Last month, Foot Locker and Timberland(R) teamed up with hip-hop legend Nas to launch the 2017 Timberland Legends Collection limited-release series of boots. To promote the collection, agency Pereira & O’Dell NY turned to bicoastal production house Gentleman Scholar to turn out a campaign consisting of colorful animation ads which document pivotal moments in the rapper’s personal journey to artistic expression and success.
Directed by Gentleman Scholar's Chace Hartman, William Campbell and Will Johnson, this spot titled “Dictionary” is the latest installment in that campaign, presenting an animated Nas recounting his drive to change the vocabulary of hip-hop. Flashing back to his teenage years scouring the dictionary cover-to-cover, the moving tapestry of words, colors and beats set in and around NYC’s subway renders the artist’s spoken recollections as vibrant visual poetry. With each new episode dedicated to a new Legends Collection release, “Dictionary” signals the arrival of Timberland’s Volume VIII 6” Premium Strap Boot in stores. With Squeak E. Clean Productions onboard for original music, the series will unveil two more videos in the weeks to come, and two more sets of limited-release Timberland boots.
Credits
Client Timberland Agency Pereira & O’Dell, New York Dave Arnold, executive creative director; Jake Dubs, Juan Leguizamon, creative directors; Maya Renz, art director; Tennille Teague, head of content production; Jon Serna, sr. digital producer; Rhea Phipps, associate producer. Production Gentleman Scholar Chace Hartman, William Campbell, Will Johnson, creative directors/directors; Christina Roldan, exec producer; Christina Barna, Macauley Johnson, art directors; Sue Yee Hubbard, Kirsten Noll, sr. producers; Christopher Wolfgang Mauch, storyboard artist; Cam Floyd, Christina Liang, Jina Kwon, Cristina Barna, Hana Eunjin Yean, Macauley Johnson, Trish Janovic, designers; Laura Yilmaz, Harry Teitelman, lead cel animators; Taik Lee, Ana Chang, Matt Everton, cel animators; Christopher Wolfgang Mauch, Stephanie Simpson, Sam Kim, Aly Tain, additional cel animation; Aaron Kemnitzer, Ana Chang, Lauren Tom, Henry Pak, Pablo Robleto, 2D animators; Alison Alvarez Avila, additional animation; Aaron Kemnitzer, Arsen Arzumanyan, 3D animators; Aaron Kemnitzer, Henry Pak, Lauren tom, Pablo Robleto, compositors; Arsen Arzumanyan, previz artist. Music Squeak E. Clean Productions
Tonal, the strength training system combining revolutionary digital weight technology with personalized, AI-powered coaching, has introduced its new brand platform, “Power Progress,” and advertising campaign developed in partnership with Quality Experience (QX), the creative independent agency founded by Ari Weiss.
Directed by Aube Perrie of Pulse Films (UKMVA Director of the Year 2023 & 2024, UKMVA Best New Director 2021 and Webby’s Best Music Video 2022) with visual effects from The Mill NY, this brand film contrasts how the heavy chains of the past still shape how we work out today, with Tonal representing the future of fitness.
In addition to the brand film, the campaign includes cutdowns ranging from 90 seconds to 15 seconds, with even the shortest spot clearly connecting the old and the new. French director Perrie’s body of work includes music videos for Harry Styles, Megan Thee Stallion, and RM’s “LOST!”
“Sports marketing has had a long history of breakthrough advertising,” said QX creative chairman Weiss. “We wanted to launch with an idea as disruptive as the product itself. Not an easy bar to live up to. Like any great idea the insight is dead simple but the execution is unexpected and riveting. Great sports marketing doesn’t happen without great sports marketers and the team at Tonal shared our ambition to make the marketing as disruptive as the product.”
