Pairings of Perfection

Background

Japanese Sake boasts a rich cultural heritage, and its significance as a drink has generations of brewers to back it up. However, in the UK, Sake still has a low presence – with many consumers either seeing it as a spirit, or not understanding its versatility. In order to increase sales of Sake in the UK and ultimately have more consumers try the beverage, we wanted to focus on educating the consumers through their five senses – starting with their taste buds.

How We Got There

For the past few years, JFOODO has run a campaign called “Sake Seafood Sensations”, which focused on partnering with restaurants to create menus for people to try Sake paired with seafood dishes.

For the 2023 campaign, we wanted to further the concept of pairing Sake with seafood, but in a way that emphasised the key purpose of the pairing: the umami taste that arises from a perfectly paired sake and seafood dish.

“Pairings of Perfection” focused around 10 key “starter” Sake pairings, with the goal of educating consumers on the versatility of Sake and the many different cuisines it could complement. We recruited over 20 top-tier restaurants across London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow, all who created their own customised Sake & Seafood pairing menus for customers. To promote the campaign and drive bookings to these restaurants, we developed an educational microsite and social feed, which showcased the plethora of different sake & seafood menu pairings to potential customers.