TOKYO – “Double A”, a pioneering paper brand well recognized over 130 countries worldwide and the remarkable features of ‘double quality paper’ – “smooth, sharp & clear prints on both sides” made the World’s First Paper Mapping become reality.
Their unique sound aside, OK GO is remembered for the creativity put into their awe-inspiring music videos, so much so that their premieres have become something fans have been looking forward to. The same goes with what could become the music video of the year – “Obsession” – a collaboration between OK GO and Double A in what we deem the phenomenon of “Obsession for Smoothness”.
However, good things don’t come so easily. “World’s First Paper Mapping” takes more than 2 years to complete – and it’s all due to our determination to incorporate new creative techniques unlike anything that’s been done before. The goal is to create the most incredulous video. OK GO has worked closely with the director, creative team and production team all from Japan to research for new innovations until we came across the latest idea of “Paper Mapping”. This new, unique and very exciting idea allows OK GO to have fun experiments with their movements in front of the papers. The band even spent 2 weeks in Japan including testing, rehearsing and the actual shooting.
A determination that becomes an obsession.
Apart from being recognized as “Double Quality Paper”, Double A has been trusted by customers worldwide, and also revered for its exciting partnership with world-class brands for extraordinary campaigns. Reflecting its “Work Smart, Play Hard” sensibility, each and every special campaign comes with huge surprise and awe-inspiring creativity while keeping its universal appeal to paper users all over the world.
For this time, Double A is partnering with OK GO, an alternative rock band from Chicago, USA. With their superior creative music videos that are well -known worldwide.
Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar, vocals), Dan Konopka (drums, percussion) and Andy Ross (guitar, keyboards and vocals) are four members of OK GO. During their 15-year career in music, the band has released 4 albums: OK Go (2002), Oh No (2005), Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (2010) and most recently, Hungry Ghosts (2014)
It’s not just about the fans who marvel at the wonder of OK GO’s videos. Those 3 minutes from Here It Goes Again earned them Best Short Form Music Video at the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007. Apart from the world’s most coveted music gong, the video also won Most Creative Video from YouTube Music Awards in 2006 and Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman) from MTV Video Music Awards in 2009.
Their videos also have conquered the advertising world — OK GO has won a number of the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2012, the video for “All Is Not Lost” that sees the performing members of Pilobolus 7 and OK GO members performing gravity-defying dance, won 3 Gold Lions, 1 Silver Lion and 1 Bronze Lion. Just last year, “The One Moment” – which shows a total of 318 events occurring during 4.2 seconds of real-time footage being slowed at 20,000% to fit the beat of the 4.12-minute-long music – won them 2 Gold Lions, 1 Silver Lion and 3 Bronze Lions.
It is undeniable that they are one of the rising creative artists in the world.
This collaboration between Double A and OK GO demonstrates Double A’s new approach in reaching out to a new generation of target groups using the universal appeal of music and OK GO’s fearless creativity to channel the brand’s more fresh and fun image, aside of its high-quality product trusted by everyone.
OK GO has selected “Obsession” for this special collaboration. The smoothness that allows jam-free printing is the heart and soul of this “World’s First Paper Mapping” project and Double A has proved its finesse all through 5 days of continuous shooting – making it possible to create this wonderful music video.
“Obsession” also reflects a mutual standpoint for both Double A and OK GO – its shared determination, or obsession even, to create something new, different and creative that would become “Talk of The Town.” Double A’s commitment to producing highest quality paper for users all over the world goes beyond mere passion. It’s an “Obsession for Smoothness” that transcends physical smoothness of paper. It’s the desire to create a smooth, seamless working life for all our customers.
It might be “World’s First Paper Mapping,” but this is by no means Double A’s first world-class collaboration. As a global brand, Double A has collaborated in various memorable campaigns from sponsoring the blockbuster film Transformer-Dark Side Of The Moon to partnering with marketing guru Professor Philip Kotler to present “Paper from KHAN-NA” as case study project for sustainable business with social responsibility at World Marketing Summit 2014.
Originated in Thailand, “Paper from KHAN-NA” is praised widely for its promotion of quality of life in the community, environmentally friendly, modern, innovative marketing 4.0 approach, not to mention about other international awards-winning campaigns that Double A has received from various academies worldwide.
Collaboration with World-Class Artists & Obsession to “Make Perfect Synchronization”
Known for their tireless endeavor to come up with new techniques and ideas, OK GO never ceases to surprise and excite fans with insurmountable creativity put into their music videos, which have won the world’s most prestigious awards from Cannes Lions to the Grammys.
For “Obsession for Smoothness,” OK GO ventures beyond their comfort zone once again and partners with a team of world-class professionals to create, not just an exciting new video, but something that would become a phenomenon.
Let’s start with SIX Inc., the creative agency – Japan’s award-winning advertising agency with several international awards under their belt, and this project being led by much coveted creative director Jin Saito. Next up is Daito Manabe, founder of Rhizomatiks and director of Rhizomatiks Research – one of the most renowned digital artists in the world, who pushes the boundaries of digital creativity into the unexplored territories. Manabe has been awarded several times from Cannes Lions and Ars Electronica . This time, Manabe acts as media artist who develops the program that makes World’s First Paper Mapping music video possible.
