Japan cell-phone ad stars a giant xylophone

This is just amazing—a three-minute Japanese cell-phone ad featuring a giant wooden xylophone (or really, a marimba) hand-built in the woods of Kyushu, Japan, that plays Bach's Cantana 147 ("Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") when a ball is rolled down it. Japanese ad agency Drill Inc. created the ad for NTT Docomo's Touch Wood SH-08C handset, which is encased in wood. Drill creative director Morihiro Harano conceived of the instrument—Kenjiro Matsuo of Invisible Designs Lab built it. Harano tells The New York Times that the sounds in the spot are all real—there was no artificial music, although they did adjust some levels to "bring out the sound of river and nature." The spot is incredibly moving, its simple beauty a stark counterpoint to the devastation that Japan has suffered from last month's earthquake and tsunami. Via Engadget.

Filed under Drill Inc., Japan, Nudd, Telecom
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WSJ runs sun tan ad under nuke coverage

Being careful with ad placement next to editorial content -- especially emotionally charged content -- is extremely important, and here's a great example of why. Wednesday's Wall Street Journal featured dire news headlines about Japan's nuclear crisis, such as: “Setback in Fight to Control Reactors,” “Hiroshima’s Legacy Heightens Fears,” and “Radiation Effects Vary.” And just underneath those? A half-page, four-color ad promoting Hilton's HHonors program with the headline, "Work, work, work on your tan." To some, it may seem insensitive. To others, unfortunate. To me, it just proves the point that publications should look — and think — twice before running ads alongside gravely important articles. Hat tip to WSJ reader Elizabeth Sigal for sharing this one.

Filed under Japan, Malykhina
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W+K designs charity poster for tsunami aid

The flag of Japan gets a charitable makeover from Wieden + Kennedy designer Max Erdenberger in this poster to raise funds for disaster relief. Some commenters have noted that W+K's effort resembles the Swiss flag. Fair enough, but it also suggests the reverse color scheme of the Switzerland-based International Red Cross, so there's perhaps some added poignance and sense of purpose there. An even more poignant image can be found on Signalnoise, where the familiar red circle is altered in a way that's emotionally charged (conveying the fury of storms and earthquakes) and subtly powerful (the orb is cracked, but not destroyed). Sadly, the Signalnoise poster is sold out with no word on reprints. If you find similar initiatives by artists and ad agency creatives, let us know in the comments. And feel free to pass the info along to Gilbert Gottfried and 50 Cent, who should quit tweeting a while, open their checkbooks and rejoin the human race.

Filed under Gianatasio, Japan, Wieden + Kennedy
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Sega pioneering pee-activated urinal games

Sega is installing urinal gaming systems around Tokyo that allow you to play games with your fluids. A pressure sensor in the urinal measures the strength and location of your flow and sends the feedback to a video screen mounted at eye level. The Toylet sytem has four different games you can play: "Mannekin Pis," named after the famous statue, that measures how hard you can pee; "Graffiti Eraser," where you act as a firehose washing graffiti off a wall; "The Northern Wind, The Sun and Me," where you, the deeply perverted north wind, encounter a busty girl in a nice dress and decide to go for a panty shot (the harder the wind blows, the higher the skirt goes); and "Battle! Milk From Nose," where your urine becomes milk being squirted from a nose, and your squirts are compared to those of the last person to use the urinal. If you're particularly proud of your pee and carry your USB drive to the bathroom, you can save your scores on the stick for later. Ads are served up in between games. So, advertisers, if you want your product to be associated with urination, do not miss this opportunity. Predictably, one of the ads now running is for beer.

Filed under Cullers, Japan, Sega, Video games
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Domino's is hiring, offering $31,000 an hour

Its pizza might or might not suck, but at least Domino's pays its employees well. Make that, one employee. In Japan. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the chain's arrival in the country, Domino's Japan has announced it will hire one lucky person at the rate of 2,500,000 yen, or about $31,000, for one hour's worth of work in December. "Basically it's anybody over 18, no questions about education or experience," a spokesman tells Reuters. "We're actually a little surprised by how much of a response it's getting." Compare this to Tourism Queensland's famous "Best Job in the World," which paid a guy $110,000 to take care of an island on the Great Barrier Reef for six months. Assuming a 40-hour week, that worked out to about $100 an hour, plus you had to put up with being stung by lethal jellyfish and whatnot. The Domino's stunt is getting lots of play in the media, but of course it might rub current employees the wrong way. And we all know what horrible things occur when a Domino's employee goes rogue. Photo via.

