A new advertising spot from Pantene Philippines is taking on the big issue of gender parity in the workplace. Playing on how the same behaviors are labeled positively for men and negatively for women, it encourages women “not to let labels hold them back.” Presumably by buying the correct label when it comes to shampoo…
commercial (Page 6)
Although still relatively unknown in the West, instant messaging application Line is pretty huge in Asia. Developed by the Japanese division of South Korean internet content gurus Naver Corporation, the application allows free digital voice calls and text messaging, and is loved by both Android and iOS users, no doubt in part thanks to the dozens of cute “sticker” icons that users are able to share.
When promoting the messaging app in Thailand, however, Naver seemingly decided to take an altogether different approach. Tugging at our very heartstrings, this ad tells the story of a recently bereaved father and daughter and how through “more LINE, Much closer” they become able to communicate their feelings more effectively. Clever marketing or not, this is a real tear-jerker.
Adidas Japan recently launched its newly designed official shirts for the Japanese national football (or soccer if you’d rather) team, no doubt prompting thousands of fans to rush out and place orders in the name of supporting their side while wearing the same style “samurai blue” uniform.
Ordinarily we wouldn’t pay too much attention to the launch of a mere sporting garment – though we have to admit it is pretty stylish – but the promotional ad that was released alongside it really knocked us for six. Check it out after the jump.
Although it’s been debated on this site before, life in a Japanese company can be tough. For some it can be downright war. And with more and more companies beginning to adopt English into their daily routines, it can be hard for an average salaryman (the term given to average full-time company employees) to get ahead or even survive.
Nissin’s Cup Noodle tries to sum it up how the feeling of a typical worker in their advert titled Globalization. Let’s take a look.
In Japan, Hokto is to mushrooms what Chiquita is to bananas: a household name that people know but aren’t overly excited by – until now!
The mushroom growers have been releasing an increasingly sexy line of commercials that seem to get pulled from the airwaves soon after debuting. The latest one, titled “Splendid Mushroom Kinkatsu,” depicts a love affair between actors Jun Kaname in the role of the spirit of mushrooms and Sawa Suzuki as the middle-aged woman he continuously haunts and seductively whispers about mushrooms to. As far as mushrooms go, this is pretty hot.
Everyone loves a good optical illusion – that immediate shock at what you just saw and that feeling of satisfaction when your brain catches up to figure it out. The recent boom of 3D street art like that we saw from China recently has pushed illusions to a new level.
This sense of amazement has been harnessed and crammed into a one-minute commercial for Honda’s new mid-sized SUV, the CR-V. Having been put up on 17 October it’s been well received by viewers who call the ad “Awesome” and the “Best car commercial ever!”
Honda has been known to put out some clever spots before, so this shouldn’t disappoint. Let’s take a look.
We fell in love with Sony’s new PlayStation Vita Slim the very first moment we got our sweaty little hands on a demo unit at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but this new commercial, which features rocking gaming penguins of every colour the new device is available in, made us even more eager to buy one.
KURE 5-56 is Japan’s version of WD-40. It’s hard to make a connection between a lubricating spray and Star Trek, but one Japanese company managed to do just that, incorporating clips from the newest movie, Star Trek Into Darkness, into a commercial. The company also gave rise to their own version of first officer, Mister Spock, and he’s…interesting.
There are plenty of well-known celebrities in America who have found themselves starring in a commercial or two in Japan. The latest famous person to hawk Japanese products is Victoria’s Secret model, Miranda Kerr, who stars in a commercial for popular P&G laundry detergent, Bold. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous in the commercial, Miranda actually speaks a bit of Japanese, telling consumers about the new pink detergent.
As much as we might bemoan their very existence when they interrupt our favourite TV shows or appear ad nauseam prior to YouTube clips, when done well ads can be genuinely entertaining. With each shot written, debated, edited and otherwise laboured over sometimes for hundreds of hours, successful ads become pop culture in their own right and are often of higher quality than the shows whose commercial crevices they are stuffed into.
An ad recently aired in the UK, however, become a talking point for all the wrong reasons when it depicted a man trying to kill himself by breathing in the exhaust fumes produced by what transpires to be a particularly environmentally friendly type of vehicle: Hyundai’s iX35.
That’s right, kids, we’ve hit the big leagues. And it’s all thanks to you. Sure, we began in a tiny one-room office in Shinjuku, bickering with each other about elbow space, missing pencils and who had been using the communal coffee without putting a five yen coin in the jar beside it, but thanks to our wonderful readers and the attention of the Internet masses in general, we’re now a fully fledged news beast stationed in a swanky high-rise where we rub shoulders with some of Japan’s greatest innovators and creative geniuses.
To mark the occasion, we’ve just put the finishing touches to our new commercial, featuring none other than reporter extraordinaire Mr. Sato, and a tremendously catchy jingle. The full video — plus a special bonus version — after the jump!
Some Japanese companies are known for making really clever commercials, others are known for making some really dumb commercials (looking at you Sony).
Mobile carrier au (pronounced “A-U”) has proven itself a part of the former camp with its fantastic new commercial, “FULL CONTROL/Xmas”, which shows what Tokyo might look like if it were turned into one giant night club.
Mercedes-Benz seems to be pulling out all the stops to advertise their 2013 model of A-Class car, the A 180. In fact they have created a six-minute animated feature starring the A 180, in a rollicking race for the ultimate prize titled Next A Class.
Luckily, I grew up in the era of advertisements thinly veiled as cartoons. All the Noids or Cavity Creeps in the world couldn’t sway my purchasing preferences. Years of Chester Cheetah and Fido Dido have hardened my mind to the subliminal messages animations can carry.
So although this anime short was well made and entertaining, it in no way swayed my opinion of this sleek new A 180 that perfectly combines the high performance of a sports car with the economic sensibility of a compact.
I think I’ve just found my new favourite YouTube channel.
Thanks to a tip-off from an awesome RocketNews24 reader, I’ve discovered Eclectic Method; audio-visual remix masters and providers of horribly funky beats, whether the sampled videos were intended for musical enjoyment or not.
The video that pulled me in, however, was the group’s fantastic Japanese TV commercial remix…
New Playstation 3 Commercial Packs a Nasty Little Surprise, Small Children Now Wary of Plastic Boxes
Just before this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Sony lifted the lid on its newly-modelled Playstation 3 console.
While many of us were hoping for even a tiny snippet of news on the next generation of consoles, Sony is still busy squeezing the few last drops of juice out of its multi-million-selling game machine, and, in an effort to cut production costs and shift a few more units before going next-gen, has somehow managed to shave a few more inches off the console’s size, giving it a facelift in the process.
Eager to show off their newest toy, a brand new ad campaign for the console hit Japanese TV late last week, drawing consumers’ attention to the machine’s snazzy new lines and bragging about its smaller size.
And then something a little bit unexpected happens. Read More















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