The biggest challenge of this project lies not just in developing a program to control all 567 printers used during the shooting. This large-scale production involves designing graphic patterns to be printed on each piece of Double A paper – design made by Karan Singh. Project also recruits the talent of MIKIKO, the choreographer behind many memorable music videos including ones of BABYMETAL, Perfume, Salyu and Sakura Gakuin. MIKIKO will design movements of all 4 members of OK GO and make sure they are coordinated with the Paper Mapping background.
Professionalism aside, the success lies as much in the degree of “Obsession” put into the project by all involved – an obsession to create this phenomenon of world-class smoothness.
What’s more, those huge piles of paper used in the music video will not just be dumped into a trash can! Double A has long been known for its responsibility towards the environment; therefore, all the paper used in the video were recycled and the proceeds have been donated to Greenpeace, an international NGO working on environment and peace for over 46 years.
CREDITS
Creative Agency: SIX
Executive Creative Director : Takeshi Nozoe
Creative Director: Jin Saito
Planner : Tsubasa Oyagi
Art Director : Kentaro Harano
Movie Planner : Jun Hatano
Brand Agency: SPA-HAKUHODO
Account Team : Masato Saito (Hakuhodo Asia Pacific), Teruhisa Ito, Thanthip Uraipriwan, Yuki Sudo, Piraorn Saereesithipitak, Yuwanda Mankhongdamrongiu Operation Support : Bovornpan Kristhong, Chanin Ruengsangnateetip
Technical Team: Rhizomatiks Research
Planning, Technical Direction, Software Design, Software Engineering: Daito Manabe System Design, Circuit Design, Technical Direction:Motoi Ishibashi
Software Engineering : Satoshi Horii, Yusuke Tomoto, Shintaro Kamijo, Sadam Fujioka
Hardware Engineering : Youichi Sakamoto, Toshitaka Mochizuki, Yuta Asai, Saki Ishikawa, Kyohei Mouri
Simulator production : Setsuya Kurotaki, Sadakazu Kato Producer : Hidenori Chiba
Assistant Producer : Ichiro Mishima
Production Company: AOI Pro.
Director : Yusuke Tanaka & Damian Kulash, Jr. Choreographer : MIKIKO
Assistant-Choreographer : Marimo, Non, Erisa, Saya, Kaori, Kazune, Kohmen, Maru, Mayumi, Yuka, Aya, Ayane, Tomo
Director of Photography : Makoto Okuguchi Gaffer : Takeshi Tomasu Assistant-Director : Hideaki Jinbo Wardrobe : Shinichi Miter
Hair & Make Up Artist : Minako Suzuki, Ayaka Tsutsumi 1st AC : Kei Fujita
2nd AC : Erika Shimizu, Tomoya Ishizaki DIT : Taito Oyama
Best Boy : Ryuta Murakami
Lighting Crew: Taiki Kishimoto, Yuka Sato, Susumu Tanaka, Motohiro Kobayashi, Takaori Kidokoro, Yusuke Fujii, Hiroshi Kumai, Masaru Oyamada, Hisanori Yamai, Shintaro Sekiguchi, Shota Moriuchi, Makoto Kashiwakura, Kouji Yano
Motion Control : Kanno Yukimitsu, Takashi Yabuki, Jun Ikeuchi, Ryo Inmiya, Yoshihisa Hagi, Eiji Kamomiya
GRIP : Takashi Taniguchi, Maki Saito
Action Coordinator : Tomoaki Kawasumi Special Effect : Isamu Terakado
Maiton Island Crew
Producer : Kazuhisa Yoshimoto, Sho Murakami
Camera : Tomonori Taniguchi
Visual Effects Supervisor : Shunsuke Kakuuchi
Previsualization : Hiromitsu Sunaga, Yoshinori Numazawa, Masaki Ishii, Yoshifumi Ikoma, Akira Iio, Akira Miwa, Kohki Okuyama, Go Aoyama
Graphic Designer : Karan Singh
Offline Editor : Takeaki Harada Colorist : Yasutaka Ishihara Survey : Yasuhiro Kato
Online Editor : Tomoko Kanazono, Toshinori Koike, Azusa Katsumata, Atsushi Nishimura, Hiroyuki Sai, Tatsuhiro Noguchi, Yu Nagase, Kenji Sakaide Roto Artist : Annex Digital, Inc.
Sound Engineer : Toru Nakano, Taro Ito
International Producer : Shoko Akutagawa Producer : Keisuke Mizusako, Masahiro Kawaguchi
Production Manager : Tomohiro Umeyama, Eri Deguchi, Takuya Yamamoto, Kenta Ogiya Bilingual Coordinator : Mayu Yamashita
PA : Jonathan Genki Fujimura, Emi Ota, Ami Uematsu, Takaaki Yagi