三井不動産 | 芝浦アイランド | 2015

Driving Traffic in the Early Days of "Just Search It" / Mitsui Fudosan "Shibaura Island"

SMAP appeared in this commercial as voice-only talent, which was quite a lineup. In the ad, they say "please search for Shibaura's island," pointing viewers toward the brand's website.

The insight

This was probably back when telling people to "search for it" still felt fresh and actually worked pretty well. It's a little nostalgic to think about now. These days, searching has become such a basic part of how people act that plenty of people would actually be annoyed if you told them NOT to search for something.

The idea

Using the tagline "a condo with its own island," the campaign presented the redevelopment area in Shibaura 4-chome, surrounded by canals on all four sides, as a truly special place. They brought in SMAP and even filmed scenes of a yakiniku party happening right in the model room.

Afterthought

Now that actively seeking out information is just normal behavior, and content and messaging have piled on top of that, people increasingly think "why should I bother listening to what you have to say?" So what does an ad need to do to actually stand out in that kind of world? That's what I keep wondering. We'll see.

Three more the bear picked for you

Even if it takes a whole night to shoot just 60 seconds, there's a reason to film all five in one take / SoftBank "SMAP Grand Migration"

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ソフトバンク | SMAP大移動 | 2009

Even if it takes a whole night to shoot just 60 seconds, there's a reason to film all five in one take / SoftBank "SMAP Grand Migration"

Sixty seconds, almost entirely one continuous shot. Actually, it's so good you can't even figure out why they bothered cutting away for the scene where the Father Dog goes outside. The tension comes through the screen and hits you directly, on top of being overwhelmingly entertaining.

Hugging the Earth with the Power of a Poem / NESCAFÉ "Morning Relay"

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ネスカフェ | 朝のリレー | 2003

Hugging the Earth with the Power of a Poem / NESCAFÉ "Morning Relay"

There's something striking about the simple fact that "somewhere on this planet, morning is always just beginning." It's obvious when you think about it, but it still catches you off guard - and that small realization, carried by the power of a poem, sweeps the viewer far, far away in an instant.

30 years later, your stomach still remembers / NISSIN FOOD "HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM"

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NISSIN FOOD | HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM | 1994

30 years later, your stomach still remembers / NISSIN FOOD "HUNGRY? III UINTATHERIUM"

This is the Uintatherium installment, from 1994. It's part of the era when the series that had already stunned the world with mammoths and moas was still going strong. A caveman gets tossed around by a giant mammal, but in the end there's just the word "hungry?" and that white cup with red. By now this rhythm needs no explanation. It's one of the sequels in the series that won the Grand Prix at Cannes as a whole and became a landmark in Japanese advertising history.