MLB Hometown Heroes
We celebrated every Japanese player playing in Major League Baseball with custom manhole covers across Japan with the help of 12 different artist. Each cover was installed in a location of personal significance to the player: from their hometown, to the school they attended, to the field where they first learned to play.
Visitors can get to know those stories even deeper, using AR to turn the covers into short films that trace each player's journey, from their earliest days in baseball to their rise to the Major Leagues. Sharing those on social might just get you on a flight to see that player in America.
The reaction was huge, featuring on news programmes daily for the whole rollout. But my favourite genre of reaction has to be young baseball teams posing with them.
This project was a long time in the making and I left as the moulds were being casted and the storyboards were being briefed into our animation partner, Blublu. Then the dream team took it home/knocked it out the park/won the baseball match.
Creative Director: Max Pilwat
Copywriters: Max Cameron, Andrew Miller, Marina Danjo
Art Director: Shohei Kawada
Designer: Akane Yasuda
Seiya Suzuki by YU SUDA
Shota Imanaga by Lisa Kogawa
Yuki Matsui by Mayuki Oikawa
Kodai Senga by Keiji Ishida
Yu Darvish by BAKIBAKI
Shohei Othani by KOSUZU KIRIKA
Yusei Kikuchi by Moriyuu
Yoshinobu Yamamoto by JUN OSON
Lars Nootbaar by Chiaki Harada
Roki Sasaki by Masako Tomii
Tomoyuki Sugano by Mizuki Miyaoka
Manhole Production; Tomotetsu
Animation: BluBlu Studios
AR Production: Gimbal