"Sumo" was created to promote the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan and the integration of new sports such as surfing, climbing and skateboarding. To do this, it was necessary to find a way

to bring out the Japanese values and those of the Olympic Games in a friendly and surprising film.

To highlight Japanese culture and the values of games, we decided to choose a Sumo as a character, which goes on an adventure and practice the new Olympics disciplines (climbing, surfing, skating). In Japanese culture, sumo is a sport practised by heroes who speak with the gods and ask them for abundant harvests.

Our film is graphically inspired by one of the masters of Japanese art : Katsushika Hokusai and his iconic painting 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa'. Our studio was commissioned to

take viewers on a journey to Japan in a brand-new Olympic identity. We take viewers on a journey to Japan in a brand-new Olympic identity.

It was important to create the right balance between the scenery and the sumotori and adapted the character’s line drawing according to its size in the frame, and in constant relation with the treatment of the backgrounds.

The goal of the campaign was to highlight the 2020 Olympics, but with the covid the event was postponed. However, the film continued to make an impact thanks to its graphic qualities

and storytelling. The campaign was broadcast on French television only, but very quickly its originality and its fun side seduced the international media.

We created the storytelling in partnership with the agency, and our studio took care of the direction, concept design, animation, production and post production of the film.

The campaign was launched in May 2020 before the Olympics Games. We first thought of the main character before building the story. We started by creating the concept of the Sumo

character following the 18th Japanese print codes both from narrative and aesthetic standpoint. Then, we made a preview using the scanned drawings and assembled them on after effect. We had to simplify the detailed drawings, to animated them for an ad. Then, we used TV paint, following the technical steps of traditional 2D animation : layout, posing, rough, clean and colourisation. The compositing was done on after effect and the background design on photoshop using Japanese print as reference and especially the work of Katsushika Hokusai and especially his iconic painting 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa'. The animation style had to follow the Japanese print codes by avoiding deep movements but

rather using lateral movements.

In 2021, our spot picked up four Gold Awards at Promaw Europe, which recognises the most original, refreshing and inspirational work across the region. The campaign also won a Gold

and a Silver Clio Sports Award for Best Animation. It also has been nominated for a Eurobest Award and reached over 20 million people worldwide!

It has been published in various media, Ads of the World, Culture Pub Stratégies, The Drum, LBB Little Black Book, Eslogan Magazine, Stash Media, Adforum... and even won the 5 stars at the CB News Gold Hit for the best campaign of the year. In 2022, it was shorlisted at the Genies Awards, the VES Awards, it is still in the running for the Annecy Animation Film Festival, the Clio Awards and the D&D awards.