The Monkeys Melbourne has revealed its first work on Asahi Super Dry since winning the Asahi beer portfolio in January this year.
Aimed at premium beer drinkers, the blockbuster film taps into Japanese popular culture and steps outside reality to a world of giant squids, robot geisha, fierce warriors and loyal salary men.
The 60-second spot was created in collaboration with both Asahi Beverages in Australia and Asahi Breweries in Japan and was directed by Marco Prestini from In The Thicket.
Asahi Premium Beverages marketing manager of beer Michael Vousden says the ad aims to recruit the next generation of Asahi Super Dry drinkers in Australia.
“We are very excited to build our foundations for the future and evolve the Asahi Super Dry brand platform and creative proposition into a compelling ‘Enter Asahi’ campaign," he says.
The Monkeys Melbourne chief creative officer Ant Keogh says the agency, owned by Accenture Interactive, avoided a traditional narrative in the beer category to take on a more surreal, music-video inspired approah.
“Japan is an exciting and enigmatic place where the traditional and technological collide. This was our inspiration for the ‘world of Asahi’," he says.
"The loose ‘story’ leads to a mysterious Japanese character who collects giant squid and owns a secret research facility dedicated to pruning the perfect Bonsai tree. The idea being that kind of perfectionist would favour precision-brewed Asahi. Having said all that, if people think the ad is cool, Japanese and remember it’s for Asahi, then we’ve probably done our job.”
The campaign will roll out internationally across broadcast, cinema, OOH advertising, digital, press, path to purchase and on Asahi’s social channels.
Credits:
Client: Asahi Premium Beverages
General Manager, Marketing AUS / NZ: Michael Edmonds
Group Category Manager: Kym Bonollo
Beer Marketing Manager: Michael Vousden
Agency: The Monkeys Melbourne
CEO: Paul McMillan
CCO: Ant Keogh
Creative Director: Wayne Ching
Art Director: Joe Sibley
Writers: Ant Keogh, Wayne Ching & Hugh Gurney
Designer: Jess Ramsey
Head of Strategy: Mike Derepas
Head of Production: Romanca Jasinski
Production Coordinator: Anne-Maree Shelton
Group Content Director: Lee Lowndes
Content Director: Navin Arunasalam
Content Executive: Allan Carlow
Production Company: In The Thicket
Director: Marco Prestini @DivisionSydney
Executive Producer: Genevieve Triquet
Producer: Nick Simkins
D.O.P: Stefan Duscio
Production Design: Michael Iacono
Costume Designer: Joanna Mae Park
Editor: Dan Lee @ The Butchery
VFX & Post Production: Alt. VFX
VFX Supervisor: David Edwards
Executive Producer: Tyrone Estephan
VFX Producer: Adrianna Spanos
Colourist: Edel Rafferty
Sound Design: Paul Le Couteur @ Nylon Studios
Music: Level Two Music
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