To celebrate Onitsuka Tiger’s 60th birthday, Amsterdam Worldwide launched the Cycle of Life campaign, revolving around the Zodiac Race - this trailer heavily triggered our curiosity. The race is a Japanese legend about 13 animals racing each other for a spot on the Zodiac calendar. Apart from the animation, made by NY based Panda Panther, Amsterdam WW also built a diorama (miniature world) in the shape of a sneaker – part of the “Made of Japan” strategy. This is already the third iconic shoe they built for Onitsuka. The previous one, Electric Tigerland, was shortlisted for a Titanium Lion at Cannes 2008. This year’s life-sized sneaker is a typical Japanese landscape, with landmarks like Mount Fuji. The sneaker will be displayed in selected venues around the world. To integrate the campaign even further, the 2009 shoe collection is decorated with the Zodiac animals. All in all, this abundant flow of creativity makes us drool!

Blast Radius Amsterdam has been selected by Onitsuka Tiger to pick up its global marketing communication account as from 2013 – speaking of long term planning! Already in the beginning of 2011 Amsterdam Worldwide broke with Onitsuka. The agency very succesfully  made an icon of the Onitsuka Tiger shoe by creating different Japanese worlds around it – the last one was the Tansu sneaker that won a golden design Lion in Cannes in 2010. Anyway, we haven’t heard much from the Japanese sports-lifestyle brand – except that they recently closed the Amsterdam flagship store. Lisa Hogg, Head of Brand Management at Onitsuka Tiger Europe says: “Based on the continuous need of brands to remain relevant, we felt it was imperative to align with an agency that could deliver a full campaign approach and not just an idea. Onitsuka Tiger is at the beginning of redefining how we connect with our consumers and we are confident that Blast Radius is the right partner for the task.” Blast Radius has been here already for quite a few years, but they’ve operated under the radar most of the time – which is a bit odd for a digital agency. Hopefully we’ll hear more from them with this new account – we actually received a press realease! In any case, good that Onitsuka is back in Amsterdam.

‘Go Forth’ is Levi’s new brand proposition. It supports positive change in the world and celebrates today’s “pioneers who are taking action to build a better future”. In this dramatic mini-documentary, created by Wieden+Kennedy and directed by Sanne van Hecke, we see Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto (aka “Vhils”) nonchalantly wearing a pair of baggy Levi’s and creating a series of street murals that capture the faces of some ‘Berliners’ who embody the ‘Go Forth’ spirit. This branded content made us think of both the Sartorialist film for Intel (by Amsterdam Worldwide) and the mobile printer film for Océ (by Lemon Scented Tea) – though the latter was a fictional documentary. We’re spotting a trend here, in which everyday people are portrayed as heroes. That is, they all do something special and this is enlarged in a documentary-like piece of long(er) form content. It merges real life with the smooth exaggerative qualities of an ad agency and thus subtly incorporates brands into society. It makes (or at least should make) these brands more authentic, credible, and sympathetic.

Good news for 180 Amsterdam; ASICS appointed the agency for its global communications around the London Olympic Games 2012 – after a competitive pitch that started last summer. 180 will also work with ASICS to launch key product ranges through 2011 and 2012. ASICS asked 180 to give emotional meaning to its ethos ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’ (Anima Sana In Corpore Sano) – an inspiring assignment when combining it with the idea behind the Olympics. 180′s big advantage in the pitch was its extensive experience on the Adidas account – 180’s founding client who left the agency in 2010. Next to 180 ASICS also works with Vitro in San Diego. Together with Vitro ASICS very recently developed a global campaign around the proposition ‘Sports releases more than just sweat’ – namely negative energy. It seems ASICS is working hard to capture some market share from Nike and Adidas.

How to give a boring ingredient brand like Intel – the ‘second generation core processors’ – a face? When you’ve watched this short documentary (too long to be called a commercial), created by Amsterdam Worldwide (AW) and directed by Tyler Manson, you know how. AW chose to visualize the lives of influential bloggers in a series of profile films. A smart angle, since the majority of bloggers still has some sort of independent, maven status, which makes you believe that Intel is used by the people that can be trusted for their advice. And this is the life of Scott Schumann from the renowned fashion blog The Sartorialist (read: the tailor). We are very impressed with the quality of this piece of content. It’s smoothly directed, has some strong copy (probably inspired by Schumann’s view on the “shrinking world”), and is even quite interesting to watch. You’d almost forget Intel is trying to sell you some product here. In fact, we were a bit disappointed with the anti-climax at the end; all of a sudden the film changes into an ad, asking you to share your life on some corporate website – you almost feel tricked into it. Maybe they could have done without it – especially since there’s already a commercial that invites you to share your life – a little corporate, but also very skillfully made.

Amsterdam won two Grand Prix in Film and Design at Eurobest in Hamburg, last Wednesday. Wieden+Kennedy was awarded the prestigious award for its epic Nike ‘Write the future’ commercial – alledgedly the most expensive commercial ever made. And for the same film it won bronze in Film Craft. Amsterdam Worldwide earned a Grand Prix in the category Design for the Onitsuka Tiger ‘Tansu sneaker’. Other than that Amsterdam did not do extremely well, we have to admit. In interactive Pool Worldwide won silver for its brilliant StarWars branded TomTom viral. In the same category 180 Amsterdam won bronze for Adidas’ Match Tracker and NRG3 won bronze for an interactive banner for the EA game Need for Speed Shift. N=5 was awarded silver in the category Media with a ‘Live interactive billboad’ – an aggression awareness campaign. BSUR got bronze in Film for MINI’s Flow, Publics won bronze in Print for KIKA, and JWT bronze in Promo and Outdoor with the MINI Christmas box.