富士ゼロックス | HUMAN BEATBOX | 2004
Bringing That "What Is This?" Feeling Into Living Rooms / Fuji Xerox "HUMAN BEATBOX"
In 2004, a man appeared on TV making the sounds of drums, bass, and scratching, all with just his mouth. The word "human beatbox" wasn't something anyone knew back then. That feeling of "what is this?" flowed straight into living rooms across the country.
The problem
At the time, vocal percussion was just starting to catch on through the TV show Hamoneppu, but a performance that built an entire piece of music using nothing but the mouth hadn't really been seen in Japan yet.
The insight
A multifunction copier handles copying, faxing, printing, and scanning all in one machine. AFRA handles drums and bass—and more—all at once with just his mouth. Whoever made that connection is a little bit brilliant. The ability to spot a hidden gem like this must be the basic fitness level required to make ads.
The idea
In the commercial for Fuji Xerox's "DocuCentre Color f450," AFRA showed off a performance using only his mouth. His stylish, intelligent presence, the quality of the track, the way his body moved. A session version with violinist Sayaka Shoji and erhu player Jia Pengfang was later made as well.
What happened
Thanks to the response to the commercial, AFRA, who had been unknown, suddenly became a sensation, and he has said that crowds gathered at every stop on his national tour.
Afterthought
Daring to bring in a sense of strangeness at a time when it was still "too early," and mapping it directly onto the product's own characteristics—this structure still looks brilliant even now. I want people to experience that "what is this?" feeling for themselves through the video.