Filed under Domino's, Japan, Job hunting, Nudd
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New billboards recognize you and say hello

Billboards in Japan are now using facial-recognition technology to identify the approximate age, ethnicity and gender of passersby. It's 85-90 percent accurate on the gender part, which is more than I can say for myself most of the time. For the Japanese, who are used to dealing with far more vexing threats, like Godzilla, this is apparently raising no privacy concerns. Frankly, I assumed billboards were already using high-tech means to watch our every move and read our minds. How else would all those stupid Chipotle posters in the subway know my name and beam messages into my brain? Yes, big burrito, what is your command? Eat at Chipotle?! I was going to do that anyway! Via Adland.

Filed under Gianatasio, Japan, Technology
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Colonel Sanders becomes video-game hero

Don't ask why it took so long, but Colonel Sanders is finally making his debut as a video-game hero. Apparently, KFC's founder and posthumous pitchman will appear as a playable character in Japan's upcoming Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity. This game franchise has a history of over-the-top product placements, such as the previous installment's "Pizza Hut shield." But the Colonel seems an inspired choice, with his rakish beard, heroic costume and powerful finishing moves such as the heart-stopping Double Down. Plus, it'll be nice to see him as a good guy after his villainous turn alongside Sarah Palin in PETA's 2008 Holiday Snowball Fight Game. So, which advertising icon would you most like to see in a video game? I'm thinking Mr. Peanut. That cane could do some serious damage in Soulcalibur 5.

Filed under Griner, Japan, KFC, Video games
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Sony pits PS3 against the all-purpose onion

Japan gets a lot of flak for its nonsensical advertising campaigns, but the new effort pitting Sony's PlayStation 3 against a bunch of green onions surprisingly isn't one of them. Despite the non-sequitur comparison of a high-tech game console to a batch of sarcastic scallions, the results are subtle and enjoyable, even if you don't speak the language. Similar to the "Get a Mac" ads, Sony's spots begin with introductions, the onion describing himself as "Banou-negi," or "the all-purpose green onion." The two then compare their relative qualities, with the onion largely serving as comic relief to the PS3's straight man. In the spot below, the PS3's capabilities are continually interrupted with green onion interjections like, “They’re not only toppings!” The commercial ends with the PS3 saying "Sorry, I don't understand this conversation very well, but..." To which the green onion scathingly replies, "That's right, you don't understand very well, do you?" (Special thanks to my friend John Odle for translating.) Check out more of the spots after the jump. Via The Escapist.

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Filed under Cullers, Japan, PlayStation, Sony
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Get your melodic feet in Nike musical shoes

Wieden + Kennedy's Tokyo office teamed with Japanese hip-hop artists Hifana for this clip, released a few months ago, in which Nike sneakers are tricked out as musical instruments. The shoes were wired through a digital system and bent to produce what sounds like electronic distortion in a bad Moby song. Which is every Moby song, by the way. There's also a making-of video, posted after the jump. It took an engineering team and lots of Macbooks and software development to make the shoes sing. NASA didn't use this much technology to send men to the moon. I kept expecting someone to crack a joke about "sole music," but if the subtitles are accurate, the artists and crew showed amazing restraint.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

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Filed under Footwear, Gianatasio, Japan, Nike, Wieden + Kennedy
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Japan ads courting feline business travelers

I don't speak Japanese, but I'm pretty sure this hotel booking Web site is setting itself up, in the ad below, as the premier travel planner for today's business-cat. Considering Hello Kitty's inexplicable popularity, overlooking this market could be a mistake. But the point, I think, is to show how user-friendly the Web site would be if an actual human used it. If so, well done. Communicating across language barriers is one symbol of an effective advertisement. If not, then I would like to know who made the cat's glasses and shirtless collar. Via Jezebel.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Animals, Japan, Kiefaber, Transit
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Tarantino's Softbank ad is hilarious, baffling

We recently mentioned that Quentin Tarantino was shooting a commercial for Japan's Softbank. Well, here's the finished product. It's both mystifying and awesome at the same time. Not that it will help, but here's some background on the campaign, from Julie in Japan:

In the ads, the father is a white dog, the mother is a Japanese woman, the daughter is a famous Japanese pop star and the brother is an African-American man. The ads are funny because the father is really strict but he's a dog, so he's adorable. The family doesn't make any sense to look at, but they act like a regular, typical Japanese family and that's why it's funny.

