BUYMA | A Kind Drone | 2015
What drones can teach you about why you need clothes / BUYMA "A Kind Drone"
Two completely naked ballet dancers move beautifully while four drones chase after them, covering up exactly the parts that need covering, for a solid minute and a half. This absurd little world is a perfect example of "doing something stylish." Maybe it rode the wave of a popular "don't worry, it's fine" catchphrase of the time, but this video, made by Dentsu, goes so far over the top it stops being a joke and starts being art.
The problem
BUYMA is a fashion e-commerce site that lets you buy products from all over the world. In its 2015 campaign, the "Buy the World" series and the distinctive creative work "The Kind Drone" generated buzz and succeeded in raising brand awareness and bringing in new members. The creator was Takashi Sakuma of Dentsu, who built a strategy that balanced branding—conveying BUYMA's appeal effectively—with short-term sales promotion, like limited-time sales.
The insight
"The Kind Drone" aired as a one-night-only TV commercial during the Figure Skating Grand Prix Final in December 2015. It showed a naked man and woman dancing ballet while drones hovered to cover the parts that needed covering. The goal was to convey BUYMA's global brand image, and the joy of buying and wearing clothes, through fresh, innovative expression. It seems to have drawn inspiration from a French comedy sketch, and the balance between humor and provocation is masterful. The read that "if you're going to bother flying a drone, you might as well just buy clothes" is a sharp one. It faithfully follows the grammar of a Western-style comedy commercial, while finishing it off with Japanese-style elegance.
The idea
The four drones were choreographed to match the dancers' steps, following their ballet movements and constantly keeping their bodies covered. The director was Takumi Shiga. Neither the dancers nor the production crew act bothered by the nudity at all, as if it were completely normal—it's an alternative world where only the narration seems confused. The camerawork is excellent too, managing to keep everything covered the whole time, with a punchline where even the crew turns out to be naked. At the end of the video, a drone covered in the same kind of fabric introduces the BUYMA logo along with the message "let's buy clothes." The tagline is "Let's buy clothes." Yes—rather than being protected by a drone, you're better off just buying clothes.
What happened
This campaign became a huge talking point on social media and was even parodied on variety shows. The attention it generated led to a surge in new members, giving the launch a strong boost in buzz. CG production was handled by x10studio, and production by Geek Pictures. Detailed credits were also released, listing Takashi Sakuma as creative director, Hiroshi Akinaga as commercial planner, Tomoki Yomogida as copywriter, Kazunori Kawagoe as art director, and Tatsuhiro Nagashima as communication planner, among others.
Afterthought
I'd love to go back and tell my 2015 self, who just went "huh?" at this, what was really going on. The strategy here wasn't built on logic but on emotion—centered on the story of "finding the thing you wanted on BUYMA"—and Sakuma has said that emotion is the core of branding. By showing this absurd world where drones hide people's clothes, the ad paradoxically highlights just how natural and joyful it is to simply buy clothes. Naked ballet × drones × a one-night-only TV airing × social media buzz—that combination perfectly captured the mood of 2015. I absolutely love ads like this: a little crazy, but completely sincere.
