The world may think of lone innovators like Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison as the kind of people who change the world, but a recent campaign by DentsuBos for Hitachi wants to emphasize the need for co-creating a brighter future.
With a tagline of “The Future Is Open To Suggestions,” the campaign kicked off with a minute-and-a-half online video that show scenes featuring several different characters – a chef in a restaurant, a scientist in her lab, a farmer – all trying to tackle a creative challenge. Over the course of the clip, the characters hit several obstacles or difficulties that cause them to pause and reflect. Eventually, they are all shown working more collaboratively as they move closer to solving their problems.
“They really wanted to have something that’s emotional and that’s focusing on the person that will benefit [from innovation] — the human being,” said Sebastien Rivest, executive vice-president, chief creative officer and general manager DentsuBos. “We don’t know what tomorrow will be made of, but Hitachi wants to be partnering with cities, engineers and others to achieve their ideas and dreams.”
The kind of enterprise technology that Hitachi offers is barely referenced in what Rivest called the 90-second “anthem” spot. “With the Internet of Things connecting us more than ever, we’re committed to create a better tomorrow,” a narrator says. Down the road, there will be more technical videos, Rivest said, including one on security and one on the IoT. Those will still based on a human quest for problem solving, however. The anthem video will also be broken up into stories focusing in more depth on individual characters, he added.
While DentsuBos had been working for Hitachi over the past three years, this work stems from winning an invitation-only call for proposals in Tokyo in February.
“For this campaign, they really wanted to talk about co-creation – how you can go from a simple idea or an insight to hitting a brick wall until someone helps you think differently,” he said.
The campaign was a global act of co-creation in itself, Rivest added, starting with initial work in Montreal, then the video shoot taking place in South Africa. Music written by an Italian composer based in London was then added to the videos in Tokyo. The website, meanwhile, was made by Firstborn, a New York-based digital agency and member of the Dentsu Aegis Network.
