A breath of fresh air from Onitsuka Tiger

Onitsuka Tiger enlisted the help of Blueberryfrog in Amsterdam to help create a buzz about their sneakers.
Over the years Onitsuka Tiger has built a reputation as a champion of sporting design. One particular golden moment was the 1964 Tokyo games where the highest number of Japanese winners who ran, jumped and vaulted to glory were wearing Onitsuka Tiger. This combination of winning athletes, and pioneering footwear became known as the "Spirit of '64". Three of these winning styles are being re-released as the Tokyo 64 Collection in January '04.

Onitsuka Tiger have ensured that this sporting spirit is kept for posterity. They recently collected the "Hero Breath" of members of the highly successful Japanese team from 1964, who won 29 medals at the games. Secret footage of winning Japanese Olympiad, Yukio Endo having his breath captured can be seen at tokyo64.com (and right here in our commercial archive).
Endo-san was a three times gold medallist at the Tokyo games and encapsulates the dynamic "Spirit of '64".

To celebrate the launch of their Tokyo 64 Collection, Onitsuka Tiger are releasing cans containing "Hero Breath" with each of the four shoes. Onitsuka Tiger searched their vaults for the breath of the formidable women's volleyball team of '64, who earned the nickname "Eastern Witches" for their dynamic and fearless playing style.

The "Mexico Mid Runner" can contains the breath of Japan's gravity-defying long jumpers, high jumpers and pole vaulters from 1964. The third can contains the breath of the gymnastics team who achieved outstanding results in these historic games whilst wearing the Gymnastic shoe.

Hero breath is said to have a positive influence on your sporting achievement. Just take a deep breath of it and you too will be stepping up to the podium, Onitsuka Tiger jokingly claims. Tune into onitsuka tiger tv at tokyo64.com.

campaign credits;
Creative Director: Mark Chalmers
Concept: Sharon Cleary, Christopher Pugmire, Hadleigh Averill
Design: Craig Fielding, Daniel Coombe
Account Management: Neil Stevens, Kim Harrington
Production: Selina de Koning, Toon de Groot