Emotion
150 articles
OLD SPICE | SMELLCOME TO MANHOOD (MOM'S SONG) | 2016
A mother hiding outside her son's bedroom door, secretly singing to herself — that image alone is unsettling. Once their sons start using Old Spice, they suddenly become magnets for girls, and the mothers sing about it together, looking almost heartbroken.
サントリー BOSS | ヘッドライト・テールライト | 2015
Less weirdness, more love — that's what I felt watching this commercial when it aired at the end of 2015. The Alien Jones series started out as a bit of an odd concept, but it's been quietly turning into "the way things just are," and honestly, I'm starting to think it's heading toward becoming a truly moving epic. I'm looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it.
Apple | Someday At Christmas | 2015
90 seconds just isn't enough. Honestly, I wish I could watch and listen to this for three hours straight. At this point, it's gone beyond what you'd normally call a commercial.
東京ディズニーリゾート | Where dreams come true 夢はつづく | 2015
You see a lot of commercials these days that fast-forward through someone's whole life, but this Disney one really stuck with me. It's all animation, and the fact that it manages to capture one woman's entire life in just 30 seconds is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
au | SYNC YELL | 2015
There was no time to wonder how much of this was set up and how much was real, because the tears were already coming early on.
John Lewis Insurance | Tiny Dancer | 2015
A girl who's a bit chubby, wears glasses, and isn't even that good at ballet dances through the whole house. That's all it takes to win millions of hearts.
VOLVO | INTERCEPTION (The Greatest Interception Ever) | 2015
Hijacking the Super Bowl without paying the $4.5 million entry fee. The moment rivals poured $60 million into their own ad slots, Volvo was trending worldwide on Twitter. This is the Cannes Grand Prix winner.
SUUMO | 足跡 | 2015
A 2015 SUUMO commercial starring Yoshinori Okada. A child appears who feels almost like a fairy, yet also completely real, reflecting the father's state of mind. After he asks "Is that true?", the simple reply "It's true, I know it." catches you off guard and brings the tears.
John Lewis | Man On The Moon | 2015
The yearly John Lewis Christmas ad. Just the fact that it's something to look forward to as the weather turns cold already makes it a winner, but the way it consistently exceeds expectations feels almost miraculous.
マルコメ | 料亭の味 カップみそ汁 夜食篇 | 2015
The third animated commercial in the "Ryotei no Aji" series came out in February 2015. A daughter on edge from exam prep, and a father who's lost the knack for talking to her. So late one night, he quietly puts together a midnight snack for her. That's the whole story. And somehow that's exactly what makes it so moving.
Apple | Misunderstood | 2015
I'm seriously obsessed with this one. I can still vividly remember what I felt the first time I watched it. It shows a shy teenage boy who isn't exactly disliked by his family but definitely isn't the center of attention either, acting in his usual unimpressive way. The mood turns slightly sour, with a vibe of "come on, it's Christmas, put the phone down and spend time with the family" — and then the whole thing flips completely around. I love how skillfully it plays with your emotions.
JOHN LEWIS | Monty the Penguin | 2015
Every November, the whole of Britain starts getting restless. That's because it's the season when John Lewis's Christmas ad arrives. The star of 2014 was a stuffed penguin named Monty. Why did this two-minute tale of friendship with a boy named Sam strike such a chord?
MICROSOFT ONENOTE | Collective Project | 2015
Showing college students an ad just doesn't land. So Microsoft stopped making ads and instead "did" the story of a student trying to change the world.
JOHN LEWIS | The Bear and the Hare | 2015
A bear who sleeps through winter had never once seen Christmas. So his best friend, a hare, gives him an alarm clock so he won't miss it—a story told in just two minutes.
東山堂 | TOSANDO music「披露宴」篇 | 2014
A familiar situation, a familiar song. And yet it makes you cry. There's no surprise twist, no clever trick—so why does it grip your heart so tightly? Because everything lives in the acting and the direction.
キリン のどごし〈生〉 | 夢のドリーム プロ野球 | 2014
I cried watching the making-of for the baseball edition. The Jackie Chan edition was fantastic too, but this one really gets me. Watching a celebrity take on something huge is moving, but somehow it's even more moving when ordinary people chase an ordinary—or maybe slightly oversized—dream. I think it's because the people at the center feel so much closer to us.
