The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
New Balance pits Shohei Ohtani against his own silhouette to show the opponent is himself
In a black-and-white film, Ohtani trains alone until a second Shohei appears on the mound; the silent duel ends when he finally outplays himself.
New Balance
What it had to solve
In the darkness of an empty field, Shohei Ohtani trains alone, punishing a pitching machine as he refines each swing. New Balance wanted the private, repetitive work of a great athlete to feel as dramatic as the game itself.
How it works
How do you make solitary training dramatic? New Balance's film answers with a second Shohei Ohtani. In the darkness of an empty field, under floodlights, the real Ohtani punishes a pitching machine, refining each swing in black and white.
Then a silhouette appears — another Shohei. He steps onto the mound and throws. The first pitch is untouchable; tension rises; the batter adjusts but is not quite there. Ball after ball, the silent duel unfolds between two versions of the same athlete.
The film resolves when Ohtani finally outplays himself and succeeds. New Balance turned the private pursuit of excellence into a contest only he could enter, and the work is archived in the D&AD awards archive.
Why it lands
- A mirror opponent makes the intangible visible: the audience watches Ohtani's own standards rather than a rival's.
- Black and white and an empty field strip the scene to the athlete and his craft, so the duel feels internal rather than commercial.
- Because the second Shohei is also Ohtani, the contest cannot be dismissed as unfair — the only opponent worthy of him is himself.
- Showing the batting and pitching sides of a two-way star dramatizes what makes him exceptional without a word of explanation.
What it did
The campaign turned Ohtani's invisible training into a visible contest: the only person who can beat him is a second version of himself, and the film resolves when he outplays himself. The work is archived in the D&AD awards archive.
What you can take
To dramatize excellence, give the star the one opponent he cannot dismiss — a double of himself — because the hardest contest is the one nobody else can enter.
Since then
The self-duel film gave Ohtani's solitary practice a story anyone can read: he succeeds when he outplays himself. The work is archived in the D&AD awards archive as a film that turns an athlete's private training into his only unwinnable contest.
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card