Digital Horizons

[Brand News] The Viral Ramen Hoax: Creating Buzz with A Fake Restaurant

• James Walker & Brian Hastings

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Can a restaurant that doesn’t even exist become the hottest place in town? Discover how Stanley, aka TheRealStanyM, pulled off a social experiment that had influencers and foodies lining up for hours to experience Nisei Ramen, a pop-up that served instant noodles in plant pots. This week, we dissect the brilliance behind Stanley's viral marketing campaign, "Ramen Forest," and how he leveraged social media, exclusivity, and the allure of influencer culture to create an unforgettable event that never truly existed.

Join us as we break down the key elements that contributed to the meteoric rise of this faux ramen sensation. From crafting a perfect storm of urgency and trend-savviness to executing a flawless digital storytelling strategy, we explore the secrets behind Stanley's success. Whether you're a marketer, a digital creator, or just someone fascinated by the power of social influence, this episode is a masterclass in turning even the simplest ideas into viral sensations. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will leave you rethinking the boundaries of creativity and marketing.

The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director Walker Hill Digital
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

Speaker 1:

Welcome back to this week's brand news episode.

Speaker 2:

So this week, something a little different. Instead of an article from one of the typical publications, we've seen a great piece of viral marketing that we've come across and we'd like to talk about it. To give some context, why don't we just play the clip?

Speaker 3:

This is a hundred strangers who have spent over three hours lining up just to try some instant ramen. But why? Well, seven days ago, I created a fake five-star ramen restaurant and called it Nisei Ramen, or, translated from Japanese, fake ramen. We took some photos, set up a completely fake website and made a TikTok about Nisei that went viral. It went so viral, in fact, that I started only letting in influencers who had over a hundred thousand followers. How many followers do you have?

Speaker 1:

I have 240k, everyone letting in influencers who had over 100,000 followers.

Speaker 3:

Everyone else would have to wait outside. To make it even fancier, we then set up a projector to play scenes of nature, served all of our instant ramen in plant pots and even hired a DJ to play nature noises and called the experience Ramen Forest. But the only thing that really mattered was if people believed it was real.

Speaker 1:

Beer is to the chef. Chef wants to make me another one. Tastes like very nice at home.

Speaker 3:

Would you guys come back? Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Beautiful. This guy did this without even having a business. He's just a digital creator, so the creator is Stanley. On Instagram, his handle is TheRealStanyM S-T-A-N-Y-M, so he gets the appropriate credit. What's he done?

Speaker 1:

here, james. I mean, I only just watched this a few seconds ago, but I understand that he's created a viral piece of content, which has then generated a whole bunch of buzz that's then led to a whole bunch of people lining up to a restaurant that doesn't even exist. So, man, I would love to hire that guy.

Speaker 2:

It to me has proven the power of quality digital social content marketing to build that much anticipation for a launch where you've got a hundred plus influencers lining up who are not being paid to come and try a ramen restaurant where all they did was put typical ramen out of the packet in plant pots and played some nature sounds in a fake sort of trestle table restaurant. They actually followed through and made the restaurant as a result of just proving what is's capable of.

Speaker 1:

It really shows as well of what you can do if you can spot the trends, because obviously they've looked at all right well. We know if these different components are included within a video, this is what's going to lead to the virality of it, and so it kind of does show that, whilst creating content that is going to get a lot of reach and stuff is very, quite difficult there is a formula to doing it. It's not always going to work every single time, but there are going to be elements that you can include that are going to make sure that you are getting more reach than your typical video would.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think some of those elements. It's probably best to go back and look at his first ever post that was used to build anticipation for the launch of this fake restaurant. He used the trend or the excitement around a good ramen anyway, the love for the packet ramen, but then built a video that elevated that, that made it seem like this is what you know and love, but it's elevated and it will be in demand and you've got to be a first mover on this if you want to come and experience it.

Speaker 1:

So you added urgency within the mix as well, trying to get people in there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, to get there before launch. It was so cool. I've seen this sort of campaign happen before or this sort of activity happened before where someone gained I think it was TripAdvisor and created the best restaurant in town just by focusing on what these algorithms look for to build interest and excitement in a particular event or venue. If someone can do that without even having a good restaurant, imagine what you could do if you had the thing, if you were into a particular niche and you were going to produce a product. I think this is a great example of pulling apart all the complexities of launching a business and just focusing on building demand and excitement for launch. And if you replicated some of these efforts, some of these things in these posts building anticipation into a real business it would really perform. It may be relevant to trend-based restaurants and things like that.

Speaker 1:

That's it. The longevity of it may not be the point, but I guess if you can do it once, you potentially replicate it and switch up your business as you need to.

Speaker 2:

And why not have a great big, exciting launch of your product or business? So get into it. Check out this content creator. He's just posted a video saying someone just copied his video and reposted it and got 18 million views on YouTube after just copying that video about opening their ramen store. So he's going places in the content realm anyway.

Speaker 1:

Great, all right. Well, good ideas for new content creation? Yeah, thanks, that's brand news this week. We'll see you next week. Thanks for listening.