キリン | 企業広告「応援する者」篇 | 2014
This commercial, released on June 2, 2014, covers everything from a birth to Shinji Kagawa pulling on the national team's number 10 jersey, all in just two minutes. Only two minutes. But every single second of it is packed with feeling. You might think, what a luxury to tell a story this way—but then again, maybe you need exactly this kind of luxury to get this far. At the edge of the frame, always in the eyeline of whoever is sending their support, is the back of a boy's head, his back, slowly growing up. That's why it's so easy to feel for him.
NOT IMPOSSIBLE LABS | PROJECT DANIEL | 2014
A 14-year-old boy who'd lost both arms said he'd rather be dead than become a burden to his family. A video producer who read that article flew to Sudan carrying a 3D printer, with no medical knowledge at all.
AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR | PROJECT DRIVE IN | 2014
You need a car to go to a drive-in theater. That point is so obvious nobody ever says it out loud, but Honda took it seriously.
WATER IS LIFE | BUCKET LIST | 2014
When you hear "bucket list," you probably think of things you want to do before you die—a luxury that assumes you'll live a long life. But in sub-Saharan Africa, one in five children doesn't live to see their fifth birthday. There really is a world where a four-year-old needs a bucket list.
TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION | Ungiven Gifts | 2014
209 gifts, each painted white, stand in a square in Melbourne. Toys, handbags, a vase, a scarf. Each one even has a handwritten tag attached, but there's no one left to receive them.
COCA COLA LIFE | Parents | 2014
This is a parenting ad with zero soft focus and zero shots of sleeping babies. It's a 60-second film that opens with a father writhing in pain after stepping on a toy — and it won Gold at Cannes.
キリン のどごし〈生〉 | 夢のドリーム4 カンフー篇 | 2013
This is the best one. The one at the top of the list I look at whenever work gets so rough I think I can't go on. Mr. Ishida, his junior, Shoko Nakagawa, Jackie Chan, the production team, and above all the client who greenlit this whole thing—everyone involved here is the best.
WestJet | Christmas Miracle: Real-time Giving | 2013
It looks like it's using some amazing technology, but the real secret is just a live camera and 175 people doing the legwork. Here's what makes WestJet's Christmas campaign work so well.
FUNERAL INSURANCE COMPANY DELA | Why Wait Until It's Too Late | 2013
A funeral insurance company stopped talking about funerals and started saying "say it today" instead. And that's what won the Media Grand Prix at Cannes. An ad that reaches this far without ever mentioning the product.
SPCA | DRIVING DOGS | 2013
Dogs driving a car. Sounds like a joke, but they actually pulled it off. To prove that shelter dogs are smart, they went this far.
P&G | Thank You, Mom – Best Job | 2012
At the 2012 London Olympics, P&G called itself the "Proud Sponsor of Moms" — the official sponsor of mothers everywhere.
AXE “EXCITE” | Excite - Even Angels Will Fall | 2012
An angel descends from the sky. Beautiful angels in white robes and halos walk through a small town, and in front of one man, they smash their halos. "AXE can make even angels fall." This is the work that won the Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness category at Cannes Lions in 2012.
HELP REMEDIES | Help I Want to Save a Life | 2012
Open up a bandage, and inside is a bone marrow donor registration kit. The blood from your cut finger, just as it is, might be enough to save a life.
THE PERES CENTER FOR PEACE | Blood Relations | 2012
Enemies, sharing each other's blood.
MERCEDES BENZ | REUNION | 2012
The title is "REUNION." This Mercedes film was made in 2012 by BBDO Johannesburg in South Africa, and it won Gold.
BAND-AID | MAGIC VISION | 2012
The instant a kid starts to cry from a scrape, Kermit pops up right on the Band-Aid and starts singing. Just hold up your phone, and an ordinary bandage turns into a tiny stage.
ライオン | タイムスリップ家族 | 2011
A family photo taken in 1991, and the same family in 2011. Lined up across time, in the same place, from the same angle.
T-MOBILE | Welcome Home | 2011
In 2010, at the arrivals hall of Heathrow Airport, tired passengers walked out to find 300 people suddenly bursting into song. A choir that recreated even the sound of instruments using only their voices turned the cold, impersonal arrivals hall into a celebration in an instant.
