Brief
To celebrate the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan, France Télévisions and its agency, MullenLowe France partnered with Mikros MPC to direct a film inspired by one of the masters of Japanese art: Katsushika Hokusai and his iconic painting ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’. Mikros MPC was commissioned to take viewers on a journey to Japan in a brand-new Olympic ident.
Approach
As the pandemic health crisis began hitting all over the world last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the rescheduling of the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Tokyo, just four months ahead of the opening ceremony.
At that time, the teams at The Mill/Mikros MPC were already far in the creation of a new TV ident for France Television to announce programming on the channels that would be dedicated to the Olympics that summer. The objective was to honor the Japanese culture, the values of the Olympics, and the new events that would debut at the Summer Games, such as skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing. All of this in a full 2D animated film, using Japanese prints as a reference.
Impact
From art/direction to final delivery of the film, our team was a one-stop-shop creative house for ‘Sumo,’ the multi award-winning spot that picked up four Gold Awards at Promax Europe 2021, which recognizes “the most original, refreshing, and inspirational work across the region.” The campaign also won a Gold and Silver Clio Sports Award for Best Animation, has been nominated for a Eurobest Award and reached over 20 million people worldwide.