Japan shows film and digital prowess at Spikes

Japan made a characteristically strong showing at this year’s Spikes Asia Festival in Singapore with a total of 87 awards. The tally includes three Grands Prix and 10 Gold Spikes.

Party Tokyo was also named Independent Agency of the Year, with Enjin Tokyo third in that category. Dentsu Tokyo came third in the overall Agencies of the Year ranking after Colenso BBDO Auckland and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.

Much of the work that fares well at Cannes also tends to be awarded at Spikes, and Shiseido’s ‘High School Girl?’, created in-house with Watts of Tokyo, won a Film Craft Grand Prix and a Film Gold. The much-hyped video has clocked up nearly 10 million views on Shiseido’s official YouTube channel since it debuted last October.

The other Grand Prix winners were Nissan’s ‘Intelligent Parking Chair’ by TBWA Hakuhodo in Digital, and ANA’s ‘Museum in the Cloud’ by Enjin in Digital Craft. All three pieces of work stand out for their inventiveness. None could really be described as a piece of ‘advertising’, and we see that as a very good thing.

Further Gold winners included:

Party’s athletic-themed Terminal 3 design for Narita International Airport for Design (another of our favourite recent pieces of work and again, far removed from the typical domain of advertising)

‘McNow’ by TBWA Hakuhodo and Hakuhodo for McDonald’s for Digital Craft, which showed how data and AI technology can help simplify a message for consumers

The ‘Mama Metal’ series by AOI Pro. and Tokyu Agency for Van Houten Cocoa for Film Craft and Music—an amusing depiction of the trials and simple pleasures of daily life

Ocedel’s ‘Firefly Man’ by Drill for Film. We would love to see bigger brands take more chances with this kind of humour and storytelling.

‘Dentapple’ by Hakuhodo and Hakuhodo Kettle for Matsumoto Apple Association for Media—an simple, clever example of utility that enables dental health checks via an apple and a smartphone

Music Spikes went to Kit Kat’s ‘Kit Mail Hologram’ by J. Walter Thompson for Nestlé Japan and Japan Post; ‘Cloud coordinated music video’ by Hakuhodo for Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; and ‘Native Mobile Music Video' by TBWA \Hakuhodo for King Records.