The archive · Product Ideas · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
SHIPS embroiders its 50th-anniversary film — Spikes Asia 2026 Industry Craft Grand Prix
SHIPS' tailors embroidered about 500 frames with 42.5 km of thread, then shot a 100% analog stop-motion voyage — Spikes Asia 2026 Industry Craft Grand Prix.
SHIPS
What it had to solve
Japanese select-shop SHIPS (est. 1975) turned 50 in 2025 under the theme 'Forever blue, we sail on', built on the company stance it calls 'The Best Basic' (最高の普通). The anniversary needed a film, and with AI video the obvious cheap route, the brand chose to prove its craft claim instead.
How it works
SHIPS, the Japanese select-shop founded in 1975, reached its 50th anniversary in 2025 with the theme 'Forever blue, we sail on', built on the company stance it calls 'The Best Basic' (最高の普通) — the idea that ordinary, well-made things deserve extraordinary care. The anniversary needed a film, and 2025's obvious route was AI-generated video, which can produce one in minutes.
Hakuhodo Gravity and Hakuhodo Cabin chose the opposite. 'CRAFTMAN,SHIPS' was made by SHIPS' own tailors: about 499–500 pieces of canvas were hand-embroidered using 42.5 km of repurposed blue thread and raw canvas scraps sourced from the brand's own warehouses, a process that took roughly 600 hours. Each embroidered frame was then photographed and cut together into a stop-motion film of a ship's 50-year voyage.
The images were 100% analog — no digital processing of the embroidery — and the animation direction came from Atsushi Makino, known for YOASOBI's 'Gunjou' music video. The campaign launched on 5 September 2025 across stores, station digital screens, regional J·AD screens and Tokyo Metro train-jack ads, making a short film into a visible, physical craft statement.
The bet paid off on the award circuit: the Industry Craft Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2026, two Cannes Lions Silvers, an ADFEST Gold and Silver, a One Show Gold, a Clio Gold, an NYF Silver and the CICLOPE Asia Pacific Grand Prix. For a 50-year-old retailer, the campaign made 'craft' the story rather than the claim.
Why it lands
- AI video made the cheap route obvious, so choosing 600 hours of hand embroidery made the craft claim undeniable — the medium was the proof.
- Using the brand's own tailors rather than external artists tied the film directly to SHIPS' 1,100 employees and its everyday promise.
- Embroidery on sail-canvas bound the brand's maritime name and 'we sail on' theme into the physical material itself.
- The analog stop-motion format gave the anniversary a tangible artifact that stores and station screens could display, not just stream.
What it did
The film won the Industry Craft Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2026, two Silvers at Cannes Lions 2026 (Industry Craft and Design), a Gold and Silver at ADFEST 2026, a One Show Gold, a Clio Gold, an NYF Silver and the CICLOPE Asia Pacific Grand Prix — turning a 50th anniversary into a physical, collectible craft statement.
What you can take
When a brand's promise is enduring craft, the production method is the message: 600 hours and 42.5 km of thread instead of an AI button made SHIPS' 'best basic' claim literally true.
Since then
The campaign ran through autumn 2025 with station digital screens, Tokyo Metro train-jack ads and a special site collecting visuals, history columns and 50th-anniversary products, then continued as one of the most decorated craft entries of 2026: Spikes Asia Industry Craft Grand Prix, two Cannes Lions Silvers, ADFEST Gold and Silver, One Show Gold, Clio Gold, NYF Silver and CICLOPE Asia Pacific Grand Prix. For SHIPS it repositioned a 50-year-old select shop around craftsmanship at a moment when the category default was AI-generated imagery.
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