Celebrating its 48th anniversary the original creators of the cup noodle Nissin have launched a “Cup Noodle Election campaign“.
Over the last four decades Nissin have continually put out some weird and wonderful flavor concoctions. Capturing trends of their times no less than 73 different kinds have been released. Carton design and the flavors throughout the eras are emblematic of the popular culture of when they were produced; ranging from the straight up and serious packaging designs of the original cup ramen in 1970s or the Bianco bubble year designs harking back to the yuppy era, and right up to the more playful pizza margherita flavor of recent times.
Celebrating this (and in tune with local election season in Japan), the company launched their “Cup Noodle Election” site yesterday which lets users vote for their favorite discontinued flavor from the 73. Once the votes have been counted at the end of June the three most popular flavors will be resurrected from cup noodle oblivion and put back on the shelves. Cup noodle fans can actually vote up to three times a day for their chosen ramen delicacy.
Out of the number of choices some stick out more than others for instance the 1995 classic, “Summer” made with hints of lemongrass for that fresh summer sensation and the manly “Wild” which packs a spicy chili punch.
The recent “Kimchi and Cheese” flavor looks particularly appetizing, and it seems 1999 was obviously the best year for cup noodle packaging, with the limited release of the “Skeleton”.
Crowdsourcing flavors isn’t necessarily a new idea, in the past rival producer Maruchan have collaborated with Yahoo! Japan to create a brand new flavor of cup noodle which proved particularly popular. Another company, Acecook, used popular Japanese social networking site Mixi for the same purpose. However Nissin, the oldest and original cup noodle manufacturer is tapping into its customer sentimentality and company history. Generations who grew up on their ubiquitous ramen will no doubt be voting for their favorite flavor hoping to bring back a taste of nostalgia.
Voting is open until June 30th and the winners will be announced in September.
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Darrell is a native of the U.K. and has been in Japan since 2002. He consults on innovation and strategy at the 
