Anonymous

13 Nov 2020

Field Notes
Southeast Asia is on the move



In April 2017, Fast Retailing Southeast Asia’s CEO, Taku Morikawa, and Head of Marketing, Sim Yunying, asked me to explore potential growth areas for UNIQLO in the region.

They shared business data, brand survey results, and their perspectives on opportunities for expansion. One insight stood out: the travel segment. At the time, customers mainly shopped for travel clothing when heading to winter destinations, making UNIQLO’s HeatTech and Ultra-Light Down products a success. But a deeper look at regional travel patterns revealed that most trips were domestic or within Southeast Asia—where climates were similar. This meant that travel apparel needs extended beyond winter wear, presenting a new growth opportunity.


With this in mind, I recommended a deep dive into Southeast Asian markets where UNIQLO already had a presence. The goal was to better understand local culture, consumer needs, and the brand’s potential in these markets. Our findings would inform a regional marketing strategy, marking a shift from UNIQLO’s previous approach—where marketing assets were adapted from global campaigns rather than created regionally.

To explore this firsthand, I spent June 2017 traveling across four key cities—Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Manila. Along the way, I met with local teams, gathered insights, and assessed how UNIQLO could create a unified yet locally relevant marketing initiative for the region.

The research aimed to:

  • Understand aspirations across Southeast Asia.
  • Explore local culture and what clothing means to different communities.
  • Identify similarities and differences across the five countries.
  • Gain insights into travel behaviors—past experiences, current needs, and future aspirations.
  • Assess perceptions of UNIQLO—its products, its identity, and its connection to Japan.

To structure our interviews, we defined five key traveler segments: Leisure, Aspirational, Active, Families, and Business. This helped us map out different needs and preferences within the region.

Over four weeks, we interviewed hundreds of travelers, opinion leaders, and customers, uncovering insights that shaped UNIQLO's Wherever You Go campaign. Anonymous led both the marketing and creative direction for this initiative.

Here are some photo highlights from our fieldwork.

Producing the Campaign

After the research phase, we translated our insights into a marketing strategy and campaign concept. The campaign featured a series of short films highlighting ordinary people who travel in extraordinary ways.

We cast five travelers from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines and flew them to Japan to film in five different locations that reflected their personalities and travel styles.

Challenges & Pre-Production

Bringing this vision to life was logistically complex. We faced several challenges:

  • Unpredictable weather as we filmed between autumn and winter.
  • Non-professional cast—everyday people with regular jobs and schedules.
  • Navigating production in Japan—adapting to new workflows and coordination styles.

To streamline production, we finalized outfits, sizing, locations, and the creative team before arriving in Tokyo. Between September and October 2017, I was based in Tokyo for four weeks to oversee production and post-production. We partnered with Monster Films, led by producer Keigo Nakamura, to manage the shoot.

A Narrative-Driven Approach

Since our cast were real travelers, not models, we took a documentary-style approach rather than a traditional fashion campaign.

  • For key visuals, we collaborated with architectural photographer Junpei Kato to capture the environmental context of each location—an essential element of the campaign.
  • For the films, we worked with documentary filmmaker Yutaka Obara, focusing on authentic traveler stories instead of scripted narratives.

Bringing the Audience Behind the Scenes

As this was UNIQLO’s first regional campaign in Southeast Asia, I wanted to give the audience a glimpse into how it all came together. To do this, we brought on documentary filmmaker Noriaki Okamoto, who followed the production crew as a “second team” to capture the behind-the-scenes process.



The result was The Making Of film, which features short interviews with our cast, producer, director, and photographer, sharing their experiences working on the project.

Campaign Launch & Reach

The UNIQLO Wherever You Go campaign launched between October and December 2017. The films and visuals were featured across:

  • A dedicated microsite
  • Social media channels
  • Cinemas
  • Over 200 UNIQLO stores across the region

This marked a significant milestone for UNIQLO in the region—its first locally-driven campaign, built from cultural insights and real traveler stories.

—
Felix Ng
Co-founder, Anonymous
@felix.anonymous

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