Infiniti recently launched their line of luxury automobiles around the world. To promote this launch, we created a sustaining global advertising campaign that drew on the ancient Japanese style of calligraphy, known as “shodo.” To get global agency partners on board with the campaign’s iconography, we hosted a Global Creative Summit. The goal was not only to familiarise them with shodo, but to get them emotionally invested in it. So we created these boxes to give them the tools they needed to experiment with shodo; paper, brush, ink, inkwell and a thumb drive featuring an interactive brand book.

Infiniti is a brand that prides itself on superior craftsmanship and a reverence for tradition. So, before computers or advanced modeling are used to create a vehicle, shodo is employed by every vehicle designer at Infiniti to express the intent of that vehicle. And everything that happens after is guided by these iconic brushstrokes, known as a “gesture.” These shodo boxes were designed to honor both the ancient art of Japanese calligraphy and the modern practice as it pertains to Infiniti.

The effort was a complete success. Our creative partners around the world loved the box and the sentiment it portrayed. And they bought into the global campaign fully, which was the intent of the piece. There was also an unintended outcome; once our global team of clients saw it, they requested and paid for 50 more shodo boxes to use within their organisation as a way to socialize the campaign.