From Plate to Pixel: How Omote Built a Marketing Loop with "Shiro's Kitchen Cruise" Branded Mobile Game

Introduction: The "Attention Economy" Problem

Promoting a brand with a game isn't new. We’ve seen the giants do it, from Coca-Cola to McDonald's. At SwagSoft, we’ve built titles for big names like Caltex, Samsung, Phillip Morris International and the RSAF.

But for a standalone restaurant brand, the challenge is different. You don't necessarily want to splurge a million dollars on an ad. You would rather rely on word-of-mouth and customer loyalty.

When Omote, a renowned Japanese restaurant, approached us, they wanted to deepen that loyalty. They didn't just want a "campaign"; they wanted a digital extension of their brand.

The result was Shiro's Kitchen Cruise, a simulation game, on Apple and Google stores, that proves you don't need to be a multinational conglomerate to win at gamification.

The Strategy: A Game That Tastes Like the Brand

Omote recognized that their core demographic, students and young adults, live on their phones.

We developed Shiro's Kitchen Cruise not as a generic reskin, but as a love letter to Omote’s dining experience.

• The Gameplay: Players manage a ship restaurant, aiming to serve amazing dishes.

  
  

• The Authenticity: The game features Omote's actual exclusive menu. Players aren't just cooking generic "sushi"; they are interacting with the specific dishes they can order in real life.

  
  

• The Personalization: Players decorate the crew's resting cabins and customize the restaurant with themes ranging from Zen-Japanese to Jungle Wilderness, keeping retention high through customization.

  
  

The Innovation: The "Dine-to-Play" Loop

Here is where the strategy moves beyond a standard "advergame." We connected the digital world directly to the physical bill.

Actual diners receive game codes with every sizeable bill. These codes unlock in-game goodies and rare items. This creates a powerful O2O (Online-to-Offline) loop:

1. Dine at Omote > Get a Code.

   
   

2. Play the Game > Engage with the Brand (and crave the food).

   
   

3. Return to Omote > Get another Code.

   
   

It turns a passive customer into an active player.

The Results: 50,000 Minutes of Brand Immersion through Omote's branded mobile games

In the world of marketing, "impressions" are cheap. You can buy a thousand eyeballs for a few dollars, but they will look away in seconds.

Engagement is the real currency.

In just the first few months, Shiro's Kitchen Cruise generated over 10,000 game sessions. If we estimate a conservative 5 minutes per session for a simulation game, that is over 50,000 minutes of deep, focused brand immersion.

Compare that to a flyer that gets thrown away in 3 seconds.

Furthermore, the game broke geographical borders. While Omote is a local favorite in Singapore, this branded mobile game attracted players from Thailand, Vietnam, India, the Philippines, and even the US.

It effectively transformed a local restaurant into a brand with a global digital footprint—something a traditional marketing campaign could never achieve without a massive budget.

Conclusion

Shiro's Kitchen Cruise proves that gamification is about depth, not just breadth. By building a quality game that reflects their brand identity, Omote managed to capture hours of their customers' attention, not just seconds.

Ready to turn your customers into players?

Download Shiro's Kitchen Cruise to see the strategy in action, then contact SwagSoft to gamify your brand.