.
Strategy
How can we clearly deliver the great value of this $40 discount? We focused on “Obon,” the Japanese summer tradition. During Obon, families gather at their home to welcome ancestral spirits and express their respect and gratitude. There are great expenses for travel or to welcome families. In this event, we picked up a habit that can enhance the value of the discount. That was “Shoryo-uma” made with summer vegetables. Summer vegetables are one of the food products with the biggest price inflation. In Obon season, people prepare “Shoryo-uma,” that is a set of a cucumber horse and an eggplant cow. We created a clear, unique campaign that uses Shoryo-uma to make the plan's cost-effectiveness easy to understand.
Execution
We made a film of a spectacle parade of comfort electric Shoryo-uma to deliver the brand purpose “Challenge Comfort with Electricity.” To enhance the value of the $40 discount promotion, these robot Shoryo-umas are made with $40 worth of cucumbers and $40 of eggplants, which means 143 cucumbers and 135 eggplants. They offer ancestors a comfortable round-trip with electricity, but respecting the tradition in their speed settings that cucumber horses run swiftly, and cows walk slowly. No AI or CG is used for this campaign. This parade is run just by batteries charged with ENEOS Power, cheap robot legs, and the teamwork of humans. This film is posted on the official X account of ENEOS Power.
Results
This challenge went viral on social. Just a single video posted on X gained over 28 million impressions. The total impressions reached 80 million. Positive reactions poured in, with engagement rates exceeding the target KPI by +182%. Furthermore, people made their own unique Shoryo-umas and posted them as UGCs. Ultimately, positive brand sentiment increased by +3568% compared to the precampaign period. This became the most viral campaign in the brand's history. ENEOS Power attracted the biggest attention as an electricity company in 2025 summer.