And here's a loose translation of the dialogue from a CNet reader:

It starts with the older woman asking the dog if he's going to a town called Tosa. The dog says yes. Then, the younger woman asks if Tarantino is going along, whereupon he declares "I am Tara!" At that point, in the long version, Tarantino does his samurai impression "Hai-ya! Samurai spirit!! Get him with the samurai sword! Ho-ha!" etc. The dog says "I'm determined to go to Tosa!" The older woman tells Tara to calm down, and he says "Yes". Then, the phone rings, the younger woman says "It's the phone", and the older woman says "It's your wife." Tara gasps. The wife asks for Tara, he responds with another "I am Tara!", then she yells "Get home right now!"

For a more straightforward set of celebrity Softbank ads, check out Brad Pitt's work for the company.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Finance, Japan, Nudd, Softbank
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Quentin Tarantino to appear in Softbank ads

Quentin Tarantino threatens to single-handedly set U.S.-Japanese relations back to pre-Godzilla days in an upcoming Softbank commercial. The clip above, screened by the bank at a conference, shows the director hamming it up during rehearsal. He joins the popular "White Family" campaign, which features a talking-dog father and an older brother played by American comedian Dante Carter. Tarantino will play "Uncle Tara-chan," and it looks like he's channeling John Belushi's old "Samurai Night Fever" routine, but Belushi was actually more restrained. Brad Pitt, who starred in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, appeared in some Softbank ads this summer, playing the personal assistant of a Sumo champ. There's no humongous wrestler in Tarantino's spot, as far as we can tell. But this is an Asian commercial, so the presence of a talking dog as the head of a mixed-race (and breed!) family should come as no surprise.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Previously on AdFreak:
Brad Pitt serves a sumo in Softbank's spots

Filed under Finance, Gianatasio, Japan, Softbank
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BK unveils septa-patty Windows 7 Whopper

Burger King in Japan is so thrilled about Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system that it's cooked up a giant seven-patty Whopper in honor of it. According to Engadget, it will be available for seven days only, and the first 30 customers can buy it for 777 yen (that's about $8.50). For latecomers, it will cost 1,450 yen (about $17). It's not clear whether the sandwich will make it to the U.S., where rogue BK employees now seem lame for making four-patty "Quoppers" for their friends.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Filed under Burger King, Japan, Microsoft, Nudd
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Give Google's street-view maker a little hug

Google Japan put together this animated video to show how the street view works on Google Maps, apparently on the assumption that there's nothing quite like a Wall-E-style character to ease the fears of people worried about privacy. (The clip shows the machine dutifully responding to feedback and working late into the night to blur out license-plate numbers and names on mailboxes.) There's no sign of an animated Phillip Garrido, either. Also, check out this awesome gallery of Google street-view pics on Art Fag City. Via Boing Boing and The Denver Egotist.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

See also:
Google puts kodachrome in new Chrome ad

Filed under Google, Japan, Nudd
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Brad Pitt serves a sumo in Softbank's spots

In the grand tradition of Americans doing wacky Asian ads, Brad Pitt is back with a few more commercials for Japan's Softbank. In the new spots, directed by Spike Jonze, Pitt plays a personal assistant to sumo champ Musashimaru. The tagline is, "Serving you in any way necessary," which in Pitt's case involves Pitt feeding sushi to the 520-pound Samoan (in the ad above) and daintily carrying him when his shoe breaks (in the ad below). In reality, Softbank's slogan is quite literal. It's is a diversified corporation that owns a financial-services company and the Fukuoka Hawks baseball team, and is the official carrier for the Japanese iPhone 3G. Clearly, they have enough money to hire Western talent (including, previously, Wes Anderson) to wipe the mouths of their yokozuna when the moment arises.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Celebrity endorsements, Finance, Japan, Kiefaber, Softbank
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Japan sells government bonds with taxi ads

As the U.S. continues to set new records for deficit spending, America could look to Japan for a little inspiration, at least when it comes to advertising government bonds. Late last month, Japan's ministry of finance began hawking bonds on the backs of Tokyo taxi seats. The pitch, which will also use posters (like the one here) and TV spots, is the latest in a series of campaigns using celebrities to flog the country's massive debt. Earlier ads starred Koyuki, the one-named actress and model who starred alongside Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Current ads feature Junko Kubo, a former anchor on Japan's public broadcaster NHK. They use the tagline, "Peace of mind. Piece of happiness." That promise of mental bliss is a hard sell: At current spending levels, Japan's debt is expected to become 197 percent of GDP next year and 300 percent within 10 years. The lessons of Japan, itself the second-largest holder of U.S. government paper, appear to be lost on Washington: By the end of fiscal year 2010, U.S. debt is expected to reach nearly 100 percent of GDP, meaning that for every dollar the U.S. economy produces, the government will owe a dollar.

