Yonex entrusted monopo with the global launch of their latest range of distance golf products, the new EZONE GT. The result is an integrated campaign across a range of channels covering film, print, event booth design, social media, digital display and a microsite. 

Innovation in the world of golf is stagnating, with most R&D focusing on tiny tweaks suggested by algorithms and Artificial Intelligence. Amid all these ones and zeros, Yonex was about to launch its most powerful range of distance clubs yet, conceived by human brains and crafted by human hands.

We set out to reveal the humanity that lies at the heart of Yonex Golf and forms the basis for the new EZONE GT range. Pure human imagination, which led Yonex to pursue distance through the iron rather than just the driver. And pure human craft, with all products hand-finished at the Yonex factories in Niigata, Japan.

The main piece of this campaign was a 30" and 45" commercials, produced in English and Japanese. They were directed by film director Artem Skiy.

You wouldn’t get the EZONE GT range if you would just leave innovation to computers and algorithms. So we went out to the Yonex factories in Niigata to celebrate the humans that conceived and produced the products. The film shows the unique intersection of human imagination and craft. Everybody featured in the film is a real Yonex factory staff member.

30-second film, Japanese version

Our campaign had to bring two opposing forces together: imagination and craft. Thinking and making. Two very human forces that are often separated, but came together in the new EZONE GT range. In every aspect of the campaign, be it still photography, film, microsite design, set design or copywriting, we had to show what happens when these two forces meet. The result is a world of textures, soothing mist and flashing light, human hands and pristine products.

The key visuals show Yonex factory staff preciously holding up the pristine new EZONE GT products they just crafted. These visuals became the basis for print ads, social media posts and digital display advertising. They were shot by photographer Nik van der Giesen.

The key visual was supported by further still image portraits of the Yonex factory staff that conceived and crafted the new EZONE GT range.

We also designed the Yonex booth for the PGA Merchandise show in Orlando, Florida. The booth was designed to attract visitors and gradually draw them further into the booth to discover more about the range as they went through the booth.

For anybody intrigued to find out more about the range, we designed and developed a campaign microsite that goes deeper into the product features. The microsite makes most of the factory portraits we shot and gives people a peek behind the scenes of the innovation process through small notes and excerpts of the real R&D briefing.

Credits

Creative direction and Art direction: Mélanie Hubert-Crozet
Strategic direction: Mattijs Devroedt 
Graphic design and Web design: Mai Takano, Mélanie Hubert-Crozet
Japanese copywriting: Tomoki Inaguma
Account management: Georgi Roberts, Mattijs Devroedt
Production management: Asako Tomotani, Fred Mouniguet
Project management: Aya Apton
Digital production and development: Tsubasa Kamioka
English copywriting: Simon Lotze
Photography: Nik van der Giesen

Film Partners
Film direction and DOP: Artem Palchevskiy
AC: Usman Kawazoe
Light: Yosuke Shimada
B-Camera: Shota Fujii
Animation: Kirk Barrett
Sound design: Left/Right Creative
VFX: Alessio De Vecchi, Rhangga Putra, Yuri Vasilyev
Japanese VO: Michael Rivas
English VO: Timothy Franklin

Get In Touch
hello[at]melanie-hubertcrozet.fr

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