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.
The problem
In 2009, SoftBank brought on SMAP as its image characters. After building a sense of "coolness" with Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz, and "familiarity" with the Shirato family campaign, the strategy was to bring in nationally beloved top stars to express the feeling that the brand was no longer a newcomer. Determined to achieve a first-class feel, they spent the budget of three or four ordinary commercials on this one.
The insight
Director Hideyuki Tanaka believed that rather than relying on editing, the most luxurious and visually powerful approach was to simply capture SMAP's most dazzling, professional moment as it was: all five of them dancing together. No cutting between shots, no exaggeration or stylization—just a single take that couldn't be faked. He believed this would produce a cool, stylish piece of footage that stood apart from every previous SMAP commercial.
The idea
They built a massive set modeled on the Father Dog from the Shirato family, gathered around 300 extras from Japan and abroad, and had all five SMAP members shout "COME ON!" while leading the huge crowd forward to the upbeat rhythm of Grand Funk Railroad's "Locomotion." For the shoot, the director himself ran CG simulations in advance, calculating the exact movement speed of the camera and every performer. He worked out the precise distances needed to fit the action into exactly 30 seconds and 60 seconds, then used those calculations to design the set. On the actual shoot day, they used six cameras and filmed the 30-second and 60-second versions in single continuous takes, in that order. It took seven full takes and an hour and a half before the director finally gave his approval.
What happened
In August 2009, the 60-second version aired simultaneously on five major Tokyo networks. In that month's survey, it recorded the highest commercial likability score ever measured for a single piece of work. It was also selected as a Jury Recommended Work in the Entertainment category at the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Combining the SMAP series and the Shirato family series, SoftBank's commercial likability ranked at the top from the very start and held the number one spot for eight consecutive years, from 2007 to 2014.
Afterthought
This was probably the first commercial featuring both SMAP and SoftBank, but it almost feels like someone saying, "This is how you make a real entrance." You definitely can't pull this off if you're being cheap about it—it's something only a limited number of clients and creators ever get the chance to do—but the fact that they used that chance so well is what really gets me. The Shirato family series has gotten a bit confusing lately too, so maybe it's about time for something like this again. COME ON!