—Posted by Noreen O'Leary

Filed under Finance, Japan, O'Leary
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Wieden takes a closer look at gamers' faces

Wieden + Kennedy in Tokyo has rolled out a new Sony PlayStation 3 campaign called PlayFace, showing the facial contortions that gamers make while they're playing. It's all pretty stylish and exaggerated—the players also make lots of buzzing, beeping and cracking sound effects, which gives them a robotlike aspect. But despite all the bells and whistles, as AdFreak sister blog PDNPulse points out, there's been some grousing that the PlayFace work (the idea, if not the execution) is similar to some still photos that artist Phil Toledano did in 2002, also showing gamers' faces. Toledano tells the gaming blog Kotaku that Wieden "ripped me off," but that seems a bit excessive. Toledano's insight—that people let their guard down when they're focused intently on something (like gaming), and that you can see "a hidden part of their character" in those moments—itself wasn't so new. Philippe Halsman did similar stuff in the pre-video-game 1950s, when he began taking pictures of people while they were jumping—and had to focus on that, rather than on posing for the camera. (Halsman's work eventually inspired some cool ads for HBO's Six Feet Under.) PDN further points to some 2008 gamer portraits by Robbie Cooper, who had basically the same idea as Toledano. Seems like lots of people have been down this road. UPDATE: Compare Wieden's ad to Cooper's "Immersion" video below.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

See also:
New Xbox commercials will blow your mind

Filed under Controversy, Japan, Nudd, PlayStation, Sony, Video games, Wieden + Kennedy
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Killer marketing in terrifying toilets of Japan

In America, public restrooms can be creepy, either because of the condition or the company. But in Japan, going to the bathroom seems to be one step short of sleeping naked in a graveyard. Looking to tap this fear with a cute marketing twist is Ring author Koji Suzuki, whose new bathroom-based horror novella Drop is being printed on rolls of toilet paper. Billed as "a horror experience in the toilet," the story takes up only about three feet of paper. You may need the rest of the roll to write a desperate plea for help, because Japanese bathrooms are apparently scary places to hang out. First, there's Hanako-San, the ghost of a schoolgirl who has scared kids to the point where some would rather pee in class than risk a restroom run-in. Then there's Kashima Reiko, a bisected ghost who wanders school bathrooms saying, "Where are my legs?" But my favorite is this note from the Suzuki article: "Parents would tease children that a hairy hand might pull them down into the dark pool below." That's some scary shit.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Books, Griner, Japan
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Japan hits the gutter with bikini-bowling ad

This completely insane Japanese ad, promoting some kind of hair-removal product, raises an interesting point: How the hell did America miss the boat on bikini body bowling? That pretty much sums up everything we currently like about television, except for a vacuous celebrity host, who would be easy enough to add in place of that armpit-hair closeup. I'd be more than happy never seeing that again.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Japan, Kiefaber, Personal care
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Google tackles a new market with old media

It's telling and rather ironic that Google's first TV commercials support its 9-month-old Chrome, last spotted battling Opera for market share at the ass end of the Web-browser wars. For all that's been said about the Big G's "natural monopoly" in search, companies must adapt, grow and diversify to thrive. No monopoly lasts forever. Just ask AT&T. Eventually, Yahoo!, MSN or—more likely—some service being dreamed up now in a dorm room somewhere will supplant Google at the top of the search heap. No product stays No. 1 for all time. Just ask Netscape. Or Friendster. Or MySpace. Google will need new and vital offerings to keep itself at the forefront. One or two successful extensions might be enough. Just ask Apple. Ultimately, Google's foray into old-school mass media to tout Chrome underscores that the firm is neither evil nor omniscient. It's just another company, on top now but pressured by other search firms, social media and government regulators. Chrome's launch and the subsequent ad play can be interpreted as the company asking itself, "For Google, what comes next?" That's the right question, but it ranks among the few the company's iconic search window can't answer for certain.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under Gianatasio, Google, Japan
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Dole ad from Japan really very unappetizing

I always thought bananas were pretty straightforward, but this Dole commercial from Japan suggests otherwise. I also assumed people shied away from eating fruit that just shot out of someone's nose, but it turns out I was wrong about that, too. One thing I'm sure of, though, is this commercial did not make me want to eat any Dole banana products. Or look at a banana ever again. And this isn't the first time Japan has made me re-evaluate my opinions about something, either.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under Dole, Food and Drink, Freaky, Japan, Kiefaber
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