Title | SK-II OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN – “VS MACHINES” |
Brand | P&G |
Product / Service | SK-II |
Category | F03. Single-market Campaign |
Entrant | WPP BLACK OPS Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Idea Creation | WPP BLACK OPS Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Media Placement | WPP BLACK OPS Singapore, SINGAPORE |
Production | IMAGINARY FORCES Los Angeles, USA |
Post Production | IMAGINARY FORCES Los Angeles, USA |
Post Production 2 | ECLECTIC SOUNDS London, UNITED KINGDOM |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Leo Savage | WPP Black Ops | Executive Creative Director |
Danni Mohammed | WPP | Executive Creative Strategy Director & MD |
Siddika Dehlvi | WPP Black Ops | Executive Creative Business Director |
San Takashima | WPP Black Ops | Executive Producer |
Nihar Das | WPP Black Ops | WPP Black Ops Lead |
Nathan Wilson | WPP Black Ops | Global Integration Lead |
Stuart Harkness | WPP Black Ops | Creative Consultant |
Sudhir Pasumarty | WPP Black Ops | Creative Director |
Ashley Chen | WPP Black Ops | Creative Director |
Katie Mulligan | WPP Black Ops | Creative Strategist |
Hiroko Matsuo | WPP Black Ops | Strategy Director |
Ken Mitani | WPP Black Ops | Creative Director |
Yukika Anan | WPP Black Ops | Copywriter |
Yoichai Inamura | WPP | Senior Art Director |
Amanda Ang | WPP | Designer |
Miwako Yasukouchi | WPP | Senior Producer |
Lorysa Rossnagel | WPP | Project Director |
Sue-Ann De Cruz | WPP Black Ops | Account Director |
Eulisa Tan | WPP | Account Manager |
Iris Gu | WPP Black Ops | Account Executive |
Sho Ikegami | WPP | Account Executive |
Archana Ram | WPP | Media Strategy Director |
Alan Williams | Imaginary Forces | Director |
Christine Hernandez | Imaginary Forces | Executive Producer |
Simon Elms | Eclectic Sounds | Executive Music & Sound Producer |
Daryl Bryan Lim | Hogarth Singapore | Producer |
Matt Holyoak | Matt Holyoak | Photographer |
SK-II reacted to a landmark moment in Japanese sporting history – the retirement of their only gold medal-winning badminton duo, Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo – with an early release of “VS MACHINES” as a tribute to the pair; the first of six animated films. VS Machines focuses on the pressure to be a constantly performing machine; a mindset that eventually makes you more robot than human. With a well documented-struggle and slump in form after the 2016 Olympics, the film explores a futuristic dystopia, set in a training facility where competition is the main reason for existence, where humans become machines in their quest for perfection. In this world, cyborg-versions of Takahashi and Matsutomo are programmed with machine-like mindsets and are pitted against each other to achieve cold, joyless perfection. Together, they learn to resist and break free of The Machine by rediscovering the the human connection they share.
Japan takes hitting targets and overachievement extremely seriously – for example, the term 'karoshi' specifically refers to 'death by overworking' – so losing human connection with each other is something that happens easily. When the Japanese badminton duo spoke about the pressure of staying at the top having already achieved the sport's greatest accolade, an Olympic gold medal, we realised this was a truth that would resonate across Japanese society. The cyborg versions of Matsutomo & Takahashi were a visual metaphor of the 'robotic' nature many people feel forced to take in a world of KPIs and targets. Due to be released as part of a six episode anthology, we took the decision to release VS Machines earlier as a response to the retirement of Takahashi. With the disappointment of the Olympic postponement in Japan, the film was a timely reminder of the beauty of human connection, over competition.
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