In the last 15 years, voice communication traffic has fallen by about half, mainly due to the impact of messaging apps. Docomo, Japan’s largest mobile phone company, sought a way to remind people of the wonder of communicating by voice. So with their agency Hakuhodo, Docomo came up with a new way to reacquaint people with voice communication.
On Valentine’s Day they enabled women in Japan to use their smartphones to record their voices and transform their message into chocolate patterns. Then with the help of Mont St. Clair, the most famous patisserie in Japan, they delivered the custom chocolates to the men they love. Recipients in turn could then use a special app that recognized the AR markers in the chocolate to play back the voice message from their smartphone.