For Onitsuka Tiger’s 2008 ‘Made Of Japan’ campaign, we needed to go way beyond conventional advertising. We needed to make a statement that would be heard by even the most cynical of media-savvy sneaker buyers around the world and would get them talking about the brand.We made that statement in the form of a meter-long shoe sculpture, leveraging Onitsuka Tiger’s unique Japanese heritage. The sculpture was a homage to Tokyo’s cityscape, complete with vibrant city lights, architecture and energy. It quite literally brought the campaign tagline, ‘Made of Japan’, to life.

The shoe went on a global tour, from the USA to Australia - with crowds literally queuing up to get a closer look – accompanied by a multi-media campaign. A photographic study of the shoe by night and day, featuring bespoke ‘Electric Tiger Font’, became a print campaign across the world’s hippest publications. An on-line, in-store and TV film took viewers on a journey through the shoe’s vision of Tokyo. Numerous point-of-sale elements, including a hugely popular range of mini shoe key-chains and light-up USB sticks were distributed, whilst a short film on the making of the shoe spread virally.

The campaign has achieved millions of Euros worth of free coverage globally, from Western Europe and the USA, to the Middle East and Japan, featuring in hundreds of websites, blogs, press and television articles.It’s made headlines on fashion, design, marketing, music, technology and culture sites, and from Wallpaper to Business Week. TV stations around the world have picked up and aired the ‘making of’ film.