KYUSHU RAILWAY COMPANY | THE 250KM WAVE（祝！九州） | 2011
On February 20, 2011 (2/20), from the window of a shinkansen running 250km from Kagoshima-Chuo Station to Hakata Station, a wild plan was carried out: film 15,000 people gathered along the route and turn it into a commercial. One shot, no retakes. If it rained, it was over. If no one showed up, it was over. But all that worry was blown away on the day all of Kyushu waved.
MINISTRE DE LA DEFENSE | OPERATION CHRISTMAS | 2011
In December 2010, deep in the Colombian jungle, a giant tree turned into a Christmas tree. When guerrilla soldiers walked by, motion sensors lit up 2,000 lights, and a message appeared on a banner next to it: "If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home. Demobilize. At Christmas, everything is possible." This is one of the most urgent campaigns ever staged by an ad agency.
VOLKSWAGEN | The Force | 2011
A kid dressed as Darth Vader racked up 15 million views on YouTube and became one of the most beloved ads in Super Bowl history.
ESTRELLA TOYS | COME BACK FERRORAMA | 2011
13 years after it was discontinued, the company's own president threw out a challenge in a video: bring the toy train's last 20km along the pilgrimage route to life using nothing but toy tracks, and we'll bring the product back. I love that kind of reckless dare.
東京ガス | 家族の絆・お弁当メール | 2010
It's only 90 seconds long, but I cried right on the spot. I happened to catch it on TV, lucky enough to see it from the very beginning, and the tears just came. "The lunch a mother makes" is already powerful material on its own, and this ad dresses it up in something very modern: "email." To a son who barely talks anymore, the lunch his mother makes every single day becomes a one-way, but very real, "message."
ZOO ANTWERP | BABY ELEPHANT | 2010
An elephant's pregnancy, watched by an entire country. The ultrasound photos, the contractions, the moment of birth. This isn't really an ad—it's the story of everyone coming together to witness a new life.
サントリーオールド | 娘の相手 | 2009
Jun Kunimura says, "I could've punched him, you know." That one line says everything. Before meeting his daughter's boyfriend, the father quietly leaves the room without saying much. When his daughter follows him out, he mutters that single line - and it's packed with so much deep love, resignation, and quiet approval all at once. I was completely won over.
NESTLE | KIT KAT MAIL | 2009
Putting a chocolate bar straight into a mailbox. Who would have thought that could happen? But it did — and it became the day that idea won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
YUBARI RESORT | NO MONEY BUT LOVE | 2009
How do you advertise a city that collapsed under 35 billion yen in debt? Normally, you can't. So this city didn't hide the impossible—it just said it out loud. NO MONEY BUT LOVE. No money, but love.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2008 | OBAMA FOR AMERICA | 2009
At Cannes in 2009, the jury did something no political campaign had ever had done to it before. They gave it two Grand Prix at once, in Titanium and Integrated, and both decisions were unanimous.
複数企業協賛（ツインリンクもてぎ、20世紀FOX映画、読売新聞） | Friend-Ship Project 第4弾 家族の絆「ゆうなの夏休み」 | 2008
A five-minute family story woven together by two fine actors, Nao Omori and Sachiko Sakurai. Apparently this was one of those reversed projects where the client is decided first, and then creators make a long-form commercial around them. This was the fourth installment of that project, and the density of it—packing in all of life's bitter and sweet—was really something.
PETRONAS | TAN HONG MING IN LOVE | 2008
A seven-year-old boy who wasn't even supposed to be the subject of the shoot ended up winning Malaysia's first-ever Gold Lion at Cannes. No script, none at all.
ADIDAS | BONDED BY BLOOD | 2007
Mixing players' own blood into poster ink. I don't know another case where madness and love blend together this beautifully. Grand Prix in the Promo category at Cannes 2007.
AIDES | VIBRATORS | 2005
From France in 2005 comes a 3-minute-46-second animated film. A girl grows into a woman, meets man after man, uses a condom each time, goes through heartbreak after heartbreak, and at the edge of despair, finally meets the one. The title is "VIBRATORS," the song used is "Baby Baby" by The Vibrators, and the message is: "Live Long Enough to Find the Right One."