Cultural Context

Japanese car culture and anime are intrinsically tied. Initial D, the most iconic car anime series, has sold over 48 million copies globally, turned countless people into Japanese car enthusiasts, and has a cult-like following to this day. We took inspiration from Initial D and other relevant animes like Akira, Wangan Midnight, Cowboy Bebop and Redline. We also used real brands, locations and people throughout the series: The first race and final showdown both take place at the Long Beach Grand Prix, using actual turns from the track. Noboru’s private driving road is modeled after the famous Angeles Crest Hwy. The sequence is inspired by touge driving, a type of mountain-pass driving that’s a staple in Japanese car culture. Noboru is based on a drift instructor who lives above his garage at Willow Springs Raceway in California. We collaborated with enthusiast car brands, like The Chronicles, Vtec Club, Recaro, Greddy.

Background

The Type S badge is reserved for only the highest performing vehicles in the Acura lineup. Despite its impact on the brand, in 2008, it was discontinued entirely. After more than a decade-long hiatus, it was time for a comeback and in 2022, Acura brought back Type S performance to its models. To introduce this iconic and storied performance variant to a new generation of drivers and enthusiast, the brief was simple in its complexity– tell the importance of the Type S story in a way that would stand out in the category where Acura had become nearly invisible, reignite brand loyalty Type S originally established, and resonate with a Millennial and Gen Z audience who have likely never even heard of Acura, let alone considered them.

Creative Idea

Fast cars, racing, and rivalries—we developed an anime series to celebrate the return of Type S performance. But it wasn’t just about making an anime. We needed to reintroduce Type S performance to Acura diehards, but also, bring in a new generation of Millennials and Gen Zers who may have never heard of Acura. To do that, we needed a vessel for our idea that would resonate with their new attitudes, behaviors, and lifestyles. Through the power of authentic storytelling, we created a robust world that showcased SoCal, the birthplace of Acura, featured three new Type S vehicles, and introduced compelling characters who took us on their own journey, but who also mirrored the brand’s story. Through this, we were able to tell two stories: one, the thrilling story of Chiaki’s personal journey, and two, the story of the Acura brand, our racing heritage, and ambitions for the future.

Execution

We didn’t create a car commercial. We created an entire anime world. For Chiaki’s Journey, we went with the hand-drawn illustration style of shows from the ’80s and ’90s. There’s an incredible craft to this era of animation. With it, we were able to create an original, ownable look using techniques that brought a human touch to the screen that’s felt when you watch it. Every character was animated digitally by hand in 2D. Backgrounds were drafted using a combination of hand-drawn layouts and 3D models, which were then uniquely hand painted in Photoshop. The vehicles were taken into rough animation in 2D before being fully animated in 3D, allowing for dynamic action sequences. We also developed our own 3D tool that rendered every single frame of the vehicles individually, achieving a highly detailed 2D shaded look that provided a dynamic and integrated stage for the 2D characters.

Results

This campaign quickly became the most successful in Acura’s history. With 277MM video views and counting, 85% of viewers who watched episode 1, went on to watch the rest of the series. The campaign also scored a 93% appeal score vs. an average of 78% (Source: Hall & Partners Campaign Tracker) effectively lifting brand familiarity by 7 pts. brand favorability by 15 pts and brand consideration by 14 pts among those who said they had seen the campaign. Traffic to the Type S website increased by 150%, but it also made Acura famous beyond the automotive world, making headlines on websites like Forbes, Hypebeast, and Crunchyroll. In terms of brand perceptions, the campaign successfully lifted “brand I’d like to be seen driving” by 20 pts, “exhilarating to drive” by 13 pts, “integrity” by 10 pts, “leadership” by 10 pts and “approaches luxury in a new way” by 13 pts.

Art Direction

For Chiaki’s Journey, our intentions were not to mimic any particular anime, but to create an original, ownable, distinctive look and story, taking inspiration from the animation we love coming out of Japan. But authenticity was key–so in traditional fashion, all video work was created in color (anime) and all print work was designed black and white (manga). We sought to treat it as a real series, complete with its own action intro, unique storyline, cliffhangers, series billboards, a 60-page manga book and even an IMDB movie page. We included subtle touches like the letter box added to the action scenes and the 30+ easter eggs, including local Los Angeles driving roads. Every character was designed from scratch and animated digitally by hand in 2D software. Bespoke backgrounds were drafted using a combination of hand-drawn layouts and 3D models, which were then uniquely hand painted in Photoshop.