When Suntory asked us to launch their new sparkling cocktail named Maru-Hi (don’t call it a hard seltzer please), basically all we had to go off of was the name. There was no positioning, no voice, no brand identity. Just a background deck with a can mockup that appeared to be built in PowerPoint.

← Awesome CAN MOCKUP

The second challenge was finding a way to stand out in a category full of ads showing day-drinking 20-somethings. The solution quickly became clear: Let the other brands party during the day. We’ll give people a taste of Tokyo nights.

The other thing that became clear was our Gen-Z target loves anime. Based on this insight we created an animated brand world infused with Tokyo neon, where a good night with your circle of friends flows from every can of Maru-Hi.

OOH placements wound up being cut from the media plan, but I’m including our concepts anyway because I think they’re pretty cool.