Kabaya TOUGH GUMMY BAR

Oct 2025

In a maturing gummy market, we oversaw the entire process for Kabaya’s new product—from product concept development to naming and packaging design. The challenge was to expand the conventional value of gummies and establish a new category centered on the idea that “chewing = focus and awakening.” To create a truly new eating experience in the form of a bar-type gummy, we built the concept around the key action of “biting off,” and developed both the packaging design and accompanying video to bring this idea to life across touchpoints.

Client Brief

To inherit the high elasticity of the existing Tough Gummy series while presenting an entirely new experiential value and establishing a distinct position within the market. Rather than evoking the instant, spike-like focus associated with energy drinks, the product needed to visually and intuitively communicate—within one second at the point of sale—that it supports long-duration concentration for work, study, driving, and other sustained-focus situations. At the same time, the design had to balance clear differentiation from existing products with a sense of coherent linkage to the brand lineage.

Our Proposal

The originality of biting off.

To inherit the Tough Gummy series’ signature addictive appeal—born from its uniquely high elasticity and the sharp刺激 of sour powder—while presenting an entirely new experiential value and establishing a distinct position within the market. Designed in a one-hand, easy-to-eat format, the product supports people who want to stay focused and keep going—whether during work, household tasks, studying, gaming, or any moment when they need to satisfy hunger without stopping. It needed to communicate its value intuitively and within one second at the point of sale. At the same time, the design required a careful balance: achieving clear differentiation from existing products while maintaining a coherent sense of connection to the overall brand.

We redefined gummies not as confectionery but as performance food. Scientific approaches such as CAE analysis and photoelastic visualization—methods that reveal how force is applied—were integrated into the design process to express the idea that elasticity equals stored energy.

While the Tough Gummy BAR package delivers a strong visual expression of the product’s core value—“chewing for awakening”—we saw an opportunity to broaden the brand experience by extending it into the more dynamic world that unfolds at the moment of the bite: the shock, the flavor burst, and the sense of activation. To deepen the experience beyond what packaging alone can communicate, we developed a video that amplifies this instant of energy with impactful, emotionally charged visuals.

In a market where “focus and awakening” expressions are increasingly saturated, the video distills Tough Gummy BAR’s most distinctive value—the active act of “biting off to awaken”—into a clear visual icon. By connecting packaging, in-store touchpoints, and social media within a unified narrative, we designed a holistic brand experience that positions Tough Gummy BAR as a new category of eating—one defined by an entirely new kind of activation.

Result

Through an integrated approach bridging digital and retail channels, Tough Gummy BAR achieved strong results from its initial launch. Online campaigns outperformed key benchmarks, and in-store signage exposure drove higher purchase and repeat rates compared to non-exposed audiences. Consumer research further confirmed strong support among core targets, with satisfaction for taste, texture, packaging, and the product concept all reaching around 90%, demonstrating exceptionally high overall approval.

Credits

  • Creative Director
    Kairi Manabe (Cybor)
  • Copywriter
    Takayuki Ishibashi (Cybor)
  • Art Director
    Ryuichi Sano (Cybor)
  • Account Executive
    Shingo Ogura (CyberAgent)
  • Account Executive
    Masayuki Oume (CyberAgent)
  • Account Executive
    Kohei Oshika (CyberAgent)
  • Strategy
    Naoya Mizushima (CyberAgent)

●Package

  • Producer
    Arata Sugawara (RISE FACTORY)
  • Photographer
    Hideya Suga

●Movie

  • Producer
    Wataru Sasaki (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Production Manager
    Joto Komine (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Dir
    Yuhei Kuramochi (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Offline Editer
    Ryo Kibukawa (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Compositor
    Ryo Kibukawa (Cyber AI Productions)
  • VP Supervisor
    Hiroyuki Sai (Cyber AI Productions)
  • CG Director
    Yu Tachibana (Cyber AI Productions)
  • CG Director
    Fuyu Takeshita (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Studio operation
    Tomoyuki Takakura (Cyber AI Productions)
  • Studio operation
    Tomoyuki Takakura (Cyber AI Productions)

← Back to works page