For the 2024 global campaign for UT, UNIQLO’s T-shirt collection, monopo Tokyo spearheaded the creation of the campaign’s videos, visuals, social media assets, and production guidelines.
Featuring 16 Key Opinion Customers (KOCs), the campaign highlights UT as a brand deeply connected to culture.
Shot in Tokyo and Paris, the campaign is being launched in New York, Paris, London, Milan, China, and other countries where UNIQLO operates, with out-of-home (OOH) advertisements in select regions.
CLIENT BRIEF
Based on the concept of “WITH UT = WITH CULTURE,” support culture and expand global recognition as the preferred T-shirt brand for young people worldwide.
Develop comprehensive design guidelines to enable effective localization across various countries.
To convey that the brand is intertwined with culture, we aimed to use Key Opinion Customers (KOCs) to highlight not just the T-shirts, but also the people wearing them.
OUR PROPOSAL
Casting plan for Key Opinion Customers (KOCs) that aligns with the global campaign.
Composition plan that highlights both the T-shirts and the KOCs to convey diverse cultures.
Creation of visuals suited for a global campaign, incorporating overseas photo shoots.
New concept
For this project, our focus is on communicating cultural diversity through the keywords “global” and “diversity. The campaign aims to highlight both the unique cultures of each Key Opinion Customer (KOC) and the T-shirt products they are paired with. Departing from previous UT campaigns that mainly showcased visuals of collaborating characters, we have adopted a new approach to emphasize the individuals behind the T-shirts. We began with a casting plan for the 16 KOCs and directed the overall visual presentation of the campaign. Our strategy for out-of-home (OOH) and social media platforms involved not only displaying the products but also sharing the personal stories of the people involved, portraying UT as a brand deeply connected to culture.
monopo also offers in-house casting services. We are not bound by affiliations or countries; instead, we propose the most suitable cast members from all over the world for each project. For this campaign, we developed a unique casting plan based on our own research to showcase UT through a diverse range of cultures. Our case included a dancer, cafe owner, kick boxer, film director, and many others.
Production
We selected a variety of shooting locations, both indoor and outdoor, such as theaters, cafes, and personal studios, to ensure a balanced representation of each KOC’s culture. To convey a more realistic and global message, we shot not only in Tokyo but also in Paris. We intentionally left some details open to allow for on-the-spot improvisation, which helped to authentically capture the world each KOC values. By maintaining a minimal production crew, we were able to maintain a level of flexibility of our locations and shooting plans, enabling a swift and efficient production process.
Guideline
Based on the global campaign, we also created guidelines that enable each UNIQLO location around the world to develop its own version. One of monopo's strengths is its ability to seamlessly create guidelines in English. By sharing the global campaign’s worldview and rules defined by monopo, we facilitated the development of campaign visuals in each country that align with this season’s concept, beyond the visuals we directly produced.
Excerpts from the Guideline document
Examples of domestic and international development. Visuals created locally are also used in Shanghai (top right).
Production
monopo Tokyo
Account Director
Clara Blancmonopo Tokyo
Producer
Shiori Kitamonopo Tokyo
Art Director
Claire Chenmonopo Tokyo
Director
Issam Kechouri
Designer
Kango Shimizu
Color
Max Golomidov
Motion
Romain Amphyon
VFX Artist
Said Chaou
Sound Design
Romain Guedj
Photographer
Nina Sachi
Photographer assistant
Kyoko Okamoto
DOP
Issam Kechouri
Cast
ZiNEZ, Yugo Kato, Sora Takahashi, Wez Atlas, Mami, Nanaka, Kaoruko, Riko Ko, Tetsutaro, Klara Blanc
Location coordinator
Clotilde Champavere
Photographer
Coline Gascon
DOP
Yoann Leveque
Cast
Gabrielle Rul, Jazzella Reveilleau, Roman Acier, Savannah Truong, Souleymane Sylla