BRANDING DESIGN / ART DIRECTION
For over 40 years, SK-II has inspired millions of women to pursue their own destiny. This time around, SK-II is on another mission to challenge the limits of storytelling with a new animated film series – VS.
Brought to life by world-renowned animators, artists and production studios – including Platige Image, Passion Pictures and C3 – the VS Series consists of six films that combine the best of animation and live action to create an epic visual experience. World-class Olympic athletes are illustrated in a face-off against their personal “kaiju” – or “strange beast” in Japanese – which represents a raft of social pressures they face: Trolls, image obsession, self-doubt, rules, limitations and machine-like mindsets.
Featuring the world’s most decorated female gymnast Simone Biles; surfer Mahina Maeda; world-champion swimmer Liu Xiang; two-time table tennis Olympic medallist Kasumi Ishikawa; Olympic badminton gold medallists Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi and; the Japanese national women’s volleyball team known as Hinotori Nippon, the VS Series sheds light on how these athletes transcend society’s limitations and take destiny in their own hands. By extension, the films also flesh out the spectrum of social pressures faced by women all over the world in their personal and professional lives.
The vision for the VS Series finds its roots in #CHANGEDESTINY, which sits at the heart of SK-II’s purpose.
The quest for perfection, the obsession with beauty, and the struggle with other people’s opinions are issues women face globally. Most women can identify with the themes in at least one of these films. Be it Kasumi Ishikawa’s journey to the top as she battles intense self-pressure, or Mahina Maeda’s conviction to pursue what she loves despite not fitting traditional beauty standards; the athletes’ epic battles show us the universal pressures that women face, and what’s possible if we choose to rise to the challenge and take destiny into our own hands.
Lead Creative Unit: WPP Agencies (Grey and Mediacom) / Partners: HUGE, VaynerMedia, Mano, Hogarth Worldwide / Client: SK-II
Executive Creative Director: Leo Savage / Executive Creative Strategy Director : Danni Mohammed / Executive Creative Business Director: Siddika Dehlvi / Executive Creative Producer: San Takashima / WPP Team Lead: Nihar Das / Integration Lead: Nathan Wilson / Creative Strategist & Copywriter: Katie Mulligan / Executive Account Director: Yukiko Ochiai / Executive Creative Director: Graham Drew / Creative Consultant: Stuart Harkness / Creative Directors: Ashley Chen, Ken Mitani, Sudhir Pasumarty / Creative / Consultant: Shane Lester / Strategy Director: Hiroko Matsuo / Senior Copywriter: Yukika Anan / Senior Art Director: Yoichai Inamura / Designer: Amanda Ang / Project Director: Lorysa Rossnagel / Account Manager: Eulisa Tan / Senior Producer: Miwako Yasukouchi / Senior Producer: Shoko Akutagawa / Producer: Hayato Chaki / Senior Account Executive: Iris Gu / Business Director: William Godwin / Senior Project Director: Angelique Malabanan / Account Director: Sue-Ann De Cruz / Account Executive: Sneha Basu, ChiewLing Loke / Art Director: Jerry Li / Assistant Account Executive: Sho Ikegami / Executive Media Director: Prajat Khare / Media Strategy Director: Archana Ram,Siddharth Singh,Varsha Sethia, Rohit Khanna, / Songwriter/Singer: John Legend (‘VS’ Trolls) / Songwriter/Singer: Lexie Liu (‘VS’ Obsession) / Music Studio: Simon Elms, Eclectic Sounds / Photographer: Matt Holyoak ‘VS’ Rules, ‘VS’ Machines ‘ / Production Studio: Imaginary Forces / Director: Alan Williams / Producer: Jon Hassell / Melody Alexander
‘VS’ Pressure, ‘VS’ Obsession / Production Studio: Platige Image / Director: Bartek Kik, Damian Nenow / Producer: Robert Stasz / Justyna Supernak ‘VS’ Trolls / Production Studio: Passion Pictures / Director: Jon Saunders / Producer: Rick Bland / Mike Turoff / Ioan Holland / Luiza Cruz-Flade ‘VS’ Limits / Production Studio: C3 / Director: TAKCOM / Producer: Yuki Iizumi / Yuto Adachi / Casting: Gambit / Hogarth Singapore: Daryl Bryan Lim / Event Partner: Yucolab