Our friends at Ogilvy approached us to do a couple of animations highlighting Shiseido’s collaboration with famed Japanese designer Koji Iyama. Taking inspiration from Japanese gifting culture, Shiseido worked with Koji on a set of products embellished with a unique WASHI tape packaging design perfect for the holiday season. We were asked to highlight the unique tape packaging through vibrant and festive animation, emphasizing the campaign slogan of “Connect the Heartbeat.”
Naturally we turned to our old friends Illo, known for their minimal, colorful aesthetic and lively animated typography. Illo wanted to treat the geometrical shapes of the patterns as the protagonists of the films, and have the products interact with the shapes to create an on-brand Christmas mood.
The client also wanted to make sure that the text was always dynamic and alive, and we welcomed the help of our director Vladimir Tomin add a bit of punch to the animation and give the client that fast-paced celebratory vibe that they were looking for.
We worked with the wonderful Tokyo-based composer duo Lullatone to help craft a music track that was distinctive and delicate, but still in the spirit of the holiday season. Illo and Lullatone have collaborated before, and the shared creative wavelength allowed for the perfect combination of music and visuals.
In addition to the brand film, we also created a holiday greeting animation that simply but elegantly showcases Koji’s tape designs.
Client: Shiseido
Agency: Ogilvy
Creative Director: Ying Chang
Agency Producer: Queenie Wu
Production: MOD, Republic
Executive Producer: Eric Hu
Director: Illo
